Brand and website design for small independent businesses
I am Iris Bowen, a designer in Bristol. I build identities and small websites for the sort of business where the owner answers the phone: workshops, clinics, bakeries, one-person practices.
Most projects run four to six weeks from first conversation to launch, and you own everything at the end of them.
How I work
Four things clients say made the difference, put here so you know what you are getting before we speak.
One person, start to finish
The person you brief is the person who designs it and the person who hands it over. Nothing is passed to an account manager and nothing gets lost in the middle.
A fixed price before we start
You get a written scope and a figure that does not move unless you ask for something new. If the scope changes, you see the revised figure before any of it is done.
You own the files
Source files, fonts you have licensed and the finished site all go to you at handover. There is no retainer holding your own brand hostage.
Built to be maintained by you
Every site I hand over comes with a short written guide to changing text, prices and photographs yourself, so a typo does not cost you a call-out.
What I do
Brand identity
Wordmark, colour, type and the small rules that keep it consistent — plus the files your printer and your sign-writer actually ask for.
Websites
Small sites of three to ten pages, fast on a phone, written as much as designed. Booking, menus, price lists and enquiry forms included where the business needs them.
Printed things
Menus, price lists, packaging labels, signage artwork and the stationery that has to match everything else.
Rescue work
Half-finished rebrands, an inherited site nobody can edit, or a launch three weeks away. Short-notice work is taken when the diary allows it.
Selected work
Six recent projects. The Lumen Ceramics rebrand is written up in full on the case study page.
Lumen Ceramics — identity and shop site
A pottery studio moving from market stalls to a permanent workshop, needing a name people could read on a sign from across the road.
Northgate Physiotherapy — clinic site
Three practitioners, one diary. Appointment information, fees and directions reachable in two taps on a phone.
Harrow and Vine — bakery menus and packaging
Weekly menus that a baker could update on a laptop at six in the morning without opening a design programme.
Fell and Fettle — outdoor kit repair
Identity and a one-page site for a repair workshop, built to make posting a jacket in feel as easy as walking in.
The Quiet Hour — bookshop events
Event posters and a listings page for a bookshop running readings twice a month, designed to be printed in the shop.
Marlow Field Surveys — technical identity
Reports, letterheads and a small site for a two-person land survey practice whose documents are their first impression.
A short introduction
I trained in graphic design, spent several years in a studio doing packaging and identity work, and went freelance to work directly with the owners of the businesses I design for.
I work from Bristol, meet clients in person across the South West, and work by video and email with everyone else. I am comfortable saying when a project does not need what a client thinks it needs.
What clients ask first
What does a project cost?
Every figure I work to is on the rates page, including the day rate for smaller jobs. You get a fixed price for your project in writing before anything begins.
How long will it take?
Identity and a small site usually run four to six weeks. Single-piece jobs are faster. The date you need it by is asked about in the first conversation, not the last.
Do you work with businesses outside Bristol?
Yes. Roughly half of the work is done by video call and email with clients elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and it works fine.
What do I actually receive?
Source files, exported artwork in the formats your printers need, the finished website folder, and a written guide to editing it yourself.
Have a project in mind?
Tell me what the business is, what has to exist by when, and roughly what you have set aside for it. You will get an honest answer about whether I am the right person, including when I am not.