Client: The Nail Art Underground
Project Type: Brand Strategy · Brand Identity · Website Design
Timeline: Approximately 4 weeks of active development
The Nail Art Underground had what many businesses spend years trying to build: loyal clients who came back again and again.
Owner and nail artist Christie had grown her Las Vegas business primarily through referrals and recurring clientele. Her work spoke for itself, and word of mouth kept her book filled.
Until the market changed.
In a tighter local economy, losing even a handful of regular clients can make a noticeable difference for a small service business. Christie wasn’t simply looking to replace a few appointments. She wanted to build a more sustainable way for new clients to discover her business.
The challenge was that there wasn’t a digital brand for them to discover so she connected with us for small business branding and website design.
The Challenge
Christie already had a vision for what she wanted her next chapter to feel like.
Dark, but not stereotypically goth. A little witchy. Quirky and fun. Smart and professional. A private studio where clients could relax, get meticulous nail art and know that the health of their nails wasn’t being sacrificed in the process.
The challenge wasn’t inventing that identity.
It was translating it.
How do you take the personality of an owner, the experience her regular clients already love, the quality of her work and a vision for where the business is going and turn that into a brand someone can understand before they ever walk through the door?
That’s where we started.
Discovery Before Design
Before opening Figma or choosing a font, we took Christie through MBD’s onboarding process.
Our discovery is designed to get beyond logos and color palettes. We start with the business itself: what makes it different, the challenges it’s facing and what it’s trying to accomplish. Then we move into brand personality, audience, customer experience, marketing and the assets already available.
Some of the questions are easy.
Others are intentionally harder.
What sets you apart?
Why do customers choose you?
Who is your ideal client?
What does that customer value?
What experience are you actually selling?
The answers help us find the intersection between the business an owner has built, the brand they envision and the customer they want to attract.
For The Nail Art Underground, that process gave us the direction we needed to turn Christie’s vision into something tangible.
What Happens to the Goth Kids When They Grow Up?
There was an obvious direction we could have taken.
Christie loves darker aesthetics. Her personality and style lean alternative. Even the name “The Nail Art Underground” invites you to go full goth.
But the obvious answer wasn’t quite the right one.
Through discovery, we started thinking a different question:
What happens to the goth kids when they grow up?
They don’t necessarily stop liking the things that made them different.
Their tastes evolve.
The Nail Art Underground needed to reflect that evolution. It could be dark without feeling juvenile. Witchy without becoming costume. Quirky without sacrificing sophistication. Alternative while still feeling polished and professional.
That led us to an identity we describe as:
Gothic glam meets refined beauty.
And it fit more than Christie’s aesthetic. It fit the client experience.
Her ideal customer isn’t simply looking for someone who can paint incredible nails. She values craftsmanship, nail health, personal attention and the privacy of a one-on-one studio experience. She wants somewhere that feels like her kind of place without sacrificing the quality and professionalism she expects.
The result was a brand that didn’t reduce Christie to an aesthetic. It captured the experience she had already created and gave it a visual language that could grow with the business.
Good branding is about finding the intersection between the owner, the experience and the customer.
Turning the Brand Into a Website
Once the identity was clear, we could translate it into The Nail Art Underground’s first owned digital presence.
The website didn’t need to be complicated.
It needed to be hers.
We designed a straightforward site that functions as the business’s digital calling card: part portfolio, part introduction and part booking engine for new clients.
Rather than overdesigning the experience, we used the visual identity, imagery, language and layout to communicate what clients can expect from Christie: something a little dark, a little unexpected, highly polished and unmistakably personal.
Most importantly, The Nail Art Underground now has an owned digital asset capable of introducing the business to people beyond its existing referral network.
That’s a meaningful shift for a business that had previously grown almost entirely through relationships and repeat clientele.
The Result: A Digital Foundation for What’s Next
The goal wasn’t to replace word of mouth.
It was to build on it.
The Nail Art Underground now has a defined brand identity and a website capable of communicating what Christie’s regular clients already knew: there’s something different about the experience she provides.
And now, people who don’t already know a client have a way to discover it. Thats what small business branding and website design is all about.
With the brand and website in place, the next phase is about discovery: strengthening local search visibility, optimizing the business’s digital presence and developing content that can attract new clients over time.
Because sustainable growth shouldn’t depend entirely on already knowing someone who knows someone.
The brand was already there. We helped make it visible.
