The Branding Blog
Design tips, tricks, and all you need to know to grow your bold business through branding.
7 Brand Extension Ideas for Your Small Business
Here at Dox Design, we’re big fans of brand extensions because they are a true sign that our client not only loves, but takes pride in, the brand we created for them. Brand extensions sound more complex than they really are. Formally, a brand extension...
How to use Pinterest for Design Inspiration in Your Branding
Pinterest is a powerful visual search engine that can provide inspiration for all aspects of branding, including logos, websites, packaging, and product design. It’s a platform that allows you to save and organize images, videos, and other creative content in boards....
6 Unique Ways To Use Branding In Your Business
Picture this… you’re a small business owner who hired a graphic design team to create a custom logo, brand elements, font suite, and select brand colors to tell a visual story. You are furiggin’ OBSESSED with the results of the rebrand and have applied changes to your...
Achieve Your 2023 Business Goals With A New Brand
I love the promise and excitement that comes with the start of a new year! When done correctly, new year goals and resolutions can really help you take things to the next level… especially in your small business. It’s a chance to pause, assess what’s working and what...
Does good branding make your small business more money?
As a small business owner, we’re going to guess you wear 10 hats - maybe even more? The buck stops with you, right? You’re working long hours, you’re carrying the weight of the entire business on your shoulders, and you’re full of pride and joy for this business...
Design Trends – To follow them or not?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from history, it’s that trends come and go. We don’t have to look much further than fashion to know this to be true. For all my fellow millennials out there, we know how trendy skinny jeans used to be, and now (apparently) it’s...
5 Ways to Re-Energize Your Brand in 2022
We’re days away from 2022, and as the saying goes: New Year, New You… or, New Brand! We like to think of design and brand as entities in and of themselves. As people, we are likely to take this time to reflect on the kinds of people we want to be in the new year. We...
9 Ways to Prepare Your Brand for the Holiday Season
The holidays are finally here! If your first instinct as a business owner is to freak out over everything you need to do, then we strongly encourage you to pause, take a deep breath, and slow down. After all, the holidays are supposed to be FUN, and not just for your...
The Ultimate List of 2022 Holidays You Can Use in Your Marketing
We’ve had lots of our Fur Friends asking, and drumroll, please……… The day has finally come! Your Ultimate List of 2022 Holidays: Pet Holidays and Beyond! This year, we’ve changed it up a bit and have also included plenty of non-pet-related holidays so...
What Color Palettes Say About Your Brand
One of the main reasons why so many people love the autumn season is the beautiful array of colors all around us! This month for our “What is a Brand?” Series, we’re going to be covering color palettes. What does a color palette say about your brand, and how do you...
How to Set Your Business Up For Success with Self-Care
Last month on our blog, we mentioned self-care during the summer and how important it is to take care of yourself so you are better prepared to take care of your business. With that in mind, we’ve been thinking more and more about business burnout. After a tough 2020,...
5 Ways to Create Passive Income Streams (AND ENJOY) This Summer
Pop quiz: What’s just as important as making money for small business owners? The answer: Self-care. Come on, don’t roll your eyes! 🙄 Think about it. How can your business thrive if the person who runs it isn’t thriving? If you’re like us, you love being on the grind...
How To Use Dogs (or Other Pets) in Your Business Marketing
The world is a diverse place, but one thing most people have in common is a love of animals, namely pets. That’s why, more and more, you’re seeing pets being showcased in marketing strategies. And we’re not just talking about pet businesses, either. We’re seeing this...
Creative Marketing Ideas to Celebrate National Pet Week
The first week of May (1st-7th) is National Pet Week, which is very convenient for our special Fur Friends since May 7th also happens to be National Packaging Design Day! As small pet business owners, one of your many responsibilities is to engage your audience via...
Spring Clean Your Brand: Find Out What’s Working (& What’s Not)
There’s a reason why “spring cleaning” is so widely applicable to every area of our lives. Think about the revolving seasons, and what Spring means after a long winter of burrowing in stagnancy: re-birth, renewal… coming back to life! When that fresh air hits and...
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Dox Design Branding Process
When you sign up for a service, you trust that magic will happen and your results will be delivered, right? After all, that’s why we rely on professionals to get the job done! Still, it’s always better to take a look behind the curtain—that way, you can see what level...
3 Creative Pet Brands Who Are D.I.Y (Doing It Themselves!)
Ever wonder what happens after you work with Dox Design? One concern we’ve heard from potential Fur Friends is that they’ll be left to their own devices after being given their tools, especially when it comes to design. But the beauty of working with Dox Design (and...
