John-Adam was starting Valkyri Autohaus, a mobile automotive service based in Bunbury, from scratch after leaving his job as an experienced mechanic for BMW. Before coming to Nathan, he'd spent months trying to build his own logo with AI, and it was obvious how generic and basic it looked. Rather than launch a new business on the back of something that undersold him from day one, he wanted the brand right before Valkyri ever took its first official booking.
Building a brand before the business has a single customer sounds simpler than building one for an established company, but it isn't. There's no existing goodwill to lean on, so every decision, the mark, the colours, the typography, has to be right the first time, because it's the very first thing any customer will ever see of Valkyri Autohaus.
The AI generated logo John-Adam had been using made that clear on its own. It looked quite average, and looked like every other mechanic brand out there. That's where a template mark shows its limits. So the brief was never just make it look better, it was to build something that could carry the business everywhere it needed to go, before a single customer had ever seen it.
The approach also meant looking beyond the brief itself and into who John-Adam actually is. That research turned up a personal thread worth building into the mark: it's a V for Valkyri, shaped around a raven, significant both to the Valkyrie of Norse mythology and, closer to home, to his daughter Raven. Its head does double duty too, reading at once as a location pin and a speedometer needle, tying the symbol back to a business that comes to the customer, wherever the car is.
- A full identity built before the business had a single customer: logo, colour palette, typography
- Signage designed for the van itself, the first thing a customer sees before the job even starts. Today the van reads exactly as it should: Bunbury's dedicated BMW and MINI specialist, on the road and easy to spot before John-Adam ever knocks on a door
- The brand carried through to print as well, business cards in black and gold, so every touchpoint, from the van on the driveway to the card left behind after the job, reads as one consistent business
After months trying to create my own logo with AI, it was obvious how generic and basic it was. Nathan's process gave me a logo I do a second take on every time I hand over a business card, one I'm genuinely proud to wear. I'll recommend Nathan Hurst to anyone looking to get branding that sets them apart!
John-Adam, Valkyri Autohaus
