Brand strategy and identity · South Dublin

Launching, growing or changing your business? Get taken seriously.

I help businesses and organisations build a brand people trust, so they win the clients and funding they're after.

Barry O'Connor at his desk, sketching logo ideas by hand
€4M+
in property sold in the first 3 months after launch
John O'Sullivan, Property Consultant

20+ years of brand work for

  • Sherry FitzGerald
  • Local Enterprise Office Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
  • Cairn
  • Down Syndrome Ireland
  • Avison Young
  • Willis Towers Watson
  • Boylesports
  • Horse Racing Ireland

Every turning point has the same problem. People need to trust you before they've seen what you can do.

New customers, a bigger contract, a funder or a board: whoever you need to win is judging you on what they see first. Your brand has to earn that trust for you, on every card, sign and screen.

Launching

A new business, practice or programme with an opening date.

Name, identity, signage and website, ready together, so you open looking like you've been there for years.

The Design Corner opened as a seasonal pop-up shop for 30 makers, backed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Local Enterprise Office.
Growing

The business has moved on, and the brand hasn't kept up.

Your work has improved faster than your brand. We close that gap without losing what people already know you for.

Sean Kennedy Fitness got a brand that gives him the confidence to grow.
Changing

A new direction, a new market or a new kind of client.

We work out what you now need to be trusted for, and change only what has to change.

Schorman swapped a boxed, traditional logo for an identity built to win more business clients.
€18M+
sold in John O'Sullivan's first year as an independent agent.
280%return on his brand investment in 3 months

"I've worked with plenty of designers in corporate firms, but going out on my own was a completely different experience. Barry helped me not just define my brand, but think ahead to what I'd need next, before I even realised it myself."

John O'SullivanManaging Director, John O'Sullivan Property Consultants
Read how we built it

Selected work

New firms, growing firms and established names, each needing to be taken seriously.

Plus Warren McCreery, Douglas & Stewart, Regan Construction, Schorman, Sport for Business, The Design Corner and more.

See all case studies
Identity work

A logo isn't the first step. It's the outcome of strategy.

So I start with your business, not a sketchbook. Each of these twenty-four marks came out of a strategy first.

See the logo work
Grid of 24 logo marks designed by Barry O'Connor, including John O'Sullivan, Foxstone, Sean Kennedy and IntelliOps
How I work

Most brands start with a logo. Mine start with who you need to win.

It's a small change in order that makes a big difference to how the finished brand works for you.

The usual way

  • Logo first, strategy never
  • A different supplier for every piece
  • Pay again when you outgrow it

My way

  • Strategy first, so every choice has a reason
  • One person from first call to launch day
  • Built to grow with you
Barry O'Connor in a red armchair reading The Brand Gap
Who you'll work with

I've run a business, not just designed for them.

Before BOCD I set up and ran my own agency, Red Man Media, working with names like Cairn, Glenveagh and McGarrell Reilly, as well as Down Syndrome Ireland and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Local Enterprise Office. I've hired people, taken risks and put my own name over the door, so I know how much rides on getting the brand right.

Now I work directly with businesses that are launching, growing or changing. You get the standards I learned working for big organisations, and one person who knows your business inside out.

Away from the desk I'm usually halfway through a DIY job, in the gym or the pool, on the golf course, or watching the rugby. DIY and branding have more in common than you'd think: measure properly first, and what you build will last.

  • 20+ yearsin branding, design and marketing
  • 50+ businesseshelped across Ireland and beyond
  • Dún Laoghaireworking with clients across Ireland
  • IDI memberInstitute of Designers in Ireland

What I'm like to work with

Clients tend to say the same thing: I ask the questions nobody else asked, and I think ahead to what you'll need next.

"Working with Barry has been a really pleasant and successful experience! Barry brought purpose to the design of my new logo, capturing the essence of 'Sean Kennedy Fitness' in the most efficient way possible."

Sean KennedyOwner, Sean Kennedy Fitness

"Barry met with us personally and designed a logo from the ground up. The logo is over 10 years old and it remains strong, still doing the job we intended it for."

Warren McCreeryMD, Warren McCreery Auctioneers, Valuers & Chartered Surveyors

Ready to be taken seriously? Let's talk.

A 30-minute call about where you are and what your brand needs to do. No pitch. If you're not ready to talk yet, ask for a free review of your current brand instead.