This previous branding was actually stock imagery which the previous designer had adapted. Sheena had later added the signature element in Canva. After 15 years, the look was dated and confusing.

Discovery

Sheena's original request was modest: design a logo for the learning and development side. My process starts the same way whatever the request, with an in-depth questionnaire asking the questions most business owners haven't considered in years. What are the values of the company? What do you want people to think and feel when they see your brand? Who and what are you competing against?

Sheena's answers came back and we followed them up with a 90-minute Zoom call. Four values emerged for the new identity to convey: action, clarity, credibility and fun. One question of mine kept resurfacing during that call – why did one person, running one business, need two logos at all? I argued this point and Sheena conceded that one logo could serve both aspects of her business, so I wrote the brief and had Sheena agree it before any design work began.

The thinking

I begin many identity projects with typefaces, mapping fonts against the values the client wants to convey. Setting the business name in a typeface gives you an immediate read on whether the tone is correct.

The competitor research pointed firmly in one direction. Sheena described the logos of rival coaches as "Frankly... desperately DULL. Corporate feel, corporate words, BORING." Whatever I designed had to grow up her brand without joining the grey wall of existing coaching logos.

Sheena's strapline came under the microscope too. She'd used it for years, so I showed it to people who didn't know her or the business. None of them warmed to it. That was evidence enough to propose a replacement.

Design

I developed three concepts and presented two. The first looked to evolve the existing comic-book lettering into a heavier, tightly set form with a bold graphic outline and drop shadow. It scored well on action, clarity and fun, but the comic-book hangover meant it missed on credibility.

The second concept expressed the impact an effective coach has on a business, playing on the name of the business by adapting the W of KAPOW! into an explosion. I wrote a new strapline to complement this mark – a play on words designed to sum up the graphic.

The third, rejected concept replaced the O with a cartoon bomb. It was clever, and I never showed it to the client. It leaned back towards the cartoon styling we'd agreed to leave behind, and it fought the strapline for space. Part of my job is making those calls on the client’s behalf.

Both concepts was presented in use – business cards, a roller display banner, a branded notebook, a website homepage – because a logo has to survive real-world conditions.

Seeing the proposals triggered what Sheena calls her "hang on a minute" moment. Looking at the work, she asked herself why she had been presenting two identities to two audiences when she was one person running one business.

The refresh became a chance to create one mark for the whole of KAPOW!. Sheena chose the explosion concept, with changes only to the colour palette, and I completed the project with a full suite of logo versions and a brand guide covering colours, webfonts and application.

The result

A year on, both of Sheena's audiences recognise the same business. "It represents who I am now, as one identity," she told me when we sat down to record a follow-up interview. "My business has grown up, and so has my approach to it." Colleagues who'd known the superhero styling noticed the shift straight away, and the simplicity of the new mark means she reproduces it cleanly across newsletters, social posts and conference name badges.

Sheena's closing verdict: "There is nothing about it I would change, and I think that's the best endorsement I could give you."