Working draft from Sancto Studio. Long version with anonymized "before/after" examples coming next month.

The shift since 2024

Brand identity used to mean a logo, a colour palette, and a thirty-page PDF. In 2026, for software companies, it means: a logo, a colour system that works in dark and light mode, motion principles, an iconography kit, illustration direction, photography or 3D guidance, and a working design system in Figma your engineers can pull tokens from on day one.

Agencies that don't ship the design system don't ship for software.

Red flags

  • Portfolio is mostly print, packaging, or restaurants — they may not understand product context
  • No mention of design tokens, Figma libraries, or developer handoff in their process
  • "Strategy phase" of 6+ weeks before any visual work — bills hours, doesn't move you forward
  • "AI" in their pitch deck but the work looks identical to 2019
  • Won't share their actual contract until you commit verbally

Green flags

  • Recent shipped work for tech/SaaS that you actually recognize
  • References they offer up unprompted
  • Designers on the call are the designers who'd do the work (not "creative directors" who hand off to juniors)
  • Talk about your business model before talking about your moodboard
  • Hand over the working Figma library, not just JPEGs

Pricing reality

For a software brand in 2026:

  • Solo / boutique studio: $8k–$25k for logo + identity + basic system
  • Mid-tier agency: $30k–$80k for full identity, design system, marketing site direction
  • Big-name agency (Pentagram, COLLINS, Koto): $150k–$500k+

If you're pre-Series A and quoted above $50k for "just brand", you're probably overpaying. Ask for a smaller scope with a clear option to extend.

The 5 questions to ask before signing

  1. "Will you deliver the final Figma library, or only PDFs?"
  2. "Who specifically will work on this? Can I see their other work?"
  3. "What's your process for design tokens / dev handoff?"
  4. "Can you share a redacted scope-of-work from a recent similar project?"
  5. "What happens if I don't like the first direction?" (Good answer: built-in rounds. Bad: "we always nail it.")
The best brand work for software ships with the product. If your agency thinks of "the launch" as their job ending, they're not the right fit.