ANCHOR POST: Substack Brand Foundations Path
Building the visual and energetic foundations of your Substack world? Start here
What we’re doing here
Brand foundations work is not about aesthetics for aesthetics’ sake.
It’s about creating a visual world that carries the same energy as your words — so that when someone lands on your Substack, everything they see, feel, and read feels like you.
The colours, the fonts, the imagery, the graphic elements, none of these are just decorative decisions. They are energetic ones. They are the first impression before the first word.
They either open the door to the right people or quietly close it.
We’re going to build that world intentionally. From the inside out. Starting with feeling and vision, moving through the practical decisions, and ending with a Substack that looks as true as what you’re putting into it.
Just landed here and ready to shape your Substack world? I built an entire second Substack from scratch, and documented the entire process just for you. START HERE. Subscribe and let’s do this together, step-by-step.
This path is for you if:
✔ You’re looking for brand clarity. You’re starting from scratch and need to build your visual identity before you set up your Substack.
✔ You’ve started, but something feels off. The colours aren’t quite right, the fonts don’t feel like you, it feels a bit borrowed or blah rather than like you.
✔ You’ve done the Starter Path and realised you need to go back and do the foundations work properly before you go further.
✔ You’re a founder or creative who wants their Substack to feel like a genuine extension of who they are, not just a newsletter with a logo slapped on top.
Your Brand Foundations Path
Take a moment to save this post using the three dots top right so that you can navigate here at any point. Studio members: Have questions as you work your way through this pathway? Drop them in this thread, and I’ll do my best to help.
0/ Grounding (same for both pathways)
Build your Substack world: Your toolkit and resources🗝
So you’re ready to start your Substack, here’s what you need to know
Orientation: Let’s have a look around Substack (screen share)
1/ Vision and feeling
Brand Theory: An introduction to your brand styling toolkit
Exercise: What is your work really about?🗝
Brand Theory: Creating your Substack brand vision board
Practical: Creating your Pinterest vision board (screen share)🗝
Practical: From Pinterest board to brand direction (screen share)🗝
Practical: Naming your brand aesthetic 🗝
2/ Visual identity
Brand Theory: Understanding the language of colour
Brand Theory: Choosing your Substack brand colours
Practical: Introducing energy to your Substack with a colour accent 🗝
Brand Theory: Choosing your Substack logo font
Brand Theory: Adding a graphic element to your Substack logos
Practical: Formatting your logos for Substack (screen share)🗝
Brand Theory: Building your image bank
Practical: Let’s build your image bank (screen share)🗝
Practical: Create your Substack threads board (screen share)🗝
Next Steps: Substack Set Up
At any point, you can move on to your Substack set up in The Starter Path.
This post is a living path It is growing as new pieces are added. Drop back in whenever you need to find your place or pick up where you left off.
And if at any point you’d rather have my eyes on it - if you’d like some direct creative guidance to help shape your world rather than navigate it alone - I’m here for that too.
A Substack World Creative Direction Session is exactly what it sounds like: your vision board, your instincts, and my designer’s eye working together to give you clear, confident decisions on your colours, fonts, and visual direction. No more loops. No more second-guessing. Just clarity. → Drop me a message if you feel called.
Just Press Publish. 🌿
Lucy x
A little about me
Hi, I’m Lucy.
I’m a brand, web and messaging designer working at the intersection of identity, brand energetics, and soulful expression - helping founders build a presence that feels as true on the outside as it does on the inside → Fresh Leaf Creative
I spent twenty years in corporate before walking away to build work that was actually mine. What I discovered on the other side (about energy, alignment, and what it means to express yourself honestly in business) is what I guide from now.
Press Publish is the rolled-up-sleeves, hair-in-a-topknot version of its sister publication The Business of Becoming — where you’ll find musings on creative expression, anti-hustle marketing, building a sustainable brand ecosystem, and returning to your natural rhythms → The Business of Becoming