Using AI to Build a Brand: Palette, Type and a Logo Brief

Write a one-page brand brief first, then use AI to propose a five-colour palette and a two-font pairing from it, test every text and background pair for contrast yourself, and hand a designer a logo brief rather than an AI-made logo. Run a trade mark check on the name and logo before you print or register anything.

AI is fast at producing options and poor at judging them, which suits this job. It can give you twenty palette ideas in a minute. It cannot tell you whether pale pink text will be readable on a phone in daylight, or whether the name you like belongs to someone else. So the exploring goes to AI and the testing stays with you. How the brand sounds is a separate job, set out in the brand voice guide tutorial; what follows is how it looks and whether you can own it.

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Start with a one-page brief the assistant can read

Palettes drawn from "modern, clean, friendly" look like every other shop. Specific facts produce specific results. Write a half-page note the assistant will use for every later step. An illustrative one, for a small online florist:

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BRAND NOTE (illustrative)
Shop: small online florist, seasonal bouquets and a few vases
Customers: people sending gifts, mostly 28-55, ordering on a phone
Three words we want: warm, natural, a little playful
Three words we do not want: luxury, clinical, cute
Where the brand appears: website, packaging (kraft boxes with a
  sticker), Instagram, delivery cards, a van sign later
Things we cannot change: boxes are kraft brown; flowers supply
  many colours so the brand must not fight them
What we like: (two or three shops whose look you admire, and why)
What we dislike: neon colours, script fonts that are hard to read

The "cannot change" line is easy to forget and saves a lot of wasted options. A palette that clashes with kraft packaging or with fifty colours of flowers is a bad palette for this shop, however nice it looks on a screen.

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Step one: a five-colour palette with a job for each colour

A working palette has roles, not just shades. Ask for the roles and the reasoning together:

Using the brand note, propose three different palettes of five
colours each. For every colour give: a name, a hex code, and its
job (text, background, main brand, accent, soft tint). Rules:
- One near-black for text, one off-white for backgrounds.
- The main brand colour must work as a button with white text.
- Avoid pure black and pure white.
- Say in one line why each palette suits the brand note.
Do not state contrast ratios; I will test them myself.

An illustrative palette from the answer, which the owner picked:

A useful guide for how much of each colour to use is the 60-30-10 rule: about 60% background (cream), 30% secondary and text (ink and sage), 10% accent (plum, with blush as decoration). It is a starting point, not a law. Ask the assistant to describe how each page type would look under it: a product page, the delivery card, the sticker.

Test every pair for contrast, with a checker, not the chat

Contrast ratio is a number from 1 to 21 that compares the brightness of text and its background. The accessibility guideline most websites follow, WCAG, asks for at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text, which it defines as 18 point or bigger, or 14 point bold or bigger. These matter for readability in sunlight and for customers with weaker eyesight, and they are a reasonable bar for printed cards too.

Use a free online contrast checker where you type two hex codes. For the palette above, the results are:

Blush on cream fails badly as text, which is why its job is "soft tint". A lighter green that first looked pretty, such as #7A9E7E, scored about 2.8 to 1 on cream and just under 3 to 1 (2.99) with white text, so it fails for ordinary text and buttons. Swapping to the deep sage fixed it, and it took ten minutes to find. Ask the assistant for a darker version of any colour that fails, then test the replacement yourself. If you ask a chat assistant for the ratio directly, check at least one answer against the checker; the numbers it quotes are often wrong.

Step two: two typefaces and a size scale

A typeface pairing needs only two fonts: one for headings and one for body text, or one font in two weights. Give the assistant constraints it can work with, including where the fonts will be used, because print and web have different needs.

Suggest three pairings of two typefaces for a small florist's
brand (see brand note). Constraints:
- Must be free to use commercially, on a website and on printed
  cards and stickers; I will check each licence myself.
- Body font must be easy to read at 16 px on a phone.
- No script fonts for body text; one display or script option for
  headings is acceptable if it stays readable at 24 px.
- Give a one-line reason for each pairing and a fallback system
  font for the website.
Then give a size scale: body, small, h3, h2, h1 in px.