Dox Design’s Design Lab – Ongoing Design Support for Small Businesses
Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, January is a great month to plan for the year ahead; a fresh start in thinking about where you want to be professionally 12 months down the line. But we know how overwhelming, even how intimidating, it can be not...
What To Do Once You Upgraded Your Business Branding: The Small Biz Machine
We like to think of a business as a machine. A machine has gears and gadgets and cogs that, when all pieced together, builds a successfully working piece of equipment. One of those cogs in the machine? Your visual brand. (That’s where we come in!) And obviously, as...
The Ultimate List of 2021 Pet Holidays
Back by popular demand our master list of pet holidays are here! ICYMI last year we created an ENTIRE calendar with a year's worth of graphics and captions. The calendar is now more than 80% off and you can snag it here! January Pet Holidays Month-Long...
Creative Swag for Pet Businesses and Where to Get It
Come on, admit it: you love swag just as much as we do! Having branded swag to offer your customers is not only a fun way to market your small business, but a creative way of taking care of your clients’ needs. Just about everyone can use something that’s cute and...
The Dox Design Guide on How to Roll Out Your New Brand
Let’s be real, Fur Friends. Launching a brand is no trivial thing, and should never be treated as such. Think about what you see when you drive past a brand new business: enormous banners and flags, maybe even those wacky inflatable dancing balloons… needless to say,...
Printing Resources For Your Business and Branding Materials
If you ask around, some might say that print marketing is a thing of the past. Everyone and everything is online these days, so wouldn’t that be the best way to reach your audience? As small business owners ourselves, we’re here to tell you that this idea is false,...
The Difference Between Inspiration and Copying: How to Make Designs Your Own
Alright, fur friends. Let’s be real. As small pet business owners, you’ve got a lot on your plate. From managing the day-to-day business operations, keeping your customers satisfied, and making sure you’re staying on top of your marketing, how much time is left over...
Uploading Your Gif To Giphy!
Ever wondered how other businesses have their logos beautifully animated on their Instagram Stories? Because, we sure did! As more and more consumers flock to Instagram Stories to learn more about brands and what products and services their favorite influencers and...
All Things Business Creativity and Creation with Jeannie from Ripley & Rue (2020 Webinar Series)
Creativity is everything to us. It’s what makes our hearts sing, our tails wag, our… Too cheesy? Ahh, keep reading! If you ever wanted to learn how some of these brands stand out in the pet product industry with their #droolworthy branding and packaging, you can...
DIY Graphic Design: Canva For Small Businesses
It can be hard to know where to begin when it comes to designing graphics for your small business. Especially if you don’t have much experience with the more advanced design software, like Photoshop, Indesign, or Illustrator. We get it. And for those who are looking...
Forget Brand Envy, Overwhelm, And Lacking Visuals: Experience The Dox Design Difference
Running a business is hard. Plain and simple. We 100% get it and we’ve been there. Have you ever: - Found yourself in the black hole of the Internet, stalking your competitors’ websites and social media wishing that your brand could look just as amazing or...
Dope Product Packaging And How To Get Started with Michael From Dope Dog(2020 Webinar Series)
Okay, this brand is...well, pretty dope (no pun intended). If you ever wanted to learn how some of these brands stand out in the pet product industry with their #droolworthy branding and packaging, you can because Dox Design put together the top brands in the pet...
How To Find The Right Designer For Your Brand
Okay, so you know you need a designer. Awesome! That’s the easy part. The hard part? Finding the right one for you. And hey, before you get any ideas, we aren’t here to tell you 100% that you need us. That’s not the point of this blog post. The point of this blog...
All Things Community, Content, and Social Media with Tori Mistick of Wear Wag Repeat (2020 Webinar Series)
I’m sure you’ve heard of this girl. And, if you haven’t...well...it’s time to familiarize yourself before watching this interview. If you ever wanted to learn from the best and brightest in the pet industry all about creating content on social media that helps build a...
Resources To Master Your Pet Brand
You are probably aware of the hundreds if not thousands of resources out there to run a business. It can honestly be overwhelming. We’ve been there ourselves. So, we’ve decided to compile a list of resources for those of you who are wanting to master your brand from...
Master Your Brand with Claire Wolfson of BeanGoods
Ever wonder how these pet brands out there are seriously #killingit when it comes to their cult followings, instant brand recognition, and seemingly endless success? Would you want a chance to hear their brand secrets, best tips, and stories? Dox Design did, too,...
