Are you making these 6 Brand Presentation mistakes?
- Deena Englard
- a few seconds ago
- 4 min read
After reviewing dozens of brand design presentations, I see certain mistakes that pop up pretty often. They aren't huge, glaring errors, but subtle missteps that quietly undermine all the hard work you put into designing a brand.
A great brand design can still fall flat if it's presented poorly.
Clients can get confused, lose confidence in your direction, or start requesting unnecessary changes—not because your work isn't strong, but because the presentation didn't help them see and understand your vision.
Below, I’m sharing the most common (and totally avoidable) mistakes I’ve seen in brand presentations, so you can avoid these pitfalls and present your work in a way that’s clear, strategic, and gets your clients excited and on board.
1. Making it difficult to read
Small text and lots of white space might look pretty. But it also needs to be functional. Make sure your hierarchy is clear and your text is legible. The smoother you make the process, the easier it will be for your client to understand, love, and approve your design.
Takeaway:
Use a minimum font size of 8-10pt and keep your paragraphs no wider than 60 characters long. Make sure you have a strong enough hierarchy that even non-designers will be easily able to follow.
2. Not explaining your design decisions
Clients aren’t designers. They haven’t put all the hours you have into understanding color psychology and the effect of different fonts on viewers. They don’t know how to evaluate a design strategically for how and why it works, just what they personally like.
If you ever got the feedback “It doesn’t talk to me” or “I don’t like green” then this step is probably what you were missing.
Don’t get lost in the weeds of your client’s personal taste. Instead, guide them through the strategy and thought process behind each aspect of their design.
Why does this font work best for their brand and business goals? What impression about their business does it convey to viewers? What emotion will these colors evoke? How do these all tie back to their business goals, the problem they’re solving with this branding, their unique position within their industry?
Make it clear how each and every element was chosen deliberately and is exactly what they need to succeed.
Takeaway:
Add as much backstory as you have, such as the color psychology, font personalities, and competitor analysis, to show the thoughtful reasoning behind each design decision.
3. Assuming clients will know how the branding will play out
Client’s aren’t always visual people. When they see a logo, they don’t know how to imagine how it will look when applied as a brand pattern on their packing tape. Or how those fonts and colors will play out on their website homepage.
Sharing a preview as to how the full branding comes together and looks in real life applications takes them out of the weeds of this shade of green and into the big picture vision.
It creates a powerful wow effect that builds their trust in your skills and ability to understand exactly what they need.
Takeaway:
Add mockups! From simple foil stamp mockups to images specific to their business, paint a picture of what their brand can be.
Pro Tip:
AI can be a helpful tool in coming up with mockup ideas and generating specific images to use as mockups.
4. Presenting an overwhelming amount of options
Imagine shopping for a new water bottle on Amazon. You search “spillproof green water bottle with straw” and get… 4,000 results. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not an expert in water bottles. I don’t know how to differentiate between so many bottles that look basically the same.
Clients also don’t have the training to compare strategically many different logo options. 1-2 sure. But 4-10? That’s overwhelming.
You’re the designer and know what works best and why one option is better than another one. Definitely create lots of options while working, but then narrow it down to the best possibilities. Only present ones that you know are great - not any that you will regret if your client chooses those (which they will!).
Decision fatigue is real and can result in poor choices and impulsive mistakes.
Making this decision difficult adds friction to the process. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to give the green light on the design you think is best for them.
Takeaway:
Less is more. Present just 1-2 strong options. The less time you spend creating numerous options, the more time you have to refine these and make them the best you can.
5. Forcing clients to remember each option mentally
If you are presenting multiple options, you can’t expect clients to remember each one by the end of the presentation. We don’t want them to have to keep scrolling back and forth to compare their options.
It’s much easier for everyone to have one page with all options laid out (don’t forget to number them for reference!) for easy comparison.
Takeaway:
Add a review page at the end of your presentation, recapping and numbering all design options for easy reference and comparison.
6. Making it difficult to refer back
Once we’re on the topic, don’t forget to number your design options. The last thing you want is for a client to say they love the green option only to find out after exporting all variations that they meant the other green option (the one that’s more of a teal in your opinion).
Having page numbers also helps with this. A client can reference, “I loved the pattern on page 25” and you’ll know exactly which one they’re referring to.
The big problem with page numbers is that they interrupt the design. I put them only on content pages and pages without full bleed images/mockups/designs. I also remove them on the first view of the logo design pages, to make sure the designs have their full impact.
Takeaway:
Add page numbers so clients can easily reference specific pages, keeping you both on the same page - literally.
A strong presentation isn’t about showing off your logo - it’s about helping your client understand and believe in your complete, purposeful brand system for them. Avoid these common mistakes, and IYH your presentations will go more smoothly, with fewer revision rounds and more confident approvals!
This is why I created a Brand Presentation Template that solves all of these problems in an easy-to-update file. You can check it out here!
