Montréal branding built French first.
An identity for a Québec business has a requirement identities elsewhere do not: French has to lead, on the sign, on the packaging, and in the system. Retrofitting that onto an English-first identity produces awkward lockups and expensive signage revisions. Designing it in from the first sketch produces something better in both languages.
A system, not a logo. Mark, wordmark, colour, type, and the application kit. Flat fee, quoted after a conversation.
Montréal brand market
French leads the system.
Québec signage rules require French to be markedly predominant where another language also appears, which is a design constraint before it is a legal one. It changes the proportions of a storefront lockup, the hierarchy on packaging, and how a bilingual wordmark can be built at all. A system designed with that from the start absorbs it. One designed in English absorbs it badly.
Length compounds it. French phrasing generally runs longer than the English equivalent, so a lockup whose proportions were set by a short English name will look cramped when the French goes in at greater prominence. Setting the proportions with French first solves both problems at once.
The upside is that Montréal rewards genuine design confidence. This is a city with a deep design culture and an audience that reads visual language closely, so a timid identity is noticed here more than it would be elsewhere.
Five steps from conversation to application kit.
Full scope on the branding page.
Brand conversation.
An hour or so on a call. The business, the customers, the words people already use about you, and the identities you wish you had instead. Whatever comes out of that call is the brief.
Three concept directions.
Three real directions, each shown as a small system: the mark, a wordmark lockup, a colour, a typeface. No moodboards, no Pinterest stitching. Three honest choices to react to.
Refine the system.
Two rounds of revision on the direction you pick. Logo, wordmark, colour, and type tuned together so they read as one identity rather than four parts pretending to match.
Build the brand sheet.
One document. The marks, the colour values, the typography, a short do and do not, a note on voice. Short enough to actually use, not a sixty-page brandbook nobody opens.
Deliver the application kit.
The pieces you need on day one: business card, email signature, social profile and post templates, letterhead. One folder, source files on request.
How we run this for a Montréal business.
A Montréal identity engagement sets the system in French first, so the lockup proportions, the signage hierarchy, and the packaging layouts are correct from the beginning rather than adjusted under pressure at the fabricator. English is built as a real parallel version rather than the original with a translation dropped in. The brand sheet documents which version goes where. Ownership transfers on final payment.
Every engagement starts with a free written audit, including the Montréal ones. If we think the budget is better spent somewhere else, we will say so before you commit to anything. See everything we do in Montréal.
What Montréal owners ask before they hire us.
Don’t see yours? Ask us directly.
How do Québec signage rules affect the identity?
Meaningfully. French has to be markedly predominant where another language also appears on signage, which changes the proportions and hierarchy of any bilingual lockup. We design to that from the start so it looks deliberate. We are not your compliance authority and will say so, but we will build the system so the question does not turn into a signage revision later.
Can we use our existing English identity and add French?
Sometimes, and we will look at it honestly. If the mark is strong and the wordmark can carry a longer French version without breaking, adding a properly designed French lockup is the cheaper path. If the proportions were built entirely around a short English name, adding French tends to produce something that visibly does not fit.
What is the difference between this and just a logo?
A logo is one mark. An identity is the mark plus the colour, the type, the spacing rules, and the templates that make everything downstream look like it came from the same business. If you only need a mark, take the smaller service and keep the money.
Do we own everything?
Yes, on final payment, source files included on request. No licensing terms and no usage restrictions. You should never have to ask permission to use your own identity.
Do we need to rebrand, or just tidy up what we have?
Usually the second one, and we will say so even though it is the smaller job. A business with real recognition in its market should be very careful about throwing that away. Most identities need consistency and better files, not a new name and a new mark.
Short answers
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