A Toronto branding agency since 2002: positioning, tagline, logo design, voice and the materials, in one system and one brand book. When the name is worth keeping we upbrand instead of rebranding, as for Berg Chilling Systems in 2017. Four phases; scope and range on a 20-minute call.
The products got better, the customers got bigger, and the logo, the brochure and the website still belong to the company of ten years ago.
For the brand to carry the company it has to say in one line what you do and for whom, look like that on everything the sales team hands out, and do it without throwing away the name the market already knows.
Where we differ
When the name has recognition we upbrand: keep the name and the mark, renovate the rest. Berg Chilling Systems kept its wordmark in 2017 and set out to triple sales with the new brand and website; ABC Funds got a master brand and an identity for each fund in 2015 to 2016. A range on the 20-minute call, the number in writing after it.
Awards
Toronto
24 years
Independent since 2002
Industries
Clients
(01) What you get
What changes for you. Files you own, decisions explained, nothing you cannot use without us.
01
What you do, for whom, and why you and not the other firm. One page, in plain words, agreed with the owner before any design starts. For Berg it was one clear statement of the business; the clever word plays on cold were considered and dropped because engineers do not buy cleverness.
02
Written about what you do for customers, not about machines or markets. Short enough for the sign over the door.
03
The mark, the wordmark, colour, type and the rules for using them. Works in one colour, on a pen and on a truck.
04
How the company writes: a page of rules with examples, so the website, the proposals and the LinkedIn posts sound like one firm.
05
Brochure, presentation, signage, stationery, email signature, social templates. Designed and produced, not just drawn.
06
Everything above in one document, plus the files, so a new designer or a printer gets it right without calling us.
(02) Logo design
The logo falls apart at small sizes, and nobody knows which file is the right one.
The current logo was drawn for a letterhead and now has to live on a phone screen, a truck and a trade-show wall, in one colour on an invoice and in full colour on a sign. For it to work everywhere, it has to be designed for the smallest and the largest place at once, come in every file format a printer or a developer will ask for, and arrive with two pages of rules so the well-meaning intern does not stretch it. If the name already has recognition, we update the mark rather than replace it: Berg Chilling Systems kept the shape of its wordmark in 2017 and everyone who knew Berg still recognised it.
01
Wordmark, lettermark, symbol or emblem. Each fits a different business; we choose with you and say why.
02
Concepts shown on real things: a business card, a sign, a web header, a social avatar. Not a logo floating on a white page.
03
Versions for full colour, one colour, reversed on dark, and small sizes where detail disappears.
04
Vector (AI, SVG, PDF) and raster (PNG) at the sizes print and web ask for. Fonts named, colours in Pantone, CMYK, RGB and HEX.
05
Clear space, minimum size, what not to do. Two pages that save you from a logo squeezed into a banner by a well-meaning intern.
06
A short line that states your position in the market. Optional; some logos should stand alone.
According to Vistaprint (2026), an entry-level freelancer charges CAD $210 to $1,100 for a logo, an experienced freelancer or design contest CAD $1,100 to $3,500 and an agency CAD $3,500 to $14,000 or more; DesignRush (2026) gives CAD $140 to $3,000 for a logo alone and CAD $3,000 to $14,000 when it comes with a brand identity. The spread is about research, number of concepts, product-line versions and what is delivered with the mark. A logo on its own is the smallest project we take on; a short brief gets you a number in writing.
If the company knows what it stands for and only the mark is dated, a logo project is enough. If the positioning, the voice and the materials are also from another era, start with branding and the logo comes with it. The test: can your team say in one sentence why a customer should pick you. If yes, logo. If not, branding.
Four that matter for a small business: wordmarks, the name in custom type; lettermarks, the initials; symbols, a shape that stands alone and needs years to become known; and emblems, text inside a shape, common for institutions. Most small businesses are best served by a wordmark, because the name is the logo and people remember it from the first ad. Berg Chilling Systems is a wordmark.
Yes, and often that is the better choice. Berg Chilling Systems, a manufacturer since the 1970s, kept the shape of its wordmark and got a modern colour and a small typographic change; everyone who knew Berg still recognised it. An update costs a fraction of a new identity and keeps the recognition you paid for over the years. Send us the current files and we tell you which of the two it needs.
For testing a name or a mock-up, yes; for the mark you will trademark and print, no. Vistaprint (2026) prices DIY and AI logo makers at CAD $0 to $210 and places them at the bottom of its range for a reason: no exclusivity, no vector files built for print, and nobody checks whether the mark already belongs to someone. Use the generator to explore, then bring the two directions you like to the brief.
