- Step 1: Discovery and Strategic Alignment
- Step 2: Brand Identity and Messaging
- Step 3: Design and Development
- Step 4: Content, Copy, and Video
- Step 5: Launch and Ongoing Partnership
- Why the Process Matters as Much as the Output
- What We Build
- Frequently Asked Questions
Most agencies hand you a logo and call it a day. We hand you a complete brand, a working product, and a clear path forward.
At Splash Creative, the process isn't a formality. It's the reason projects ship on time, stay on-brand, and actually move the needle for the businesses we work with. Whether we're building a healthcare brand from scratch or relaunching an e-commerce store on Shopify, the same disciplined approach drives every engagement.
Here's exactly how we work, from the first conversation to launch.
Step 1: Discovery and Strategic Alignment
Every project starts with listening. Before we open a single design file, we need to understand your business, your audience, your competitors, and what success actually looks like for you.
This phase isn't a questionnaire. It's a real conversation about positioning, goals, and constraints. We ask hard questions: Who are you trying to reach? What do your best clients have in common? Where does your current brand fail you?
From that conversation, we build a strategic brief that anchors every creative decision that follows. It becomes the shared source of truth for the entire project — preventing scope drift, cutting subjective feedback, and keeping everyone aligned.
For brands like Oathe Group and Luminova Biotech, that strategic foundation was what separated a brand identity that felt right from one that merely looked good.
Step 2: Brand Identity and Messaging
Once strategy is locked, we move into brand development. This is where the visual and verbal identity of your business takes shape.
On the visual side, we design logo systems, color palettes, typography, and the full asset set your team will use across every channel. On the verbal side, we write the messaging framework: your positioning statement, brand voice, taglines, and core copy pillars.
These two tracks run in parallel because they have to. A logo without language is incomplete. Messaging without visual expression has no weight. Building them together produces something more coherent than either could be on its own.
This is where most single-service vendors fall short. A freelance designer can't write your brand voice. A copywriter can't build your visual system. We do both, under one roof, without the handoff chaos that comes from juggling multiple vendors.
Step 3: Design and Development
With brand identity in place, we build. This phase covers website design and development, mobile app design, e-commerce builds, and any additional digital products your project requires.
Our web builds are custom. We don't drop your content into a generic template and ship it. We design to your brand, your audience, and your business goals. For e-commerce clients, we build and configure on Shopify — including integrations like Klaviyo for email and SMS marketing. For Metabolik and Huug, that meant a full Shopify build with the retention infrastructure wired in from day one.
For clients who need a web presence that performs in search, SEO is built into the development process, not bolted on afterward. Site architecture, page speed, metadata, and content structure are all considered during the build.
App projects follow the same logic. We design and develop mobile apps with the same attention to brand consistency and user flow we bring to every other product.
Step 4: Content, Copy, and Video
A designed product without content is a shell. We fill it.
Our team writes website copy, campaign copy, product descriptions, and any other written content your project needs. We also produce video — from concept through final edit. For clients like RexMD, video and campaign creative were the primary deliverables. For others, video is one component of a broader brand launch.
The advantage of handling copy and video internally is consistency. The tone of your website matches your ads, which matches your video scripts. When those elements come from different vendors, they rarely sound like the same brand. When they come from one team that built your brand from the ground up, they always do.
Step 5: Launch and Ongoing Partnership
Launch isn't the end of the relationship. For many of our clients, it's the beginning of a longer one.
After a project ships, some clients move into a retainer with us — ongoing creative support for new campaign assets, web updates, additional content, or new product work. It's structured to give you a dedicated creative partner without the overhead of a full in-house team.
This works especially well for growth-stage companies that need consistent creative output but aren't ready to hire a full creative department. You get the same team that built your brand continuing to build on it.
Why the Process Matters as Much as the Output
Plenty of agencies produce good-looking work. Fewer produce work that's strategically grounded, consistently executed, and built to drive real business results.
The difference is process. When strategy, design, copy, development, and video all live under one roof, decisions happen faster, revisions are fewer, and the final product is tighter. There's no translation loss between a brand strategist and a developer who never met. No version control chaos between a designer and a copywriter working in different time zones.
We built this process specifically for startups and growth-stage businesses that can't afford misaligned vendors. Whether you're a Series A company preparing for a rebrand or a bootstrapped e-commerce business launching a new product line, the process scales to fit.
What We Build
Here's a snapshot of what the process produces across different project types:
- Brand identity projects: Logo system, color and typography, brand guidelines, messaging framework, and launch assets
- Website projects: Custom design, full development, SEO setup, copywriting, and post-launch support
- E-commerce projects: Shopify build, product page design, email and SMS integration, and conversion-focused copy
- App projects: UX design, visual design, development, and brand alignment across the product
- Campaign projects: Creative strategy, visual assets, copy, and video production
Every project is scoped around what your business actually needs. We don't upsell services that don't serve the goal.
Ready to build something great? Let's talk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Splash Creative process look like for a new brand?
It starts with a discovery session where we align on strategy, audience, and goals. From there, we build the brand identity and messaging framework, then move into design, development, and content production. Every phase is handled by the same team.
How long does a typical project take?
Timeline depends on scope. A brand identity project typically takes four to eight weeks. A full website with copy and SEO can take eight to twelve weeks. E-commerce builds and app projects vary based on complexity. We set clear timelines during scoping and hold to them.
Does Splash Creative handle both design and development?
Yes. We design and build websites, mobile apps, and e-commerce stores in-house. You don't need a separate development vendor. Strategy, design, copy, and development all come from one team.
What is the retainer model and who is it for?
The retainer is an ongoing creative partnership for businesses that need continuous support after a project launches. It's a strong fit for growth-stage companies that want a dedicated creative team without building one in-house.
Can Splash Creative work with businesses outside New York City?
Yes. We're based in NYC and work with many local businesses, but we also work with startups and growth-stage companies in remote-friendly markets across the country.
What industries does Splash Creative work in?
Our portfolio spans healthcare, fintech, insurance, biotech, food and beverage, real estate, and e-commerce. That range is intentional — it means we bring cross-sector perspective to every project rather than defaulting to one industry's conventions.
How do I start a project with Splash Creative?
The first step is a conversation. Reach out through the contact page and tell us about your project. We'll set up a call to learn more and figure out whether we're the right fit for what you need.
