Your product grew up.
Your brand didn't.
We're James and Vicki, co-founders of A Tribe Called West. We build brand identities for founder-led food and drink brands whose branding hasn't kept pace with the business. Strategy first, design second. Both of us, start to finish.
Watch this first. Two minutes, and you'll know if you're in the right place.
Founders land here for one of three reasons
All three are the same problem wearing different clothes: the foundations were never properly laid. So that's where we start.
The retail pitch is coming
A buyer meeting is on the calendar, or you want it to be. The product's ready. The packaging and the deck aren't.
You've just raised
Suddenly everyone wants clarity. Investors, retailers, your own team. The brand needs to reflect where the business is heading, not where it started.
You've outgrown the launch brand
It was done quickly, on a shoestring, and it did its job. But the business kept growing and the brand didn't.
First, let's rule people out
No judgement on any of these. Just honesty, because a five-figure brand project at the wrong time helps nobody.
We're probably not the right studio if:
You're pre-launch and pre-budget
You want a quick logo
Still here? Good. Keep going.
What we do about it
We rebuild your brand from the foundations up, because when a brand isn't landing, it's almost never a design problem. It's a positioning problem wearing a design problem's clothes.
Both of us, start to finish
Two senior creatives, 30 years between us. No account managers, no juniors, no handoffs.
Only founder-led CPG
It's all we do, so we know what good looks like in your world.
Built for your pace
6-8 weeks, roughly 4-6 hours of your time, sign-off at every stage.
Trusted by
A brand that feels as good as it tastes
From scrappy startup to a standout shelf presence. We partnered with Tudy's Kitchen to build a brand identity as considered as the product itself. Clarity from day one, and packaging that's opening retail doors.
"You did an extraordinary job of elevating what worked and pointing out very rightfully what wasn't working. It felt like true teamwork."
Nekeia Boone
tudy's kitchen
Our G.R.O.W.T.H process
Branding projects go wrong in predictable ways. Design before strategy. Feedback with no framework. Deliverables that arrive as a zip file and a shrug.
G.R.O.W.T.H. exists to remove every one of those failure points. Every stage has a defined output. Every stage is signed off together before we move on. Nothing goes forward until you're happy.
Step 1
Groundwork
Brand Strategy Workshop
A focused 2-3 hour session, in person or on Zoom. Vision, values, positioning, audience, competitors. You leave with a strategy that gives every creative decision a reason.
Step 2
Rooted Insight
3 Flashboards
Three distinct creative territories as visual mood boards. You choose the direction before a single pixel of real design is built. No expensive pivots later.
Step 3
Onward
Brand Identity Design
Logo, colour palette, typography, imagery direction. Built from the strategy, not from our gut, refined with you until it's right.
Step 4
Wayfinding
Brand Guidelines
Your brand's rulebook. How it shows up across every channel, platform and partner, whoever's using it.
Step 5
Toolkit
Launch-Ready Brand Assets
Logos, fonts, colours, social templates, pitch deck, packaging files. Organised, labelled, ready to use.
Step 6
Handover
Fully equipped and ready to roll
A proper walkthrough of everything on Loom. Confident and in control from day one. No loose ends.
Your total time commitment: roughly 4-6 hours across the 6-8 weeks. We handle the heavy lifting.
What you walk away with
A complete brand strategy
A shelf-ready identity
Guidelines anyone can follow
A full asset toolkit
the end of second-guessing your
own visuals before every pitch
Lance Van Dijk
Antur brew co
"James is a dream to work with, nails the brief every time and has been the design guru for our quality-lead brand from the start. His ideas have helped shape our brand identity and his sleek label designs have made selling our beer all that bit easier!"
Jay Bigford
YOKE
"Vicki's attitude is like a breath of fresh air, her work ethic is 110% and multiple times she has gone above and beyond to meet deadlines. I can't recommend her highly enough."
Is it right for you?
A good fit:
Founder-led CPG food or drink with real traction
Ready to invest in brand as a growth decision
Wants a strategic, collaborative process
Values direct access to senior creatives
Looking to launch, rebrand or scale
in the next 1-3 months
probably not:
Just starting out with no budget yet
After a logo-only quick fix
Wants to micromanage every pixel
Not clear on product or market yet
Doesn't believe brand strategy
affects the business
Meet Vicki and James
James, the creative renegade. 15 years freelancing for agencies on household names. Google, KFC, L'Oréal, Ben & Jerry's. He knows how the big guys do it, and now challengers get the same firepower without the politics.
Vicki, the strategic voice of reason. Two decades in design, advertising and marketing. Coca-Cola, Heineken, KitKat, Gucci, Nissan. She makes sure every decision pulls its weight. Nothing slips through the cracks.
Together: Big-picture thinking and pixel-perfect execution, in an open, collaborative way.
Still got questions?
What exactly do I get?
A full brand identity. Strategy, creative direction, logo, visuals, guidelines and assets, delivered through our 6-8 week G.R.O.W.T.H. process.
How long does it take?
Six to eight weeks, with clear milestones and sign-off at every stage.
How much of my time?
Roughly 4-6 hours total. You show up, give honest feedback, and make decisions when they're needed.
What does it cost?
Our brand identity projects are a five-figure investment, depending on scope. We talk pricing on the call, once we know it's a fit both ways.
How is this different from an agency or freelancer?
Faster and leaner than an agency, deeper than a freelancer. Senior strategy and senior design from the same two people, all the way through.
Can’t I just do this with Canva or AI?
You can get partway there, and maybe you already have. But tools can't give you positioning, and they can't tell you why the brand isn't landing. That part's the work.
"James is a dream to work with, nails the brief every time and has been the design guru for our quality-lead brand from the start. His ideas have helped shape our brand identity and his sleek label designs have made selling our beer all that bit easier!"
Lance Van Dijk
Antur Brew Co.
Hey, we’re James and Vicki.
Co-founders of A Tribe Called West.
If you've read this far, you probably already know your brand needs work. The question is usually timing — is now the right moment?
Here's what we've found. The right moment is almost always sooner than it feels. Every month you're in market with a brand that doesn't reflect the quality of your product is a month you're leaving things on the table. Retail conversations. Investor meetings. Customers who should have remembered you but didn't.
We've built a process that moves at the pace of a real founder, not an agency timeline. No junior teams, no handoffs, no waiting around. Just clear work, done properly, in a timeframe that doesn't slow you down.
If that sounds like what you need, we'd love to hear about what you're building.
Book a call below.
We'll take a bit of time to understand what you're working on before we meet, so our first conversation is actually useful.
James & Vicki
A Tribe Called West
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