SUMMITS, Inc. — Venice Beach, CA
SUMMITS is an AI-powered nutrition fulfillment startup building the operating system for AI nutrition. The engagement started narrow: brand triage on a logo carrying reputational risk. It grew into a six-month, end-to-end effort, a full brand system and investor pitch deck, as the platform pivoted strategically and its fundraising timeline accelerated. Brand decisions informed deck decisions; deck work fed back into the brand. That feedback loop is the real story.
Follow, then lead. Much of this project meant working inside a founder’s still-forming vision. SUMMITS’ CEO carried context that existed nowhere else, so the approach was to follow his lead, probe for boundaries, then propose and defend direction once intent was clear. The CMO joined later for creative and messaging sign-off. Every direction came with the reasoning behind it, not just the result.
Client:
SUMMITS, Inc. — Venice Beach, CA
Industry:
AI-powered nutrition fulfillment startup
Timeline:
Fall 2024 – Summer 2025
Role:
Sole designer — brand strategy, logo, color + type system, pitch deck, AI generation, compositing
Tools:
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Midjourney
Live URL:
Act 1
Brand Foundation
The project started with a specific problem: an existing logo mark with unintended associations needed to be addressed before broader brand work could begin. Developing a more fitting brand sigil framed the early process and opened room to explore fresh ideas with clear intent.
Process Step 1
Acknowledging A Working Foundation
The client liked the existing mark for being simple and memorable, but it carried a reputational risk that ruled out keeping it as-is. Rather than discard those strengths, they became the benchmark any new concept had to clear, turning an open brief into a focused one.
The existing logo mark I received from the SUMMITS team. An early mood board based on the target persona.
Pivot Point
The Timeline Changed. So Did the Priority.
Mid-project, SUMMITS’ platform took a major strategic turn and the fundraising clock started moving faster. The logo took a back seat — the deck became the thing that mattered next.
Key Decision
Keeping the "final" logo in a state of limbo.
The Tension
The logo had narrowed into a workable concept, solid enough for production. Locking it in as final would’ve simplified a time-sensitive deck build, but finalizing before the brand’s newly expanded vision was understood risked building on the wrong foundation.
The Choice
Kept the mark at “workable, not final” rather than forcing a premature lock-in. Usable enough to move production forward, open enough to be shaped by the deck and imagery work still ahead.
The Outcome
This carried a consistent, usable logo through the rest of the project while keeping the final version free to be shaped by what was learned along the way, avoiding both stalled production and a decision locked in too early.
Key Decision
Let the Deck's Colors Become the Brand's.
The Tension
The deck was already built on the client’s palette. Reopening color mid-project meant unwinding approved work, with no guarantee a new direction would land better.
The Choice
Built a new system instead: Void Black, Hazy Charcoal, Neutral Gray, Pure White, Intrepid Yellow. A high-contrast, dark-mode palette chosen to read tech-forward and durable, not trend-driven.
The Outcome
The client approved it immediately. A palette built for one slide became the brand’s foundation, and the same colors would go on to define the final logo. The biggest brand decision of the project happened mid-deck, not during identity work.
Key Decision
Knowing When to Stop Prompting.
The Tension
Simple visuals came together in one Midjourney pass; complex ones didn’t. There wasn’t time to chase a perfect prompt indefinitely, but the deck needed those harder images.
The Choice
Treated it as a process problem, not a prompting problem, and shifted to a more hands-on, layered approach.
The Outcome
Separating “needs a better prompt” from “needs a different method” kept harder visuals from eating time budgeted elsewhere. Simple visuals shipped as soon as they were ready, surfacing gaps the complex ones still needed to fill.
Key Decision
Deliver a proof of concept, then the real deal.
The Tension
The cover image was the deck’s most technically demanding asset and the one the client cared about most, the first thing anyone in the room would see. The wrong place to guess and find out later.
The Choice
Generated isolated assets in Midjourney, composited a rough mockup in Photoshop, and got client buy-in before investing time in the final pass.
The Outcome
Approval on framing and composition happened early and cheap. Final compositing moved forward with no surprises at the most expensive stage, and made every composite after it easier.
Key Decision
A star rises and a brand comes into focus.
The Tension
The logo had stayed open since early in the project. The final direction still needed to answer the question the earliest concepts only raised: where’s the line between organic and synthetic?
The Choice
Resolved the mark around custom typography and cues from modern athletic branding. The yellow star, chosen for its cultural association with AI, extends cleanly into future assets: patterns, merchandise, lockups.
The Outcome
This closed the identity phase and resolved the tension the earliest concepts only tested — a mark chosen for cultural relevance, system flexibility, and its nod to the two worlds the brand straddles: technology and nutrition.
Showcase 1
The Finished Identity System
The final system pulls logo, color, and type into one language, built to carry SUMMITS from app launch through fundraising and beyond.
Core brand identity: color, typography, logo lockup. Lifestyle ad mockups.
Showcase 2
The Completed Deck
The finished deck translates a complex AI platform into a visual narrative for investors. Confident and precise, it communicates the company’s positioning before a single data point is read.
Showcase 3
Generation Case Study — “One Menu. For Every Body”
The Problem slide needed to feel deliberately generic: a bifold menu frozen midair, uninspiring by design, to convey the absence of individuality. Each generation referenced the strongest previous result, tightening lighting, perspective, and surface detail across passes.
Showcase 4
Composite Case Study — The Cover and The Closer
The deck’s cover and closing slide shared one idea and one process: glowing glass orbs standing in for both app modules and food, arranged like a plate of nutrition made from technology. Built from independently generated layers, composited in Photoshop for full control over surface and light, this became the deck’s opening hook and its closing echo, and the standard method for every complex scene after it.
The Intro Slide and Closing Slide composites, followed by isolated image assets
Key Metrics
Post-Project Success Stories
Top 50
FITT Insider's 2026 Wellness Startups list
10 mo
App launch to automated-kitchen partnership with Hyphen
3
Trade press features, 2 outlets
Outcomes
The brand identity and pitch materials supported SUMMITS through a significant product evolution and into market. A reputational concern that initially prompted the engagement was resolved through a full identity rebuild. The app launched on iOS and Android in October 2025. The company opened its first physical location in Venice Beach. A funding round is actively closing.