I provide graphic design services for any marketing-related project, online or offline.

Please see About page for a comprehensive list of services and project types.

Getting started is simple. Reach out through the contact form on the Contact page, send an email to: brandon@hawthornebranding.com, or text me at (954)295-7758.

Because my phone number is shown on my website, I get at least a dozen spam/robo calls a day that show up as unidentified callers, so it’s best to reach out by form/email/text as a starting point. Kinda sad, isn’t it?

• Experience: 20+ years of design experience across many industries and project types

• Design Proficiency: please see my portfolio page for work samples

• Marketing-Minded: more than just a designer, I help with the strategy behind the design and offer suggestions that translate to revenue growth

• Easy to Work With: straightforward, follows through, clear estimates, earnest attitude

I work on a project basis or bill by the hour depending how each client prefers to structure compensation.

New clients will usually want to assign one or more projects as a start to establish the relationship and gauge working chemistry. Those projects will start with estimates that outline project scope, objectives, process, timeline, and costs.

Once clients get to know me and trust builds, they will often stop asking for project estimates and simply have me bill by the hour and invoice them monthly. This is particularly helpful for clients that have frequent and urgent projects that would be slowed down if every task were to involve an estimate. Monthly invoices include a full breakdown: name of project, task performed, date, and time spent.

Ideally, companies that are well established, with 10+ employees, have a dedicated marketing executive or in-house marketing team, and are seeking a reliable long-term remote graphic design partner for ongoing needs.

I’m well accustomed to working with clients that have internal / in-house marketing teams, sometimes across multiple offices. My point of contact at these companies has been at all levels, including Chief Marketing Officer, Director of Marketing, Brand Manager, Marketing Manager, or other team members tasked with managing graphic design outsourcing. When starting off with a new client, I’ll familiarize myself with their brand guidelines (when available), style preferences, and overall brand vision. 

Most often, no – I charge by the project (which starts with a project estimate) or by the hour. I’ll set up a monthly retainer fee only if a client requests it. At times when a client wants me to set aside a specific block of time for them each month, then a monthly retainer fee begins to make sense.

As a one-person design firm, I’m careful not to take on more work than I can handle and to be upfront and honest about my ability to meet deadlines depending on current workloads. Most times, I’m able to absorb new clients and adapt to their time requirements. Once I get used to their patterns of workflow, I’m better able to structure my availability around them to be a consistent, predictable monthly design resource.

Yes –  Most of the larger companies I work with require strict enterprise-level brand compliance. I appreciate it when a client has a well-defined branding system and I’m careful to adhere to it.

Yes – I have over a decade of experience providing graphic design services to multi-concept and single-concept restaurant brands. Two examples of multi-concept restaurant groups are Shula’s Restaurant Group (with five restaurant concepts ranging from fine dining to fast casual) and Noble 33 (with six fine dining restaurant brands in prime international locations including New York, Miami, London, Toronto, Las Vegas, and Beverly Hills). I am also an approved graphic design vendor for Shaner Hotel Group – with more than 75 hotels across 13 states and four countries. Frequent projects for restaurant groups include: branding, email marketing, website popups, menu design, promotional materials, posters, fliers, table tents, digital signage, check presenters, physical signage, wall graphics, direct mail, social media graphics, digital ads, franchise kits, and pitch decks/presentations. For restaurant email marketing campaigns, I provide full scope services: design, test, and deploy within the clients’ own email marketing platform (SevenRooms, Thanx, Toast, etc.)

When working with multi-concept restaurant groups, the client will normally have different brand guidelines for each of their restaurant brands. Unless a client directs me otherwise, I treat each brand as separate entity instead of trying to make them appear as part of a family. For example, the brand style of Shula’s Steak House (fine dining) is understandably very different than the brand style for Shula Burger (fast casual). 

Yes – I have extensive experience working with major brands in the wine and spirits space including Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (ranked 9th largest privately held company by Forbes Magazine with $25 billion annual revenues), Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits (a historic French liqueur brand founded in 1755 with a total portfolio of over 200 brands), Shaw-Ross International Importers (representing over 30 brands), Beso Del Sol Sangria, and others. I have designed hundreds of projects not only for these companies, but also for the consumer brands they represent and distribute. My work has appeared in leading wine and spirits trade magazines, brand-sponsored events, and in retail locations across the United States.

It’s a balance of both. The design work I do for restaurant groups, wine and spirits, residential real estate, home furnishing, etc. are mostly directed at consumers (although there are some B2B components). My work for commercial real estate, professional services companies, medical device manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, etc. would fall into the category of B2B.

I favor a minimalist design aesthetic that is simple, elegant, smart, and concise. Especially now that AI design is flooding the landscape with visual clutter, simplicity speaks louder and more confidently – and feels more genuine. Nevertheless, there are brands and products/services that require other styles and a greater amount of information. I design based on what I think will best serve the client and will appeal to the intended audience –and not force my own design aesthetic.

It normally begins with a discussion about their most urgent project. If a brand guidelines document and/or creative brief is provided by client, I’ll carefully review, then submit project estimates that outline project scope, objectives, process, timeline, and costs. Once estimates are approved, I schedule a project kick-off meeting with client to gather more project details, confirm the timeline and milestones, and work out details such as gaining access to existing brand files, image library, etc.

It varies depending on client preferences and working styles. Some clients use web-based project management platforms such as Basecamp to keep track of projects. They grant me access to their accounts (with restricted permissions to see only what I need to see). Some use a shared Google Doc for project lists that get frequently updated. Others simply call or send an email when they need something, then I add it to my own to-do list. The working relationship can be as formal or as casual as the client dictates. No matter how formal or how casual the process may be, schedules and deadlines are taken very seriously and always a top priority.

Yes – I’ve designed presentations and pitch decks for all sorts of companies including: restaurant/hospitality, wine & spirits, specialty insurance, greeting cards, truck fleet financing, major event catering, and medical devices. These included product sales presentations, annual board meeting decks, franchise pitches, investor presentations, retail partner pitches, and more.

I can design/build new presentations from scratch or enhance and update existing presentations.