When you’re building your brand,  just starting out or wanting to make intentional changes to your current branding, it’s easy to feel lost in the ‘brand woods’ with all the options. Do you DIY using a quick logo found on Canva and hope for the best? Invest in a full bespoke branding experience? Or is there something in between?

After years of guiding small businesses, sustainable brands and soulful eco-entrepreneurs through my bespoke branding process I wanted to create an ‘in-between’ more budget friendly option. So, I created my Signature Semi-Custom Brand Kits as a middle path. They sit between quick-fix and high-investment – ideal for soulful business owners who crave something more handcrafted, unique, higher value with iconic lastability without the overwhelm and high cost of a custom broject

In this post, I’ll break down the three main branding options you might be considering, so you can choose the one that feels aligned for where you’re at.

IN THIS ARTICLE

• The Canva Logo Option for Your Business and the drawbacks
• How Semi-Custom Brand Kits Work and who they are the best fit for
• What’s a bespoke brand identity project include and when should you choose this?
• How to choose the best branding option for your small business

Canva Logo: Quick, Accessible, but Limited & Generic

Canva logos are a great starting point if you’re experimenting with a business idea, working with a super limited budget, or just need something temporary to pop on the top of your website to get started. Sometimes you just need that quick fix and I’ve included a few Canva Logos to my shop page to give small business owners a pro-designed starting point for their logo or website.

With thousands and thousands of logos, fonts, and icons, you can create something fairly ok looking in Canva within a couple of hours. Although it may take you hours browsing to find the right one or perhaps you never quite find something that fits perfectly! It can be quick and convenient using a Canva logo but as with everything, you do get what you pay for. Here are a few drawbacks of using a Canva generated Logo:

• Your logo might not feel truly “you” as it’s based on a template.
• Others may be using the exact same design (or something close) and you won’t have the copyright for your logo
• It won’t come with a brand strategy, usage guide, or go beyond just a logo
• You don’t get a full brand with all those elements that help you deeply connect with customers
• It won’t make you look professional, higher value or stand out from a crowd
• If a customers spots your logo somewhere else you’ll instantly lose trust and loyalty

Best for: idea-testing, DIYers, temporary quick-fix logos

Semi-Custom Brand Kits: A Beautiful Middle Ground

Semi-Custom Brand Kits are the perfect middle path between DIY make-do and bespoke branding. You get thoughtful creative, strategy-backed and intentionally designed branding and full visual identity that is tweaked and customised to perfectly match your brand vibe and personality. Pre-made brand kits also don’t require as much energy or budget as a fully bespoke brand identity. The thought of a bespoke branding project may make you feel overwhelmed and you don’t quite have the capacity to take that on – that’s when semi-custom branding can give you what you need with more ease.

Each of my semi-custom Branding Kits are handcrafted in my signature natural, organic style and include:

• A full logo suite (primary, secondary, icon mark etc.)
• Brand illustrations, design elements & a brand pattern
• Social Templates and more add-ons
• Brand colours & font pairings
• A brand style guide with fonts, colours and mood
• Fully customised to your business name and vibe with a choice of icons
• Support from me as your creative director to ensure everything feels aligned and on-brand

Even though the branding kit is pre-designed, it’s never generic. I personalise it to feel like the prefect-fit for your overall business personality so your brand feels rooted, grounded and brought to life.

Best for: purpose-led brands who are growing, want something more refined than DIY, but aren’t quite ready for full bespoke yet.

Here’s a selection of my brand kits and how they have been personalised to give you a feel of how flexible a pre-made branding kit can be…

Bespoke Branding: Strategy-Led and more intensive

When your business is expanding, shifting or entering a brave new phase, bespoke branding is your best fit.

This is a deep-dive brand identity experience where we explore your story, values, audience and positioning before crafting a fully custom brand identity from scratch. We’ll  look at your business goals, any current business blocks and struggles, your position in the market, target market and much, much more. It’s intuitive and strategic and empowers you to connect with your audience and stand out with clarity and confidence whilst also empowering your business to grow and overcome those problems through a carefully crafted brand.

Bespoke branding includes:

• A guided brand strategy process

   

• Multiple brand concepts and revisions

   

• Custom logos, typography, illustrations and textures

   

• Marketing Collateral design (like packaging, business cards, digital assets)

   

• A full brand book and brand identity guide

   

It’s not quick or cheap and investement usually starts from around £5K-10K or $6K-$15K. This reflects the time, strategy and impact as it is a powerful process and results are often immediately felt – (increased sales, greater exposure, customer loyalty, increased prices, stronger market position the list goes on!). If you’re at a stage where you’re ready to really grow your brand, trailblaze and stand out this is the way to go.

Best for: businesses in a growth phase, rebrands, or those launching something bold and expansive.

So, Which One is Right for You?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer and I always reccomend tuning in with your gut and intuition and also exploring options and taking time to make that decision. When deciding between a canva logo, semi-custom brand kit or bespoke branding it can be useful to explore the following questions…

• Where you are in your business journey
• Your budget and timeline
• How much energy you have to dedicate to a project
• What problems are you currently facing in your business
• How you want to feel when you share your brand with the world

Here’s a little summary:

Why I Created my signature Semi-Custom branding Kits

After working with so many soulful small business owners and having them find me online and connect I kept seeing a gap. People who cared deeply about their brand and how it felt… but couldn’t quite invest in a full bespoke branding process with me just yet.

That’s why I created the Creative Wilderness Signature Brand Kit Collection – to bring uniquness, clarity, and my own brand style to more people, with less stress and a lighter budget.

You can view my signature kits here.

Final Thought…

If you’re curious to learn more, or want to chat through the options reach out to me on email and we can talk more.

want to learn more? Keep on reading below…

• How to make your business more ethical
• Are your brand Roots strong enough? Taking guidance from the trees!
• Explore semi-custom brand kit options