Rosalyn from House of Bashka explains the branding process she went through with Delight
The Delight team popped up on the screen and we eased in with the routine small talk and jolly anecdotes. I deliberately drew these out to delay the inevitable question about what my business was actually about and how I envisaged the website looking. But they never really came.
Delight have a clever way of gently mining your ideas and ambitions until it becomes more of an ongoing conversation than a quest for a clear statement. It’s the first step of their process, to essentially understand and walk in the shoes of their client, and in turn, help them figure out what they actually want (as well as what is feasible within timeframes and budgets).
The absence of a patronising tone laced in numerous tech acronyms was refreshing following similar conversations with other web developers. I felt invigorated, not infantilised. The subsequent days were spent exploring various ideas discussed and attempting to reconcile creative ambitions with the more practical realities of the website template I was choosing and the budget I had in mind.
There was a refined idea now, an online publication whose anatomy we were all familiar with, even if it had yet to be built. Delight had interviewed me at great length to glean what he could for developing the brand’s visual identity as well as its tone of voice and overall character. Their first presentation was more of a pictorial conversation. This triggered more thoughts and consolidated decisions which would ultimately fix the goal posts for his creative role.
Weeks later, they delivered the goods, essentially a teaser of the website’s visual style – its text, templates, colours and consistencies that would build a solid, and immediately distinguishable brand identity. While they clearly understood the brief, Delight’s process was curious. Some of the questions he’d asked along the way felt unusual, yet made perfect sense once the final website and Instagram style was presented.
My unfiltered joy at the overall look and feel of the site and the brand voice itself was Delight’s cue to start talking taxonomy. They took me through the layout of the website – the categories, pages and posts, how it was all connected. I scrutinised the layout, they then made adjustments, and this dance continued for several weeks, until the experience felt slick and easy for new users.
The day before the press breakfast to launch the website, the homepage layout appeared jumbled when viewed on an iPhone. I sent Delight a panicked message, which they quickly decoded before jumping onto the site to fix the issue. It’s this willingness to go the extra mile, and personal touch that sets Delight apart. I never felt that I was part of a cog in a system, I always felt supported and I built a working relationship with an agency who genuinely cared. They take great pride in their work, which is evident across all their presentations, as well as their thorough questionnaires and brainstorming sessions. Above all, they really love what they do and it was this infectious enthusiasm that not only made the process pleasurable, but crucially helped me thrash out the business’ DNA and core purpose.