10 Dog Moms Shirts You Need Right Now
While branding and design is at the heart of what we do at Dox Design, at the end of the day, we’ll always be Dog Moms first and foremost! One of our favorite things about being in the pet industry is seeing all the pawsome products launched by fabulous brands we love...
20 Things To Do In 2020 To Upgrade Your Brand
Another year is upon us, which means Dox Design is in high gear, working to help our amazing clients and community build effective brands they love. While planning our strategy for the new year, we put together a list of 20 things you can do in 2020 to upgrade your...
The Ultimate List of 2020 Pet Holidays
What’s your LEAST favorite part of marketing your pet business? Coming up with content ideas? Hey, we’ve been there! Figuring out what to post on social media, your blog, your monthly email newsletters...whatever it is - it can be overwhelming and stressful. Running a...
5 Brands That are Crushing the Packaging Game
We’re changing it up this month because we want to highlight the best of the best when it comes to business packaging. Because, this stuff is POWERFUL, guys. How powerful, you ask? Well, when you receive a light blue box with a beautiful white ribbon tied into the...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Paws
Let’s have a round of paws for this special #droolworthy feature! We’ve talked before about the endless and overwhelming amount of pet supplies out there in store aisles (specifically in our Wild One brand feature - if you haven’t read this one, you really should 👌)....
How To Successfully DIY Your Pet Brand Part 4: Brand Elements & Social Media
We’re wrapping up the How To Successfully DIY Your Pet Brand Blog Series Today with two VERY important pieces of your brand. In fact, if you implement both of these into your brand and business, you’re well on your way to stepping it up, wait for it….above and beyond...
How To Successfully DIY Your Pet Brand Part 3: Photography & Copy
Do you actually consider photography and copy a strategic part of your business’ brand? From our experience, most people confuse the term ‘branding’ with just colors and a logo. But, we’d actually argue over at Dox Design that your photography and copy are JUST as...
Blog Post Ideas For Your Pet Store
Running a pet store is A LOT of work. From a designer’s perspective here at Dox Design, it’s always worth it to invest in making sure that even if you have a large selection of different products, you still fall under one cohesive brand. Of course, that’s something we...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Wagg Foods
Today we bring to you a #droolworthy design a little different than the others because we wanted to show you a brand that was recently rebranded and upscaled to the MAX. The difference in this rebrand is as clear as night and day (kudos to the designers over at Robot...
How To Successfully DIY Your Pet Brand Part 2: Hierarchy & White Space
Hierarchy and White Space Both are topics often overlooked when it comes to building a reputable and cohesive brand. Both are also essential to the organization of your website and other visuals, such as social media graphics, packaging, and print material. Let’s get...
Blog Post Ideas For Your Pet Grooming Business
So, you finally got your pet grooming business professionally designed. It looks fantastic and you know there’s SO much value and you want the world to see it! You know that means you need to get the word out there and begin marketing. We’ve all heard how great...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Woodruff
As summer approaches, the vacation and adventure planning begins as well, which means our next #droolworthy feature needed to embody that spirit. 🛣 If you’ve been following along with our #droolworthy brand features, you might have noticed that each one encapsulates a...
An Interview With Dox Design Founder, Kaila Piepkow
As a design agency, it can be easy to fall behind-the-scenes without reallllly getting to know who we are as individuals. When people hear the word “agency,” they tend to think they’re working with people who don’t typically care about their brand and their business....
Client Spotlight – Lucky Dogs Canine Services
What does it even look like to work with us? What situations can we help with? What problems can we solve along the way? To help you see the branding and web design process of Dox Design, we are diving into the client experience of Lucky Dogs Canine Services. Amy came...
How To Successfully DIY Your Pet Brand Part 1: Colors & Fonts
Are you struggling to piece together your own brand or brand guidelines for your pet business? Maybe you’re not reaching the right people or you aren’t converting customers at a level you’d like. Regardless, the effectiveness of your branding can be a direct...
10 Simple Things You Can Do To Upgrade Your Brand Visuals
Building a brand can be overwhelming. As pet industry designers, we know it all too well. But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t certain things that you can do yourself to uplevel and upgrade your brand visuals. We compiled a list of some of the best things you can...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Ollie
By now, assuming you’ve been following along with some of our other #droolworthy features (which, if you haven’t… 🤦🏽♀️), you may be aware of some of the commonalities amongst the brands that earned the title of a DROOL WORTHY brand with Dox Design. These features...
