Hi, I’m David!
I build brands for people who give a damn about what they’re making.
Walker Design Co. is my independent branding studio for founder-led product businesses.
I help turn good products, big ideas and slightly-too-many-ideas-in-your-head into brands people recognise, trust, buy from and remember.
That might mean figuring out what your brand actually stands for. It might mean giving an identity that’s been cobbled together over the years a proper sense of direction. It might mean creating a brand from scratch that makes people stop scrolling, pick the product up and think, “Yep. That’s for me.”
Whatever the starting point, I’m interested in the same thing:
Making the brand as good, distinctive and considered as the business behind it.
I’ve spent the last 15 years figuring out how the best brands work.
Before starting Walker Design Co., I spent nearly 15 years working across marketing, design and branding, both in-house and agency-side.
So I’ve seen branding from a few different angles.
I’ve worked on brands where there were rooms full of people involved in every decision. I’ve worked with small businesses where the founder was the marketing department, sales team, customer service desk and person packing orders at 11pm.
These days, I much prefer the latter.
There’s something different about working with a founder who knows their product inside out. You care about the details because you made them matter. You know why that particular ingredient, material, process or supplier was worth the extra effort. You your customers, the community you’re building, because you live it.
But that can also make it difficult to step back and see the business objectively.
That’s where I come in.
I bring an outside perspective, strategic thinking and a lot of design experience to the table, without bringing a big agency team, twelve layers of approval or a load of jargon with it.
Just me, working directly with you.
TWO THINGS I BELIEVE
Good branding isn't decoration.
I like good-looking things as much as the next person. Probably more, actually.
But a brand isn't successful because someone chose a nice typeface.
It needs to do a job.
It should make it easier for the right people to understand what you do, give them a reason to choose you and make your products recognisable and memorable. And I think the best independent product brands do something else too.
They give people something to identify with.
They have a point of view. They know what they care about, who they're for and what makes them different.
They make products people like, but they also give people a reason to come back.
That's the kind of brand I'm interested in building.
Strategy and design should work together.
I'm not interested in strategy that sits in a 40-page PDF and never sees the light of day.
And I'm not interested in making things look nice without understanding what we're trying to achieve.
The interesting bit happens slap bang in the middle.
We figure out what makes your business worth choosing, who you're trying to reach, where and how you can stand out and what you want people to think, feel and do when they encounter your brand.
Then we use that thinking to make something distinctive, useful and unmistakably yours.
My process gives that thinking some structure, while leaving plenty of room for collaboration and good ideas.
If you're building something good, I'M HERE TO MAKE IT LOOK THE PART.
Maybe you've outgrown the brand you started with.
Maybe you've built a great product but still struggle to get people to care enough to buy it.
Or maybe you've got ambitious plans for the business and need a brand that can grow with them.
That's the work I want to do.
Take everything that's already there, find the good stuff, make sense of it and turn it into a brand with enough character & clarity for you to take the business forward with confidence.
Not just something that looks good on launch day.
Something you can build a business around.
The Workshop
I run Walker Design Co. from my workshop in Ipswich, Suffolk. Here you’ll find me working on new brand identities, designing a new font, or flicking through a 1930’s magazine or newspaper cuttings to find inspiration. Workshop visits are strictly by appointment only, however I’m happy to welcome local clients to the workshop for a coffee during our discovery sessions!
WDCO Radio
Good work deserves a good soundtrack.
WDCO Radio is the studio stereo turned inside out - the playlists that fuel Walker Design Co. are available for you to stream, wherever you are. From retro pop to toe-tapping classics, these are the tracks that keep my ideas moving and creativity flowing.
Hit play, tune in, and let the music set the mood for your own projects. What’s more, hit the follow button and get a monthly playlist of the tunes that have been on repeat in WDCO Workshop.