Yes. On final payment the rights transfer to you with the source files: vector AI and SVG, PNG in every size, and the colour and type specifications. We keep a copy to show the work. You can take the files to any printer or agency without asking us.
Two rounds on the chosen direction, after you pick from the concepts we present. More rounds are possible and are quoted by the hour so the project price stays the project price. In practice most logos are approved inside the two rounds, because the brief is agreed before the first concept is drawn.
(03) Process
You approve each step before the next starts, and you know how many hours of your own time each one takes.
01 / Phase 1
Interviews with the owner, sales and a few customers. Competitors, market, what the company is actually good at. You see the findings before anything is designed.
02 / Phase 2
The brand key: a one-page map of the company, its audience and its essence. It yields the positioning, the tagline options and the design brief.
03 / Phase 3
Concepts shown on real things: a brochure cover, a truck, a sign, a web page. You judge the system, not a logo on a white sheet.
04 / Phase 4
The chosen direction refined, the materials produced, the brand book written. We can run the launch and the printers, or hand the files to your team.
(04) Price
Two companies asking for the same thing rarely need the same work, so the number is set for yours. You leave the 20-minute call with a range; the written number follows, usually within the week.
Written number after it
What the quote covers:
02 / What moves the price
Three things decide the number
The number is confirmed in writing before work starts and does not move unless the scope does. CAD, before HST.
All services →(05) Work
Each case: the task, what we did and, where we have it, the result with its period.
01 / Manufacturing
Sales tripled
2017 to 2023 · Berg management, as told to NDG
Berg Chilling Systems
Brand audit, Logo update, Tagline and brand voice, Corporate materials, Corporate and product websites.
Read the case →
02 / Financial services
12 years a client
2013 to 2024 · NDG invoice records
ABC Funds
Website redesign, French website, Brand identity, Fund sub-brands, KYC forms, Support 2016 to 2024.
Read the case →All workMore case studies, by industry and by service.
See all case studies →(06) Questions
According to DesignRush (2026), a basic brand identity costs CAD $7,000 to $35,000 and a full branding package CAD $28,000 to $140,000 or more; Clutch (2026) reports most branding projects between CAD $14,000 and $70,000, with US and Canadian agencies at CAD $140 to $210 an hour; Shopify (2026) puts an agency's starting rate at about CAD $14,000 to $21,000. Three things move the number: whether the name stays, how many sub-brands need their own identity, and how many materials follow approval. A short brief gets you the number in writing.
If the name and the mark have years of recognition in your industry, keep them and renovate everything else: that is an upbrand. Berg Chilling Systems, a manufacturer since the 1970s, kept its wordmark and got a new colour, tagline, materials and website. A rebrand is for a new business, a merger, or a name that works against you. An upbrand also costs less and carries less risk with existing customers.
According to Shopify (2026), a brand refresh runs four to six weeks and a full brand overhaul three to five months at minimum; DesignRush (2026) gives 4 to 12 weeks for a full branding engagement and 3 to 6 months when strategy is heavy. Our projects follow the same shape: the Understand and Synthesize phases take the longest because they involve your people, and design goes faster once the brief is agreed. The plan with dates comes with the written price.
Brand identity is the system that makes a company recognisable: the logo and its variants, colour, typography, image style, tone of voice, and the rules for using them, written in a brand book. A branding project adds the thinking underneath: positioning, the one sentence about why a customer picks you, and the messages for each audience. Deliverables run from a two-page guide for a small business to a full system with templates for every material.
Look for a case in your kind of business with dates, the names of the people who will do the work, and a written scope before the price. Then check the reviews: we have 5.0 on Clutch from 28 verified reviews as of 2026, with manufacturers and financial firms among them. Ask each agency the same question, what would you keep from our current brand, and compare the answers; the one that wants to throw everything away has not looked.
Mostly. ABC Funds, Caldwell, Berg Chilling Systems, Kin-Lai. We know what a disclaimer does to a layout and what a shop floor does to a brochure. See Industries. Professional services firms as well; no case study for them yet, ask on the call.
A brand book, the logo and system files in every format, the materials we produced, and the voice guide, delivered as a shared folder you own. Everything is yours to use with any printer or agency; no file is held back and no licence runs out. Templates for the materials your team produces every month are part of the system, so the brand survives after the project.
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