Small business branding

Role: Freelance identity designer
Problem: Two local shops needed identities that would work in affordable, real-world print.
Outcome: Garcia’s mark became installed signage and a flyer; Marpelia received a business card.

Local business

Identity, signage and print

Identity Signage Print

Two Central Valley businesses, both wanting to look established: a tire shop in Madera and a flower and gift shop. Neither had a brand to build on.

The constraint was the opposite of a corporate account: no brand book, no approval chain, no photo budget. Everything had to be cheap to produce, printed locally and legible from across a street.

For Garcia’s that meant a wordmark that survives being cut in vinyl and bolted to a canopy: heavy condensed type, a tread motif that reads at 3 feet, and a color pair that holds in full sun against an orange building.

I drew the identity once and applied it across signage, print and social. The storefront photo shows the sign as installed.

Marpelia was the softer version of the same problem: a business card that feels considered without a photographer or an illustration budget.

Identity · wordmark Garcia’s Tire Shop Condensed and heavy so it holds at sign scale, with a tread block for a symbol. Drawn to cut in vinyl.

Signage · canopy artwork Storefront sign Extreme horizontal, so the services list splits into two blocks and the name keeps the left third. Everything reads from a moving car.

Photo of Garcia’s Tire Shop storefront with the branded service sign installed above the entrance.

Signage · installed The sign in place The same artwork after fabrication, on the building it was drawn for.

Garcia’s Tire Shop flyer advertising tire balancing, rotation, new tires, flat repair, and top brands.

Print · services flyer Services and pricing The identity on a flyer: services as colored tabs, four photos in rounded slots, the address anchored at the base.

Business card for Marpelia Flowers & Gifts with a red rose illustration and Madera contact information.

Print · business card Marpelia Flowers & Gifts A single drawn rose does the work a photo would have cost. Script and serif keep the name warm without tipping into a wedding invitation.

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