An illustrative answer: a friendly serif for headings, a clean sans for body and buttons, a fallback of the system serif and system sans. The scale it proposes might be body 16 px, small 14 px, h3 20 px, h2 28 px, h1 40 px. Confirm four things before you commit: the licence covers commercial web use, print and use in a logo if you plan that; the font has all the weights you need; any accented characters your product names need are included; and the font loads fast on a phone. Most fonts on Google Fonts, for example, use the SIL Open Font License and some use Apache 2, and Google's own font repository advises reading the licence for every font you use, so read the one for your chosen font rather than assuming.

A short before and after. Before: three different fonts on the shop's website, a delivery card in a fourth and a sticker in a fifth, all picked on the day. After: one heading font and one body font everywhere, sizes from the scale, and a line in the brand note: "No other typefaces." Consistency is most of what makes a small brand look deliberate. For help carrying it across social posts, see the on-brand social graphics tutorial.

Step three: the logo brief a designer can use

A brief is a short document that says what the logo must do, so the designer spends time designing rather than guessing. AI is good at turning your notes into a clean brief and at listing questions you forgot to answer. It is a weaker choice as the logo maker. A logo generated by AI can look fine on screen and fail on a sticker, and ownership of the image is uncertain: the tutorial on AI logo risks covers copyright and quality, and the designer rights tutorial explains what designers can promise.

A filled-in one-page brief, illustrative:

LOGO BRIEF
Business: online florist, seasonal bouquets, gift deliveries
Name: [shop name]  (trade mark check: pending)
What the logo must do: be recognisable at 20 mm on a sticker and
  on a phone screen at 32 px high; work on kraft brown and cream
Feeling: warm, natural, a little playful; not luxury, not cute
Audience: gift buyers aged 28-55, ordering on a phone
Shapes and ideas we like: simple leaf or stem shapes, hand-drawn
  feel; we do not want a rose or a heart
Colours: deep sage #3F6B47 and ink #2B2A33, plus a one-colour version
Fonts: heading font [name]; designer may suggest a custom wordmark
Competitors and what to avoid: (two names; avoid similar shapes)
Deliverables: vector master (SVG and PDF), full colour, one-colour,
  white-on-dark, small-size icon version, square social profile
  version, favicon at 32 and 180 px
Rights: full assignment of copyright to the shop on payment; no
  stock or AI-generated elements unless disclosed in writing
Timeline and budget: [fill in]

Ask the assistant to read the brief back as a designer and list the five questions they would ask. Typical ones are: does the name need a tagline, will it ever appear embossed or on a van, and who signs off? Answer them in the brief and the first round of designs will be much closer.

What the designer should hand back

• A vector master file (SVG, PDF or similar) that scales without blurring.
• Full-colour, one-colour, reversed (white on dark) and icon-only versions.
• A small-size test: the logo at 20 mm printed and 32 px on screen.
• A short usage note: clear space, minimum size, what not to do.
• A written statement that the work is original and assigned to you.

Step four: check the trade mark before you commit

A trade mark is a registered right in a name, logo or slogan used to sell goods or services, and it is limited to the places and the categories of goods where it is registered. Using a name someone else has registered for similar goods can force you to stop, reprint and rebrand. Do the cheap checks first and the expensive one only for a name you intend to keep.

1. Search the web and social sites for the name plus your product type. Note any shop with the same or a similar name selling similar things.
2. Check domains and social handles you would want. A taken domain with an active business is a warning sign.
3. Search the official trade mark registers for each place you sell, using the name, similar spellings and the category that covers your goods. The main registers have online search tools.
4. Ask the assistant to brainstorm variations to search, such as spellings that sound alike, not to report results. It cannot reliably search a register.
5. Ask a trade mark professional for a clearance search and advice before you file, print packaging in volume or paint a van.

