Find a real local business and run your discovery session
Everything you have designed so far has been for a brief you controlled. Now you find a stranger with a real business, real money worries and real opinions about the colour green — and you brand them properly. This is the project that turns a folder of exercises into a portfolio.
This lesson is only about two things: getting a business to say yes, and running the discovery session that gives you the raw material for everything after it. Strategy and the creative brief come next lesson. Resist the urge to sketch a logo this week.
Why a real business, not an invented one
A made-up brand for "Zenith Coffee Co." tells a hiring manager nothing. Nobody pushed back on your typeface. Nobody said "my customers are mostly market women, that thin font won't work." Nobody had a budget.
A real business gives you three things you cannot fake:
- Constraints. Their printer only does two colours. Their signboard guy works in vinyl. Their Instagram is their only shop.
- A story. "Sade started this laundry with one machine in her boys' quarters in Akoka" is a portfolio case study. "I chose blue because it feels trustworthy" is not.
- Feedback and a testimonial. Lesson 4 depends on this.
Who to approach
Pick a business that is small, real, and slightly ambitious. Too big and they have an agency. Too casual and they will ghost you.
Good candidates you can probably reach this week:
- A food vendor or small restaurant that delivers on WhatsApp
- A tailor or ready-to-wear fashion brand selling on Instagram
- A laundry, barbershop or salon in a residential estate
- A phone repair or accessories shop in a computer village-type cluster
- A POS agent expanding to two or three locations
- A private lesson teacher, creche, or small tutorial centre
- A frozen foods, provisions or drinks distributor
- Someone in your family's church, mosque or compound who just registered a CAC name
Strong signals they are a good fit: they already post on Instagram or WhatsApp Status, they have a name they like, they have printed something before (flyer, complimentary card, nylon bag), and they talk about "growing."
Avoid: multi-level marketing, anything you would be embarrassed to show in an interview, a friend who will not take the meeting seriously, and your own side business. You need an actual client relationship, including the awkward parts.
Approaching them without sounding desperate
Do not open with "I'm a student, can I practise on you?" That invites them to treat the work as worthless — and then treat your time the same way.
Be honest that it is a portfolio project, but frame it as an exchange. Here is a WhatsApp message you can adapt:
Good afternoon ma. My name is Chidera, I design brand identities.
I've been buying from Mama T's Kitchen since last year and I noticed
your flyers, Instagram and the signboard all look different.
I'm building my portfolio and I'm taking on two businesses to brand
properly at no cost — logo, colours, fonts, and a brand guide document
you can hand to any designer or printer after.
All I need from you is one 45-minute conversation and honest feedback
at the end, plus permission to show the work in my portfolio.
Would Thursday or Saturday morning work for a short meeting?
Why this works: it names something specific you noticed, it states the deliverable, it states your price (zero, this once), it states exactly what you need from them, and it ends with two dates instead of "let me know."
Send this to five businesses, not one. Two will not reply, one will say maybe and disappear, and you need one or two who actually show up. This is normal. It is also the exact pattern you will see later when you start pitching paid work.
Set the terms before the session
Before you meet, agree three things in writing on WhatsApp. It takes two minutes and saves you a month of pain.
- What they get: logo (in the file formats they need), colour palette, typography, three applications, and a brand guide PDF.
- What they do not get: unlimited redesigns, a website, social media management, printing. Say it plainly: "two rounds of feedback are included."
- What you get: the discovery conversation, one feedback session, permission to publish the work and their name in your portfolio.
One line, sent and confirmed:
Just to confirm what we agreed: I'll deliver a logo, colour palette,
fonts, three sample designs and a brand guide PDF, with two rounds of
feedback. Printing and website are not included. In exchange I can
show the work in my portfolio and use a short quote from you.
Does that sound right?
Get the "yes." Screenshot it.
Preparing for the discovery session
Budget 45–60 minutes. In person is best; a voice call works. Ask permission to record — "Do you mind if I record this so I don't miss anything?" — and take written notes anyway.
Bring: your phone (recorder), a notebook, and your printed question list. Also do ten minutes of homework first. Scroll their Instagram, look at their existing flyer, read their customer comments. Walking in already knowing their bestseller changes how they treat you.
The questions
Do not read these like a form. Ask, listen, and follow the interesting answers. Your job is to get them talking, not to fill boxes.
| Area | Ask this | You're listening for |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | How did this business start? What were you doing before? | The story your brand will carry |
| Offer | Walk me through what you sell. What sells the most? What has the best margin? | Where the brand should focus |
| Customer | Describe the last three customers who bought from you. Age, work, area, how they found you. | The real audience, not the imagined one |
| Customer, deeper | Why do people choose you over the shop down the road? | The differentiator |
| Competitors | Who else does this near you? What do you think of their branding? | Visual territory to avoid |
| Perception | If a customer described you to a friend, what words would they use? | Current brand personality |
| Ambition | Where do you want this business to be in three years? | Whether to design for today or for the plan |
| Practical | Where will this logo appear? Nylon bags? Signboard? Delivery bike? Instagram? | Technical constraints for lesson 3 |
| Money | What do you charge, and are your customers price-sensitive? | Premium vs. accessible look |
| Taste | Show me a brand — any industry — whose look you admire. Why? | Their visual vocabulary |
| Hard no's | Is there any colour, style or word you absolutely don't want? | Saves you a wasted round |
| Name | How did you pick the name? Are you attached to it? | Whether a name change is on the table (lesson 2) |
Two questions do most of the work: "Why do customers choose you?" and "Where will this logo actually appear?" Push on both until you get something specific. "Because my food is nice" is not an answer — ask again. "Because I use fresh pepper daily and I don't add colour" is an answer.
Things to collect while you are there
- Photos of the shop, signboard, packaging, delivery bag, uniform, existing flyer
- Their current logo file, if one exists, in whatever quality they have
- Their Instagram / WhatsApp Business handle and follower count
- Names of their two closest competitors
- Any physical thing they print on: nylon, sticker, receipt, cup, aso-ebi tag
Photograph everything. You will need it for the mockups in lesson 3 and the case study in lesson 4.
Write your discovery notes the same day
Memory decays fast, and a voice note you never transcribe is a voice note you never used. Within 24 hours, write a one-to-two page document with these sections:
Business name / owner / location / contact
What they sell (and what actually makes money)
The origin story, in three sentences
Who the customer really is
Why customers choose them (in the owner's words — quote it)
Competitors and how they look
Where the brand will appear (list every surface)
Hard constraints: budget, printing, colours to avoid
Ambition in three years
Direct quotes worth keeping
Open questions I still need answered
That last line matters. You will always leave with a gap. Send it as a follow-up message rather than guessing.
Send the owner a short thank-you and the one thing you promised: a date. "Thank you for your time ma. I'll come back to you with the strategy and direction on the 14th." Then hit that date. Reliability is most of what separates a designer people recommend from one they don't.
Your task this week
Send the approach message to five businesses today, not tomorrow. Track them in a simple list: name, date sent, reply, meeting date. Book at least one discovery session within the next seven days, run it, and produce the discovery notes document above.
If all five say no, your message is the problem, not the market — rewrite the opening line so it names something specific you noticed about their business, and send five more.
Bring your completed discovery notes to the next lesson. We will turn them into a positioning statement, check whether the name can survive, and write the creative brief you will design against.