5 Brands That Are Killing It On Instagram
We’ve got a startling statistic for you. Only about 10% of your Instagram followers are actually seeing your posts in their feed. MADNESS. What does this mean for you? It means it’s time to take a look at some of the other value Instagram offers for you as a pet...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Soenchie
Earthy, calm, handmade, inviting, natural, homey, warm, gentle, friendly. Some words to describe this month’s #droolworthy feature. Try to tell us you actually read the above adjectives to describe the following brand and DIDN’T feel personally invited to learn more....
The Importance Of A Branded Social Media Feed
Dox Design is always promoting the importance of having a strong and cohesive brand presence throughout your whole pet business. And for good reason. However, as most businesses default to focusing on their website and packaging, they end up leaving their social media...
Why You Should Be Content Planning
As branding and website designers for the pet industry, Dox Design has a primary focus on uplifting brands and setting them up for success as they move forward. Where a lot of pet businesses fall flat is taking their new branding and with it, utilizing a content...
5 Ways To Successfully Brand Your Pet Business
Yes, we know. Every single blog post that touches on the concept of branding starts out by mentioning the obvious: Branding is more than a logo. Been there, done that. If you do want to read about it, you can head here and soak up the info! But for now, here are the...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Zippy Paws
When it comes to building a pet business that stands out and converts customers online, branding is one of the first words that should pop in your head. Without it, you’re left with inconsistent strategy, messaging, and marketing that can leave your potential...
We Don’t JUST Do Branding & Web Design: Dox Design Pet Business Portfolio Showcase!
As a branding and web design agency for the pet industry, Dox Design works with many pet businesses in an effort to boost sales and increase awareness for their brand. But, did you know Dox Design does more than just web design and branding? We also help our clients...
Successful Packaging: Why It’s Important + How To Stand Out On The Counters
Here we are providing you with yet another important extension of your branding: Packaging. You heard that right. Successful pet business branding extends outside of your website and social media feeds. It’s not just online that needs to be cohesive, especially if you...
Drool-Worthy Design Feature: Wild One
As professional designers for the pet industry, we take notice of those pet-related brands that have amazing branding. We’re talking like...#droolworthy design here. These brands deserve to be noticed and appreciated in the hopes that it not only provides you with...
5 Ways to Stand Out in a Crowded Veterinarian Market
Tell me this. If you drive down a popular city street, how many veterinarian hospitals do you think you’ll see? At least a couple, right? It’s no secret that the veterinary market is very competitive, so what are some ways that your practice can ACTUALLY stand out...
The Ideal Veterinarian Website User Experience That You Need
Ahh, the dreaded website user experience. As a veterinarian or veterinary manager, you probably couldn’t care less about the technical aspects of your website and the science behind an effective user experience for your audience. But, you’d probably care if you knew...
Template Veterinary Website vs. Custom Veterinary Website Design
We’ll be honest. We acknowledge that different web design services work best for different veterinary practices. If your current website is working for you and you see no need to change or update it, then awesome. We’re happy for ya! But, if you see room to grow in...
Avoiding Scope Creep : The Project Killer
When we start a new project, we collaborate with our clients to develop a course of action that will help them achieve their goals - whether it’s a full strategic rebrand process or creating updated marketing materials. This ensures that we’re on the same page about...
An Honest Look Into The Design Process
Whenever I onboard a new client, I always get asked about 10,000 questions about our process—which is totally valid! Dox Design does our best to be as transparent as possible to give clients a step-by-step timeline of what we'll be doing for your project and when......
Why We Think Branding is More Than A Logo
Branding is More Than a Logo I have seen it too many times. A brand finds a premade logo on Pinterest or Creative Market and replaces the “Your Name Here” with their business name. They then slap it on everything and think, “Our marketing is done!” To be...
Is Your Business Hot or Cold?
How to Pick a Color Palette that Works for Your Brand Is Your Business Hot or Cold? No, we aren’t talking about weather in today’s blog post. We are talking about which colors are right for your brand. So, what does hot and cold have to do with the colors for...
Design Resources For Small Businesses
Design Resources For Small Businesses I am Giving Away All My Secrets Are you a small business owner who wears many hats? Maybe you do all the accounting, sales, and design of your business. Wow that’s a lot of hats, no worries though we get it and were here to...
Worlds Best Client
Are you a right fit for Dox Design The World's Best Client We have had the fortunate experience of working with some awesome people. Many just like us decided to start their own business, some of our clients are local and some we have never even met in person....
How to Give Valuable Feedback
How to Give Valuable Feedback on Your Dox Design Project Feedback is an essential part of collaboration and the design process. However, there’s a difference between valuable, thoughtful feedback and simply providing an opinion. 1. Ask Why I approach the...