The Brand Health Checklist – 20 Questions to Ask Before You Spend on Design

Most businesses decide to spend on design when something feels wrong. The website looks dated. The packaging no longer reflects the product. A competitor has just launched something sharper. So a brief goes out for a new logo, a new site or a refreshed range.

Sometimes that is exactly the right move. Often, though, the visible problem is a symptom of something underneath: unclear positioning, inconsistent standards, or no one owning the brand as a whole. Spend on the symptom, and the same problem returns within a couple of years, just in a newer font.

Before you commission anything, it is worth taking an honest look at the health of the brand itself. These 20 questions are the ones I work through at the start of every engagement. Answer them candidly. The questions you struggle to answer will tell you more than the ones you can.

1. Clarity: do people understand you?

1. Can you explain what your business does, for whom, and why it is different, in one sentence a stranger would understand?

2. Would three people in your business give the same answer to question 1?

3. Does your homepage make that sentence clear within five seconds?

4. Is it obvious who your ideal customer is, and is your brand speaking to them rather than to everyone?

5. Do you know the two or three things customers most need to believe before they buy from you?

If you struggled here: the issue is positioning, not design. A new visual identity built on an unclear proposition will only make the confusion look better.

2. Consistency: do you look and sound like one business?

6. If you laid out your website, packaging, social media, sales materials and email signature side by side, would they look like the same brand?

7. Do you have brand guidelines, and does everyone who creates work for you actually use them?

8. Is your tone of voice recognisable, or does it change depending on who wrote the copy?

9. When a new freelancer or supplier starts work, do they get a clear brief and standards, or do they start from scratch?

10. Does your product range look like a deliberate family, or like products designed one at a time?

If you struggled here: the issue is creative direction, meaning standards and ownership, rather than individual pieces of design.

3. Credibility: do people trust you?

11. Does your brand look as established and professional as the quality of your product or service?

12. Are proof points such as reviews, credentials, results and recognisable clients visible where buying decisions are made?

13. Is it easy to find out who is behind the business and how to contact you?

14. Do your claims feel specific and believable, or generic and inflated?

15. Would you be proud to show your current brand to your most important prospective customer tomorrow?

If you struggled here: the gap between your quality and your presentation is costing you sales, and it is usually one of the most fixable problems on this list.

4. Commercial alignment: is the brand working for the business?

16. Is your brand built for where the business is going in the next three years, or for where it was when it launched?

17. Do your website and marketing make the next step (buy, book, enquire) obvious and easy?

18. Do you know which parts of your brand and digital presence actually drive enquiries or sales?

19. Is anyone accountable for the brand as a whole, rather than for individual projects?

20. When you spend on design, is it measured against a business goal, or judged on whether people like it?

If you struggled here: creative work is being treated as a cost rather than an investment. That makes it hard to justify, and hard to get right.

What to Do With Your Answers

Count the questions you could not answer confidently.

• 0–5: your brand is in good health. Targeted improvements, such as a website refresh or a new product line, can be briefed with confidence.

• 6–12: there are gaps beneath the surface. Fix the foundations (positioning, standards, ownership) before commissioning major new design work, or you risk paying twice.

• 13 or more: the brand needs strategic leadership, not just new assets. This is the point at which senior creative direction pays for itself, because it stops money being spent on work that cannot succeed.

Get the Checklist

I have turned these 20 questions into a one-page printable checklist, with space for notes and a simple scoring guide, so you can work through it with your team.

And if your answers raise more questions than they settle, I would be glad to talk them through. That is exactly the conversation I have with founders and marketing leads before any project begins.

Andre Ribeiro is a Fractional Creative Director and founder of APR Design. He specialises in brand strategy, packaging, and digital experiences for founder-led businesses and FMCG brands.