Small business branding

Two local businesses in the Central Valley, both wanting to look like the established shop rather than the new one. A tire shop in Madera and a flower and gift shop, neither with a brand to build on.

The constraint here is the opposite of a corporate account. There is no brand book, no approval chain and no budget for a photo shoot. Whatever I made had to be produced cheaply, printed locally, and still read from across a street.

For Garcia’s that meant a wordmark that survives being cut into vinyl and bolted to a canopy. Heavy condensed type, a tread motif that still reads at 3ft, and a colour pair that holds up in full sun against an orange building.

The same mark then had to work on a services flyer, so the identity was drawn once and applied across signage, print and social rather than redrawn per format. The storefront photo is the sign as installed, not a mockup.

Marpelia was the softer end of the same problem: a business card that had to feel considered without a photographer or a custom illustration budget.