The studio handover

The studio handover is the formal moment a brand identity transitions from the studio that built it to the brand owner who will live with it. In Brand Atlas, the handover ends with the atlas populated, the team trained, and authorship of the brand record transferred. From that moment, the brand is the brand owner’s.

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Why the handover matters

Most brand identity projects end without a handover. The studio sends a PDF, an asset folder, a final invoice, and goes silent. The brand owner is left with a deliverable and no relationship to the practice that built it. Within months the brand starts to drift because no-one is responsible for keeping it alive. The handover is the moment that transfer is made explicit. The studio stops being the author. The brand owner takes the record. The team is briefed on how to use it. The relationship continues only on terms both sides choose.

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What the handover includes

A MadeBy_ studio handover into Brand Atlas covers six elements:

1. A populated atlas. All eight standard sections filled to publication standard. Logo & Identity, Typography, Colour System, Applications, Strategy, Voice, Photography, Social. Any Horizons the engagement scoped (sub-brands, campaign systems, regional adaptations) populated and live.
2. The asset bundle. All source files, working files, and exports the brand owner will need: logo SVGs and PNGs, type files (with licences), colour swatch libraries, photography masters, template files.
3. The handover document. A milestone PDF version of the brand record at the moment of handover. Signed by both sides. Filed as a contractual reference.
4. A team training session. Two hours, live, for the brand owner and the team. Covers how to read the atlas, how Update Requests work, how Horizons are added, what stewardship looks like in practice.
5. A 30-day support window. After the handover date, MadeBy_ is available for questions about the atlas at no additional cost for thirty days. Questions about the identity itself, beyond clarification of what was delivered, are out of scope.
6. The authorship transfer. Inside Brand Atlas, the brand owner is formally set as the author of the brand record. MadeBy_’s editing rights are scoped down or removed depending on whether a maintenance retainer follows.

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How the transfer works in the portal

At the moment of handover, the atlas updates to reflect the new authorship:

• Brand owner. The named brand owner is set. They have full editing rights and approve Update Requests.
• MadeBy_ access. By default, MadeBy_ retains read access for the 30-day support window, then is removed unless a maintenance retainer is active.
• Milestone version. A milestone is published in the brand record’s history called Studio handover. The team can refer to this version at any time. Future evolution work can branch from it.
• Handover certificate. A PDF is generated, signed by both sides, and stored in Settings → Brand Record → Documents.

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What changes for the brand owner

After the handover, three things change in how the brand owner relates to the atlas:

1. Editing rights are yours. The studio no longer edits. Every change is now yours to make or approve. Brand authorship has transferred.
2. The team’s questions come to you. Update Requests route to the brand owner. The team no longer escalates through the studio.
3. The atlas needs ongoing stewardship. Stewardship is the practice that replaces the studio relationship. See Stewardship for what that looks like.

If you are not ready for the stewardship burden, a brand maintenance retainer covers it. See Working with MadeBy_ ongoing.

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What changes for MadeBy_

We step back. The brand stops being our project and starts being our client’s brand. We continue to learn from how it is used (with your permission), but the work is yours. If a maintenance retainer follows, we continue to engage with the atlas in a scoped, agreed way. Without a retainer, we are out of the working day-to-day and available only through the standard support and engagement channels.

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When the handover does not happen

Three cases:

• Atlas-only setup. When the engagement scope was atlas setup without identity work, the handover is shorter. There is nothing to author except the structure; the brand owner remains the author throughout and the studio’s role is helping populate, not designing.
• An ongoing maintenance engagement that pre-dates the build. When MadeBy_ has been embedded with the brand for years, the formal handover may already have occurred; the build is a project within the relationship.
• A handover the brand owner is not ready for. When the brand owner cannot yet take on stewardship, the handover is paused while a maintenance retainer or interim arrangement is established. The atlas is not handed over to a vacuum.

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