Company Branding and Marketing Materials

Hey — we're Little Engine. We make a tool for independent service providers: the personal trainers, bodyworkers, massage therapists, hair stylists, and estheticians who run their own businesses on their own terms. They're full-time, seeing 9–16+ sessions a week, charging $150–$500 a session, running everything from their phones. Here's the problem: They run the entire business by hand. Booking by text. Payment by Venmo. Reminders, rescheduling, new-client setup, follow-ups — all by text, one message at a time. It costs them one to two hours a day, up to 300 hours a year. So here's what we built: Little Engine handles that work — scheduling, payments, client setup, messaging — right inside the text thread where business already happens. The provider stays in control and keeps the relationship. We make the work easier without taking it over. What we're looking to do now: Build the brand and the surfaces around it: a brand identity, a design system to build on, and a landing page that proves it all works. A little about the brand we're building: Little Engine is software, but we don't think of it the way most software thinks of itself. It's a tool — crafted, considered, durable, made for working people who reach for it every day. The company we keep is La Marzocco, Patagonia, Filson, Field Notes, Tecovas — and on the digital side, Linear, Mercury, Stripe. Place-rooted, restrained in voice, unmistakable in posture. Not Mindbody, Vagaro, or Calendly — we're the answer to those tools, not a polished version of them. The provider is always the hero. Benefit first, mechanism second. Restraint over flash. Austin warmth over startup gloss. What we're looking for, in three pieces: Brand identity — wordmark, type, color, motion, photographic and illustration direction, and how the voice shows up in design. Living guidelines, not a deck that goes in a drawer. A design system — tokens, components, and clear usage rules, so our team can produce sites, emails, and product surfaces without re-interpreting the brand each time. A landing page — one polished surface that proves the system holds up and makes everything after it a fast follow. And the right person: The brand is young — we have a clear foundation and plenty still being refined. The right partner reads that carefully, takes it seriously as direction, and helps us hold the line while we work out what's still emerging. Someone who lives in this kind of craft and gets why it matters for this audience.