The AI trade mark search tutorial explains what automated searches find and miss. If you are not selling widely yet, a first check in your main market is a start, but anyone shipping abroad should ask what protection they need elsewhere. Using AI to write the paragraph for your records, with dates and what you searched, is a sensible job: "Searched [register] on [date] for [name], found no identical mark in the florist category. Similar marks found: [list]. Advice requested from a trade mark professional on [date]."

A palette that looked right on the laptop and failed outdoors

An illustrative case. A small shop picks a soft peach button colour (#F2B79B) with white text because it looks friendly on a laptop in the office. On phones, visitors add a bouquet to the basket and then hesitate, and the owner eventually notices that the button label is hard to read outdoors in daylight. A contrast checker gives that pair about 1.7 to 1, far under the 3 to 1 minimum even for large text.

The fix is a deeper terracotta (#B5532F) that gives white text about 4.9 to 1, with the soft peach kept for backgrounds. The owner could not prove the button was the whole reason for the drop, because other things changed too, but the checker made the problem visible within a minute, which no amount of looking at the design had done. The lesson: test the colour pairs you will actually place together, on a phone, outdoors, before you print or publish.

Try the brand on real surfaces before you pay for anything

A palette is easiest to judge when it is on something. Before the designer starts, make a rough mock-up of five surfaces in a free design tool or a slide: a product page header, a delivery card, a sticker on a kraft box, an Instagram post and a business card. Use plain text for the shop name in the chosen heading font. No logo yet. If the surfaces look right with just colour and type, the system works; if the sticker looks muddy on kraft brown, you have found a problem that is cheap to fix now.

Ask the assistant to critique rather than praise. A prompt that works: "Here is my palette card and type card, and a list of the five surfaces. For each surface, tell me what is likely to go wrong and how I would test it. Be specific about printing, small sizes and phone screens. Do not say the design looks good." A typical reply raises useful points: the blush tint may disappear on a cheap printer, the plum on kraft brown will look dull, a script heading at 14 px will not hold up. You then test the three you believe.

Screen colours and print colours are not the same

Screens mix light (RGB), and printers mix ink (CMYK), so a hex code seen on a monitor will not match a printed sticker exactly. Greens and bright purples are especially likely to shift. Ask the printer for a proof, a sample printed on the real stock, before a full run, and compare it by daylight rather than under office lights. Keep a note of any adjustment the printer makes, such as a slightly darker green, in your palette card, so the next job matches. The designer should supply print values as well as hex codes in the logo pack.

Writing the palette card and type card so the next person can use them

The point of a brand is that other people, such as a freelancer, a printer or a friend making a poster, can follow it without asking you. Ask the assistant to turn your decisions into two one-page cards. An illustrative extract of a palette card:

PALETTE CARD
Ink #2B2A33 : all body text and headings. Never pure black.
Cream #FAF6EF : page and card backgrounds.
Deep sage #3F6B47 : buttons, links, the logo. White text on it only.
Plum #6B3A5B : sale tags and one highlight per page, no more.
Blush #E8B4B8 : panels and borders. Never text.
Tested pairs: ink on cream, deep sage on cream, white on deep sage,
  white on plum, ink on blush.
Never use: sage on blush, blush on cream, any colour on photos
  without a solid panel behind the text.

The "never use" line is as useful as the colours. It records the problems you found when testing, so nobody repeats them. Ask the assistant to add a "What if" list too: what to do if a print job cannot match the green, which pale grey to use for disabled buttons, and which of the five colours is allowed to appear next to a product photograph.

Keeping the brand consistent when AI makes the content

Once you have a palette and type, you will want AI to help with posts, emails and product images. Give it the cards. A short instruction block is enough: "Use only these five colours by hex code. Use only these two typefaces. Write in the voice guide's tone." Image tools do not follow hex codes strictly, so treat their output as a draft and correct the colours in an editor. The brand guidelines for AI images tutorial goes into limits on style and colour, and it is worth a read before you put AI images on packaging or a website.

