Letter A

Next Tuesday, March 10 I'll be presenting at The Print Design Summit. My talk is about how great packaging makes great content The Print Design Summit is a free, five-day virtual event for designers who want to design beyond screens. Learn how print and packaging move from screen to shelf, using real projects, materials, and decisions from designers doing the work right now. If you are a graphic designer and your work only lives on screens... join us. March 9–13 Get your Free ticket here! https://lnkd.in/g-2CxeuD #graphicdesign #printdesign #packagingdesign

JURY SPOTLIGHT Allison Henry Aver is the founder and Creative Director of Letter A, a boutique branding agency specializing in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands. With a distinctive eye for modern elegance and strategic design, Allison has helped shape memorable brand identities that balance aesthetic refinement with commercial impact. Allison currently serves as a juror for the Print Awards, bringing her expertise in visual storytelling, packaging, and brand expression to the evaluation of the year’s best work. Don’t miss your chance to enter — the Print Awards deadline is coming up soon on February 24th. Learn more about PRINT Awards at: www.printawards.co

This year Letter A turns 6. Six years of building strategic, creative foundations that ensure brands show up with confidence, alignment, and distinction across all their channels. We had a FANTASTIC year last year. We were able to attract more like-minded business partners and did even more of the work we love. I am extremely thankful for the people who trusted their brand with us last year and proud to share their names. 🍫 Spring & Mulberry 💍 Kinn Studio 👗 TANYA TAYLOR 👟 Omius 💍 Enea Jewelry ⚽ Foot Locker 🫶 Kate McLeod 🥿 Northstar Sourcing 👩🦱 Sarah Warren +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 🟡 Letter A is a boutique branding agency serving fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands. We clarify to amplify.  We build strategic foundations so your brand shows up with confidence, alignment, and distinction across every channel.

"The mark that carried us forward, now evolved. When I created Kinn in 2017, I thought a lot about our logo. I didn’t want something generic—I wanted it to be memorable, timeless, and layered with meaning. If you know, you know. The “K” was deliberate. Psychologists say it’s one of the most memorable letters in the alphabet, bold and striking. Then came the realization that my mom’s maiden name, Kim, could transform into “Kin” when the N was separated. It spoke to family, next of kin, and legacy—everything Kinn stands for. And in Korean, Kum (금) means gold. The meaning was already there, I just had to bring it forward. That logo has carried us through incredible growth. But as Kinn has evolved, I knew the mark needed to evolve with it. Luxury today isn’t just about heritage or rarity—it’s about access to meaning, continuity, and creating modern heirlooms that move with you through life. Our evolved logo reflects that belief: not a redesign, but a continuation. A symbol of growth, and of the next chapter of Kinn." - Jennie Yoon, Founder Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gHFX6mqx

My philosophy on branding in a nutshell. “𝘈 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘴.”  Iona Carter 😎 “𝘐 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺—” 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗗𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 (not on LinkedIn) 👼 It's both structure and freedom. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲: a well-defined brand is a multiplier. It sharpens decision-making and cuts down on second guessing. FOR EVERYTHING!! 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲: a well-defined brand dwells in possibility. It has POTENTIAL!!! It creates room to expand, evolve, and play in culture or categories way beyond where you started. I have more thoughts...for another day. Let me know what you think! #branding

Moodboards are more than just pretty images. They are the starting point for building a dimensional brand world with a complete vision. A moodboard helps us understand our brand's lens on culture, design, art, photography, product, space, audience and voice. Basically we're articulating taste. Once we're done, the work we create should slide back in seamlessly and replace the inspiration. Here's the finished moodboard for Enea Studio, a family-run jewelry brand based in Athens, Greece. Our client was looking to make the move from a local, anonymous wholesaler to a global lifestyle brand. That meant writing a new story for them, giving them a new name, a new visual identity, a tone of voice and an evocative and alluring world from them to create content around. It comes naturally when you're based in Greece and been around for 80 years, but still. Letter A Team Product Strategy: Katie Irving/MOONSHOT Naming & Strategy: Khira J. Design: Nikelle Orellana-Reyes PM: Cristina Dunseth See more at https://lnkd.in/g7SHWeXg

This week on March 21 2013, 💛 Kate Spade Saturday 💛 launched. I was employee #7! (I think!?) My responsibility was to build out the brand identity and spirit starting with the logo and figure it out from there. I felt like I had the best job in NYC. Working at Saturday is where I found my calling to build brands from the ground up. From our first strategy meeting where we brainstormed our BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) we created a world we all dearly wanted to bring to LIFE. It was SO MUCH FUN. I believed in what we were doing (but, also I cried a lot). I looooved everything about what we stood for. We were "Channeling the Spirit of Saturday Seven Days a Week" and speaking to young women who had a different outlook on life. Who didn't care about dressing for guys but for herself and her friends. Fashion was not addressing this then. It felt important. I also had really big visions. We all did. I overdid it and struggled managing workload and any semblance of work/life balance. I was literally working on Saturdays for Saturday. In what universe did I think I could put out a blog ("The Saturdaily," so cute, right??) with one copywriter and two designers along with everything else we were supposed to do??? Needless to say—I've improved in this area(s). 🫣 Here's just a small sampling of some of the things we put out into the world. They still feel so fresh and relevant to me today as they did 12 years ago. In a way Saturday was before it's time. Enjoy. I'm still so proud of what we did. More on www.lettera.xyz

"I believe a Brand is a World — it’s rich, intimate, dimensional, immersive, and emotional." ~ Allison Henry Aver, Founder & Creative Director of Letter A. I love being in conversation with other awesome female founders. There’s so much to learn from their stories. In pursuit of this passion, here's the second in a series of interviews I'm doing with women business owners who are identifying problems, seizing opportunities, and changing the way things are done in their industries. Allison Henry Aver is the founder and creative director of Letter A, a brand-building firm based in Portland, Oregon. She has a unique take on "brand" and "branding" and is known for building brands full of charm, style, and charisma and taking them from static to spirited in the process. Allison mined her many years of corporate experience and the expertise she developed at respected brand-forward businesses like Kate Spade and Bumble & Bumble, and brings this to her work with clients in the lifestyle, fashion, and beauty spaces. In our conversation, she shared her distinctive view of brand-building, as well as the many insights and learnings she's had throughout her 5 years of building Letter A. 🔗 You can read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eYZHQahq (Photo credit: Leah Verway) ____________________ ✴️ I'm Katherine Danesi 🚀 A Business Coach + Strategist helping ambitious creatives put the structure & strategy in place to build thriving, consistently profitable businesses - the savvier, the better 🔗 If you like this content, sign up to receive my free Business/Women weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dQBdFGFq 🔔 And ring the bell on my profile to never miss a post #businessstrategy #branding #brandagency #femalefounder #businesslessons #businessadvice #womenownedbusiness

🎉 My door is open! Taking new Office Hours clients at WE ARE THE BOARD Over the last 25 years of working at brands like kate spade new york, Ann Taylor, and Bumble and bumble and running my consulting practice Letter A here are THREE things I bring to the table: 1. Taking brands from static to spirited 2. A sixth sense for what works—not just aesthetically, but emotionally and strategically. 3. Big picture visionary thinking for brands, yet sweat the sweet details If you need actionable, real-world advice, I’m here for 1:1 sessions to help you work though challenges and move forward with confidence. And if I'm not the perfect fit, there's more incredible expertise across THE BOARD — my fellow members bring powerful, specialized skills in all areas of brand strategy, operations, marketing, sales, social, and more... 🔗 Book your 30 or 60-minute slot here: https://lnkd.in/guqGS457