Why the brand identity workflow is painfully broken, and why automation is the solution

At one point, brand identity design was everything I wanted to do.

Working on multiple projects, solving problems, building brands.

It was the goal.

But when I got there, it wasn’t what I expected.

Surprisingly, when you’re working at a high level, multiple client projects, high-profile clients, constant new work — it stops being enjoyable.

It becomes heavy.

I didn’t enjoy brand identity design the way I used to.

Not because of the work itself, but because of everything around it.

You’re doing multiple things with no room for error.

You’re:

• thinking about the client
• solving problems
• managing expectations

And then you still have to design:

• creating multiple directions
• going through revisions
• designing for hours

This is what a typical brand identity project actually looks like:

Every stage is required. Every stage takes time.

And most of it is still done manually.

This is the part no one really talks about.

Brand identity design isn’t just the outcome.

It’s a series of repetitive, time-consuming tasks that sit around the work.

If you’re a freelancer or running a small studio, this matters.

Because time = profit.

The more time you spend:

• the less efficient you are
• the longer it takes to get paid
• the less you earn per project
• the harder it is to scale

At some point, I had a decision to make.

Continue working like this.

Or fix the problem.

I chose to fix it.

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Brand identity design should be faster and easier

No matter how experienced you are, the process doesn’t change.

You can have different techniques and methods, clients still expect the same deliverables.

You still need to:

• build grids
• create presentations
• export files
• produce brand guidelines

And as projects get bigger, expectations get higher.

You’re expected to move faster, without compromising quality.

That’s the trade-off.

Speed or quality.

I don’t think it should be a trade-off...

I think you should be able to have both.

I started looking at every stage of the workflow and asking:

"Why is this still manual?"

The first step was Gridit.

A way to generate precise logo grids instantly inside Illustrator.

Over 30,000 designers have used it.

But it only solves a small part of the problem.

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Automating every stage in brand identity design

I started seeing the same issue across every stage of the process.

Each part of the workflow became something I wanted to improve — with more speed, more ease, and more accuracy:

• Gridit → building precise logo grids
• Presentit → creating logo presentations
• Guideit → designing brand guidelines
• Exportit → exporting and sharing logo files

Individually, they solve small problems.

Together, they define the entire workflow.

The goal is simple — bring everything into one system.

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One system, across every stage

Each of these solutions has helped thousands of designers on its own.

But the real impact comes from bringing them together.

It’s taken me two years to get closer to the original vision — automating brand identity design as a whole.

That’s what I’ve been building with Akrivi Studio 26.0.

An Illustrator plugin designed to support how brand designers actually work — across every stage of the process.

A more structured workflow where brand identity design becomes faster and less dependent on manual tasks.

There’s still more to build, but this is the direction.

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