Building a Brand From the Ground Up
Metallic Products was the first company where design became an active part of my job description. General Manager Ruben Cabrera brought me on because he had a vision for transforming the struggling metal distributor and saw potential in my skills to help that vision take shape. However, with no budget for a dedicated designer, I joined as a Sales Rep and Marketing Specialist. Anything to get my foot in the door! The company had no established brand and no marketing structure. Everything had to be built from scratch… by me.
This case study is about resourcefulness. I became the designer, photographer, web developer, marketer, and brand strategist all at once. With no budget for outsourcing and no creative team to collaborate with, I had to rely on the skills I learned at The Art Institute and pro bono design work I did for two nonprofits I worked for during my time in school. Metallic Products became the place where I proved to myself that I could create a full brand ecosystem from the ground up and help a small company compete against far larger players.
Metallic Products LLC
Client Name
Aluminum & Galvanized Steel Distributor
Industry
Designer & Marketing Specialist
My Role
Me, Myself, and I
Team
The Journey
The work centered on giving Metallic Products a real brand presence for the first time. I built the identity, marketing materials, website, catalogs, and sales tools in-house, creating a cohesive system that helped the company look established, credible, and competitive in a crowded market. Not to mention that I had to learn various skills I had not acquired in school, on-the-job, with no outside guidance.
Challenge
The company had no visual identity, no website, no catalog, and no consistent messaging. Bigger competitors controlled the space through name recognition alone. Metallic Products had to break in from nothing. By combining Ruben Cabrera’s vision with the design and marketing work I brought to the table, we built a brand system that could earn trust and support sales… all without outside resources or a creative budget.
Strategy
I leaned hard into design because the industry wasn’t. Competitors relied on reputation, not aesthetics, which left a wide open lane. I rebuilt everything from the ground up: product photography, copy, catalog design, website, visual identity, and every piece of marketing. The goal was simple: make the brand unmistakable wherever customers encountered it. In a sea of bland competitors, we would become the company that actually looked like it cared.
Results
The transformation raised perception and supported real growth. The new brand system helped customers see Metallic Products as credible and established, not another small regional shop. The company grew from $145k to over $3M in monthly sales, and Ruben consistently pointed to the branding and marketing work as a core driver of that shift. It proved that brand identity design can help reshape how an entire industry views you.
The First Full Brand System I Ever Built
What I’m Most Proud Of
Metallic Products was my first chance to build a real world brand system from the ground up. I took the job knowing it wasn’t fully design focused because the opportunity was rare. Most designers never get to shape an entire brand so early. Doing it for a company that truly needed it showed me how powerful design can be and shaped the creative director I eventually became. For that reason, the work at MP will always be something I’m quite proud of.
Project Deliverables
These pieces represent the full suite of materials that established Metallic Products’ brand presence for the first time: identity, catalog design, product photography, website, and sales tools built entirely in-house.
