A new platform has launched which hopes to \u201cbreak the traditional designer-client cycle\u201d by selling off-the-shelf brands.<\/p>\n
Brands Like These<\/a> (BLT) is the brainchild of Sheffield-based agency Lyon & Lyon<\/a>. It came about after they shared an unused design concept from a client project on Pinterest, and someone got in touch asking to buy it. That, BLT\u2019s founders explain, \u201cwas the lightbulb moment.\u201d<\/p>\n BLT, which went live yesterday, is a marketplace for personal design projects and unused commercial routes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s aiming to give designers opportunities to, \u201csell their best unpublished brand concepts, free from creative constraint\u201d and offer entrepreneurs, \u201ca curated collection of agency-standard brand kits, ready to launch.\u201d<\/p>\n Brands Like These<\/p>\n Co-founder Ben Lyon hopes the platform will help designers make money in a new way, and fix some issues in the branding industry, which the BLT team believes is \u201cbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith clients, there\u2019s often a massive amount of trepidation because they\u2019re about to drop X amount of budget, and they don\u2019t know what the outcome is going to be,\u201d Lyon explains.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the flip side, lots of designers knock out concepts to keep their creative juices flowing, or there are things from client work that don\u2019t get used. We thought there must be a way to sell some of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Any designer can submit work to BLT, but Lyon says the brands that make it onto the site are carefully curated. \u201cWe want to set a high bar, with work that feels agency-standard,\u201d Lyon says.<\/p>\n Designers can sell brands in three tiers \u2013 a starter pack, which costs between \u00a32,500 and \u00a35,000, a builder pack, which costs \u00a35,000 to \u00a310,000, and a scaler pack, priced between \u00a310,000 and \u00a340,000.<\/p>\n These tiers reflect the amount of assets included, so while all three feature logos and typography, only the two higher tiers include packaging designs for physical products.<\/p>\n Fabrica, one of the concepts on Brands Like These<\/p>\n The money will be split 50\/50 between the designer and BLT, although Lyon says he \u201chopes and assumes\u201d the platform\u2019s cut will come down over time.<\/p>\n Each concept can only be bought once, and after it\u2019s been purchased, the buyer can have it tweaked to meet their specific requirements. This will obviously include changing the name, but may also extend to type and colour changes. Brands can also be adapted to suit a different product or industry.<\/p>\n These changes will be carried out by Lyon & Lyon, to ensure the final branding can be delivered on time.<\/p>\n BLT launched with six brands available to buy, including Uvie wash-on sunscreen bar, Fabrica haircare and hotel brand Cove.<\/p>\n Lyon explains that the target buyers are \u201cserial entrepreneurs who spin out new businesses on the regular\u201d but also established brands who may want to trial a new product or service without investing in a full end-to-end branding project.<\/p>\n \u201cWe might also put live briefs out, if clients are asking to see more stuff in a specific space, like the AI SaaS space, for example,\u201d Lyon says.<\/p>\n Brands Like These<\/p>\n He thinks BLT will attract clients who aren\u2019t willing or able to spend huge amounts on branding projects. And by providing designers with a new income steam, he sees it as win-win.<\/p>\n The platform may also, Lyon hopes, help address some of the homogenisation seen across the branding world in recent years, as samey briefs create similar-looking client work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope it\u2019s going to be a place where there is some real experimentation,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat do designers create when there isn\u2019t a client on their back? It could give people this ultimate creative freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n By unleashing this \u201chuman-led creativity\u201d, Lyon hopes BLT will help designers fend off some of the threats from generative AI.<\/p>\n The BLT team says the platform will develop in the coming weeks and months. Lyon says legal and IP issues may prove tricky, especially around unused client work, and they need to see how it works with Lyon & Lyon tweaking another designer\u2019s concepts.<\/p>\n \u201cHonouring the original creative will be quite a challenge, because we\u2019re going to be custodians for a brief amount of time,\u201d he explains. They may in some instances commission the original designer to make the changes.<\/p>\n They also want input from the design community, to ensure it becomes an attractive place to sell and showcase their work. There are plans to let designers create profiles on the site, a bit like Behance, and Lyon hopes to run events as part of BLT\u2019s community engagement.<\/p>\n So far, Lyon says feedback from designers has been very positive, with many sharing the frustrations which led to BLT\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were a little bit fed up with the whole roller coaster ride,\u201d Lyon says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been out here for 11, 12 years and we know all about the peaks and troughs of work.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if we didn\u2019t have to rely on clients in the same way, and we could put all this stuff out there, and it could be bought while we were doing other creative work?\u201d<\/p>\nHow it works<\/h5>\n
Fed up with the rollercoaster<\/h5>\n