One more habit: keep a folder with the final files and a page that says who may change them. A brand drifts when three people each fix "one small thing". A quarterly five-minute check, comparing your latest three posts and your website with the cards, catches drift before customers see it.

Reviewing designer concepts against the brief

When the first concepts arrive, resist the first reaction of "I like it" or "I do not". Score each concept against the brief with a simple grid: one row per requirement (recognisable at 20 mm, works on kraft and cream, one-colour version holds up, no rose or heart, feels warm and not cute), and a mark of yes, partly or no. Paste the grid and the designer's notes into the assistant and ask it to turn your marks into polite, specific feedback: "Concept B meets four of five requirements; the one-colour version loses the stem detail, so please simplify it." Feedback that points to the brief is easier for a designer to act on than a general feeling, and it keeps the project from drifting into a third round.

Print each concept at the smallest size you will use it, on the sticker stock if you can, and view the screen version at 32 px high on a phone. A logo that only works large is not finished. If you plan a custom wordmark rather than a standard font, ask who owns the font file and whether you can use it for packaging and signs, because custom lettering is often supplied as outlines only.

What goes in the handover folder

When the designer returns, collect everything in one place and write a one-page "how we use the brand" note with the assistant's help. Keep it as short as it can be:

Time and cost for this work, excluding the designer's fee: about two hours for the brand note and palette, one hour for type and licence checks, an hour for the brief and an hour for the first trade mark checks. A paid chat plan, ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month or Claude Pro at $17 billed annually, covers the whole process, and free plans are workable. If you use Canva for your templates, check the plan before you load the palette: the free plan's single Brand Kit holds three colours only, so a five-colour palette needs Pro ($144 a year for one person, five Brand Kits), and Canva's Premium AI tools draw on a monthly allowance that varies by plan.

Questions before you brief a designer

Should I let AI design my logo?

Use it to explore ideas and write the brief, not to produce the final mark. Images made by AI may not be protectable as your own, may resemble existing marks and rarely arrive as clean vector files. A designer can turn your brief into an original, usable logo with the files a shop needs.

How many colours does a small brand need?

Five is plenty: one dark for text, one light for backgrounds, one main brand colour, one accent and one soft supporting tint. Give each a name, a hex code and a job. More colours make a shop look busy and are harder to keep consistent across a website, packaging and social posts.

Can AI check whether my colours are readable?

Do not rely on it. Chat assistants often quote contrast ratios that are wrong. Use a free contrast checker and test every text and background pair you plan to use. The accessibility guideline asks for at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text.

Does a trade mark search need a lawyer?

You can do a first knock-out search yourself in the official registers for the places you sell, but a professional search and filing is worth the cost once you have chosen a name and logo. AI cannot search a register for you reliably, and a missed conflict can force a rebrand.

Further reads

• Food Truck Name Generator AI: Prompts, Trademark and Domain Checks — Name generation with domain and trade mark checks.
• AI Restaurant Logo Generator: Trademark and Print Checks Before Signage — Print and signage checks before a logo goes on a sign.
• Print on Demand Trademark Check: Screen Slogans and Designs With AI — Screens slogans and designs for conflicts.
• AI Brand Naming: A Studio Workflow With Domain and Trademark Checks — How a studio names a brand with checks.
• How to Write AI Prompts That Sound Like Your Business — Prompts that keep AI copy sounding like your shop.
• How Agencies Keep Brand Voice Consistent in AI-Written Content — How agencies keep one voice across many writers.
• Best AI for Brand Identity: Logos, Palettes and What Still Needs a Designer — What a branding studio still does by hand.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: W3C Understanding WCAG 2.2, Contrast (Minimum); google/fonts repository README on licences; canva.com/pricing; claude.com/pricing; openai.com ChatGPT pricing (all checked 5 November 2026). Contrast ratios computed with the WCAG formula. Trade mark law differs by place and is not quoted.