How can Ruby Redefined help?

I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all approach to branding in craft and design. 

A founder-led jewellery business, a ceramicist preparing for their first major Christmas market, an established fashion designer and a creative business that has been trading for twenty years can all have very different needs, even if they would all describe themselves as creative businesses. 

There are also things about craft and design businesses that make the brand conversation particularly interesting. 

The person making the work is often closely connected to the brand. The process can be part of the value. Materials, skill, authorship, provenance and place can all influence why someone chooses to buy. A business might sell through markets, exhibitions, stockists, its own website and social media, sometimes all at once. The customer might discover the maker in person and then go home and Google them. They might see a piece online without understanding how it was made. They might know the maker's name but not know what to search for. 

The business can evolve in ways that aren't always easy to fit into a conventional brand structure. 

So I don't start with a fixed package and try to fit every business into it. 

I start with where the business is, what it needs and what would make the biggest difference. 

That might mean looking at one specific opportunity. It might mean stepping back and examining the business as a whole. It might mean developing the strategy and identity properly. And for an established business, it might mean redefining the brand completely. 

These are the ways I can work with you. 

FIRST GLANCE 

“I've invested in this opportunity. What am I missing?” 

There is a particular kind of hindsight that happens after a big selling opportunity. 

You get home and think: 

I should have done that. 

Why didn't I think of that? 

I wish I'd known that beforehand. 

First Glance is designed to catch those things before they become hindsight. 

If you're investing in Gifted at RDS, Peek, a Christmas market, a pop-up, an exhibition or another important selling opportunity, you've already put a lot into getting there. You've made the work, paid for the space, prepared your display, organised your stock and spent time getting people to know you're going to be there. 

First Glance gives you a strategic pair of eyes on one specific opportunity. 

I'll look at the experience from the customer's point of view, from before they discover you, to the moment they encounter you, to what happens afterwards. 

What can they find out about you? How easy are you to discover? What happens when they look you up? Is the information they need easy to find? What happens after they meet you? Where are the small opportunities to make the experience stronger, clearer or more memorable? 

The review is focused on the opportunity you've chosen, but the thinking doesn't necessarily stop there. Many of the observations and recommendations will be transferable to other markets, exhibitions and selling opportunities you take part in. 

The idea is to give you something useful for this opportunity, while helping you start to see those opportunities differently in the future. 

I've spent a lot of time recently looking at makers and creative businesses in real-world selling environments, and one thing has become increasingly obvious to me: being brilliant at making doesn't automatically mean you've been taught how to maximise every opportunity around the making. 

There are things that can be surprisingly easy to miss. 

Sometimes they're strategic. Sometimes they're practical. Sometimes they're simply things nobody ever told you to think about. 

That's what First Glance is for. 

A little bit of 20:20 vision, before you need hindsight. 

You'll receive a one-page summary afterwards with my key observations and recommendations, giving you a practical set of things you can act on straight away. 

€60 

Limited to 20 places 

Available until 30 November 2026 

FRESH EYES 

“Something isn't quite working. But what?” 

Fresh Eyes is for the point where you know there is a problem, but you're too close to the business to see exactly what it is. 

Perhaps the business has changed. Perhaps the website doesn't quite reflect the work anymore. Perhaps your social media and your actual customer experience feel disconnected. Perhaps people aren't finding you, or aren't immediately understanding what makes the business different. 

This is where I take a step back and look at the business from the outside. 

I'll consider the brand story, customer journey, website, social media, brand voice and discoverability, looking at how those pieces work together and where meaning is getting lost. 

The outcome is a clearer picture of what is working, what needs attention and where to focus next. 

You'll receive five practical takeaways to implement immediately, along with a reference document you can return to as you work through them. 

From €300 

BRAND STRATEGY + IDENTITY 

“I'm ready to get intentional about the brand.” 

This is the deeper strategic work for a business ready to make deliberate decisions about its direction and how it wants to be understood. 

We start by getting underneath the business itself. Who you're speaking to, what makes the work distinctive, what you want to be known for, where you sit within the wider market and what value you're creating. We look at the things that make your business different and consider how clearly those differences are currently being communicated. 

From there, we can make the bigger brand decisions. Who are you? Who are you for? What makes you different? What should people remember about you? Why should someone choose you? And how should those ideas come through across the brand, from language and visual identity to the wider customer experience? 

Once the strategy is clear, we build the identity around it. 

Strategy gives the brand direction. Identity gives that direction form. 

Strategic work from €1,500 

BRAND TRANSFORMATION 

“We've outgrown the brand we started with.” 

This is the work for an established business entering a new stage. 

The business may have grown beyond the original identity. The offer may have expanded. Different products, services or creative practices may now sit under one name. The audience may have changed. The ambitions may be much bigger than they were when the brand was first created. 

At this point, the question is bigger than whether the logo needs updating. 

We look at the whole picture: 

Strategy → Positioning → Identity → Digital experience 

The work is about understanding what the business has become, where it is going and how the brand needs to evolve so that people can understand it. 

Larger projects can also involve trusted specialists where they genuinely add value, whether that's web design, photography, videography, development, trade compliance or another specialist area. 

I lead the creative direction and make sure those different pieces work together as one brand. 

From €5,000 

WHERE DO I START? 

There isn't a set starting point for every business. 

The right place to begin depends on what's happening in the business now and the kind of change you're looking to make. A maker preparing for an important exhibition needs something very different from an established creative business that has completely outgrown its original brand. 

That's why I don't want to put every business into the same process. 

We start with the problem, the opportunity or the point of change you're actually dealing with, and then work out what level of support will be useful. 

That could mean taking a focused look at one selling opportunity through First Glance. It could mean stepping back through Fresh Eyes and working out what isn't quite working. It could mean developing a proper strategic foundation through Brand Strategy + Identity, or taking a much bigger look at an established business through Brand Transformation. 

And there are businesses that don't need another project at all. They need someone who understands the brand well enough to help them make better decisions as they continue to develop. That's where Creative Direction comes in. 

The point is that the service should fit the business, rather than the business having to fit the service. 

My role is to understand what's actually happening, identify where the biggest opportunity lies and bring the level of strategic and creative thinking that the situation calls for. 

The answer might be a full transformation. 

It might be a strategic project. 

It might be a focused review. 

Or it might be a conversation that gives you enough clarity to know what to do next. 

You don't have to start at the top. You just have to start in the right place.