[Mz]

Not trying to be a jerk here, but: Identity is not something you purchase. Logos and all that are intended to communicate your identity, but your identity is who you are as a company and you cannot really buy that. (If you buy that, what are you? A puppet? A charlatan? I don't know.)

I worked for Aflac for over five years. That was an interesting experience and informs my view of this. I got a lot of insider info on how the company was established, created value, found ways to get market advantages and so forth. I also learned a fair amount of backstory behind their branding with the Aflac duck, the decision making process involved in that and so forth.

So, while designers and what not can play an important role in packaging your identity (aka "branding"), be careful with thinking about this as "buying your identity." That idea might go bad places and that might be part of why some folks here are kind of shooting down the idea of hiring designers and what not. If there isn't really anything to package, a beautiful package doesn't really do much for your business. First, you need a real product or service to offer. After that, you can add great packaging to enhance sales and mindshare and all that.

[paulcole]

> Not trying to be a jerk here, but: Identity is not something you purchase.

Brand Identity is definitely a defined service offering that is sold by individuals and agencies.

[danielhooper]

You can pay for a stylist to buy your clothes or cut your hair, but it won't change whether or not you are a fashionable person. That's you and your personality and you can't pay for a service to change that. The same is being said of businesses with no substance in which to create identity out of.

[Mz]

Thank you.