About Astrik Studio
Annabelle Cole
Annabelle Cole, Founder of Astrik Studio
I work with growing consumer brands on brand identity, social media strategy and social media management, helping bring more clarity to how they look, what they say and how they show up.
My background is in Graphic Communication and Illustration, and I worked professionally in design before starting Astrik. What began mainly on the visual side of branding has naturally developed into much more of the thinking behind it too: understanding the audience, finding the strongest ideas already inside a business and working out how those can be turned into a clearer brand or social media direction.
Astrik is based between Chester and Liverpool, but I work with brands across the UK and regularly travel to London for workshops, shoots and project work.
How I approach brand strategy
I like getting properly into a business.
Before thinking about what something should look like or what should go on social media, I want to understand what is already there: what customers care about, what they keep asking, why they buy, what makes the business different and where there might be good ideas that have never really been used.
Sometimes that comes from customer feedback. Sometimes it is part of the founder’s story, the way a product is used, a recurring question or something the team talks about all the time but has never thought of as content.
When you are close to a business every day, some of the most useful things can be surprisingly easy to overlook.
My job is to help find those things, work out which ones matter and turn them into something people can understand and the team can actually use.
Brand identity that gives the business a clearer direction
I work on brand identity design for both new businesses and established brands that have reached the point where their visual identity no longer reflects where the business is going.
That can include logo systems, typography, colour, photography direction, graphic styles and the rules that help everything feel joined up.
For projects that need a fuller foundation, the work can also go further into brand positioning, purpose, vision, mission and values, before translating that thinking into the visual identity.
The aim is not to add design for the sake of it. It is to create a brand system that makes sense for the business, feels recognisable and gives the people using it a much clearer framework to work from.
Social media with more of a reason behind it
Social media can become very busy very quickly.
There are platforms to keep up with, content calendars to fill, trends appearing constantly and often several different people creating things at once.
My social media strategy work starts a little earlier than the content itself.
I look at who the brand is trying to reach, what those people are interested in, how they behave on different platforms, what competitors are doing, what is happening in the business and what the content ultimately needs to help achieve.
From there, we can work out the messaging, themes, repeatable content ideas, formats, platform roles and visual direction that make sense for that particular brand.
The result is a clearer direction that can be used beyond a single month of posts.
Keeping the direction moving
I also support brands with ongoing social media management.
That can include monthly planning, content calendars, content briefs, coordinating with the people creating the content, reviewing work before it goes live and looking at performance to decide what should happen next.
Depending on the project, I can work alongside an existing marketing team, creators or freelancers, or bring in additional production support for things such as shoots, short-form video and design.
I’m interested in more than whether a post got likes. We can look at reach, saves, shares, profile activity, website sessions, link clicks and conversions where the tracking is available, depending on what each piece of content is there to do.
The useful bit is taking what people are responding to and feeding that back into the next round of work.
Sometimes you just need to get everything out
Not every business needs to start with a large project.
I also run strategic brand workshops for teams that have lots of ideas, opportunities or moving parts but need some focused time to bring everything together.
We look at what already exists inside the brand, identify a small number of useful opportunities and explore how they could turn into content, campaigns, collaborations, stories, events or other ideas.
It is a practical working session rather than a presentation at you.
You leave with a clearer view of what you already have, the strongest opportunities to explore and some direction for how they could start showing up.
The kinds of brands I work with
I tend to work best with growing, visually-led consumer brands.
A lot of my work sits within wellness, health, beauty, fitness, lifestyle, and events, although the common thread is normally less about the industry and more about the stage the business is at.
Often something good is already there.
The business may have grown faster than the branding. Social media may be happening without much direction behind it. More people may now be involved and everything has started to feel slightly disconnected. Or there may simply be a lot of good ideas without a clear way to bring them together.
That is usually where I can be most useful.
Working with me
You work directly with me on the strategy, direction and core creative work rather than being passed between different account managers.
I like projects to feel collaborative and organised. I will ask a lot of questions at the beginning, keep you involved while the direction develops and explain the thinking behind the decisions rather than disappearing and returning with something you have never seen before.
Where a project needs additional skills or production support, I can also bring in trusted designers, editors, creators and other specialists.
That gives the project more flexibility without losing the direct relationship.
From Chester and Liverpool to brands across the UK
Astrik Studio is based between Chester and Liverpool, and I work remotely with brands throughout the UK.
I also work regularly with businesses in London and travel for workshops, content shoots, meetings, events and other parts of a project where being there in person makes sense.
So if you found Astrik while looking for a brand identity designer in Chester or Liverpool, a social media strategist in the North West, or someone who can support a growing brand elsewhere in the UK, location does not need to be a barrier.
A few of the brands I’ve worked with
My work has included brand identity, social media strategy, content and brand application for businesses and organisations including Events, Fitness and Healthcare, Dentists, Gyms and Pt Studios and Charities.
The projects are different, but the part I enjoy most tends to be the same: understanding what is already good about the business, finding the clearest direction and turning it into something people can see, understand and engage with.
Maybe our stars have aligned?
If you have something good already and know it could be working harder, tell me a little about the business and what you want to change.
Whether you need a new brand identity, a clearer social media strategy, ongoing social media management or simply some focused time to work through the ideas, we can figure out the right place to start.
The first call is a free consultation, so we can talk through the business, what you need help with and whether Astrik feels like the right fit.
