Fae Lioness
“Like Walking Into a Branded Room”
Brand Identity for Kiri — Fae Lioness
The Client
Kiri is a lot of things at once - and that's exactly what makes her brilliant. She works with Discord servers, creating safe, welcoming community spaces. She has a deep connection with Egypt and the goddess Sekhmet. She's a technowitch with a goth sensibility and a love of all things moon-related. And she had one absolute non-negotiable going into this project: her paw print tattoo had to be in the logo.
Everything else was open. Which, for a designer, is both a gift and a challenge.
The Brief
Kiri had seen the brand work I'd done for Alexis Bushnell - particularly the stickers - and knew she wanted something similar for her own brand. A full identity for Fae Lioness that captured all of who she is: the Egyptian mythology, the witchy aesthetic, the goth edge, the community warmth. And those stickers.
We started with a 90-minute discovery call where Kiri talked me through her world -the Discord work, the Egypt connection, Sekhmet, the technowitch side, what mattered and why. By the end of that call, ideas were already starting to flow.
The Process
Kiri's Notion board was filled with detail - so much detail that narrowing it down was the real challenge. I created two slightly different moodboard directions and sent them over. She loved both, which was equal parts wonderful and tricky. So we did what made sense: picked the elements she loved most from each, merged them into one direction, and made sure she was happy before I put pen to paper.
The logo was where I spent the most time. The paw print was non-negotiable, but working out how to use it took some experimenting. Everything felt a bit clunky at first - until I tried using the paw print as a repeating pattern on a textured moon shape. Kiri had mentioned she was more of a night person than a sun person, and there had been some beautifully textured moons on the moodboard. That felt right.
I linked the F and L of Fae Lioness together with a flowing line between them, then turned my attention to the lion. I wrestled with it for a while - was a lion too obvious? But knowing how central Sekhmet was to Kiri, I decided to give it a proper go. I worked on it, added an Egyptian eye which looked good, played with a part-moon shape for flow - but something still wasn't quite landing. I stepped away, came back, and added what I can only describe as a swoosh. Yes, very technical. But it gave the design exactly what it needed.
Then came the wider brand elements - moon shapes, witchy details, Egyptian motifs. I came back to it every day, adding a little more. And then I hit a wall. Not a creative block exactly - more like too many ideas with no clear way through. So I did what I always do when that happens: I got out some paper and felt tips, wrote down everything that was bouncing around in my head, doodled, made notes, mapped out different directions.
Looking at it all laid out, I realised I wasn't stuck at all. There were just too many good ideas fighting for space. Once I could see them all at once, I could prioritise, focus, and let everything slot into place.
Three weeks of work later, the brand presentation was ready.
The Presentation
Presentation days are always a mix of nerves and excitement. This one especially.
We went through the brand introduction together - mission, purpose, values, all drawn directly from what Kiri had shared. The first few pages had a nod to what was coming, and before we'd even reached the logo she said: “I love it already.”
Then we got to the logo. Full page. And that's when the tears came.
We carried on - through the thinking behind the design, the logo variations, the colour system. Rather than just only black, I'd built a palette including deep greens, purples, and blues, with a lighter option to break things up, and four specific colours for different types of content posts. The idea was to give Kiri genuine creative freedom while keeping a system underneath that made everything feel cohesive and easy to use.
Midway through the call, Kiri said something I won't forget:
"It's like walking into a branded room and it feels like I am home."
There may have been tears on my end too.
She had no amendments there and then. We let it settle for a day or two, made one small tweak.
Then came the build. The brand package itself took a couple of weeks to put together properly - and here's what Kiri walked away with:
Logo files in print and digital formats, a full set of brand assets including all the patterns and shapes, 12 social media post templates and a carousel, an onboarding document, Facebook and LinkedIn headers, and brand guidelines written in plain English - no corporate speak, just practical advice on layout, design, and what to avoid. The guidelines are built in Canva too, so as Fae Lioness grows there's always room to expand.
Social Media Posts
Onboarding Document
Brand Guidelines
What this project shows
Every now and then a project comes along that reminds you exactly why you do this work. Kiri came with a rich, complex, deeply personal brief - lots of elements, lots of meaning, lots of moving parts. The job was to listen carefully, find the thread that connected everything, and build something that felt genuinely hers.
When someone sees their brand for the first time and cries - that's not about the logo. That's about feeling seen.
That's what good branding does.
Want a brand that feels like home?
Book a free discovery call and let's talk about yours.