What a brand sprint actually looks like

A brand sprint sounds athletic. In practice it is eight people, one long wall and a worrying quantity of sticky notes.

We run them in our Hackney studio over two days, and clients often arrive unsure what they have signed up for. So here is the whole thing, hour by hour.

What you leave with

Let’s start at the end, because that is what you’re paying for. By the second afternoon you walk out holding:

• One sentence that says who you’re for and why you’re different.

• A logo direction everybody in the room has agreed on.

• A palette and a pair of typefaces to go with it.

• A short list of what happens next, and who does it.

It isn’t a finished identity. Think of it as the foundations poured and the walls marked out in chalk.

Day one is all questions

Nobody opens a laptop before lunch. The first day is for finding out what is true about your business, which is rarely what is written on the website.

Morning: fill the wall

We cover the wall with three columns: what your customers love, what annoys them and what nobody else in your world is doing. Everyone writes. Nobody edits.

Afternoon: find the sentence

Then the pruning starts. We group the notes, argue kindly and boil the lot down to a single line. It usually takes four attempts and one walk around the block.

The biscuit rule

One packet per four people, per half day. Biscuit the studio dog gets none, however hard he stares.

Day two is all making

With the sentence pinned up where we can see it, the designers take over.

The rough directions really are rough: marker pen, not pixels. It keeps everyone talking about the idea instead of the kerning.

Is a sprint right for you?

Sprints suit businesses that need to move and can get their decision-makers in one room. They’re a poor fit if the person with the final say can only “pop in at four”.

Not sure which camp you’re in? Book a 30 minute call and we’ll tell you honestly. We’ll even supply the biscuits.