Author
Davey and Krista
TL;DR: Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy is a self-paced video course covering 6 modules and 5 portfolio-ready client projects. It teaches new and self-taught brand designers a full studio system: design fundamentals in Illustrator, client workflow in Dubsado and ClickUp, designer-focused marketing, and pricing.
Brand Design Academy vs the Usual Path Into Brand Design
Most aspiring brand designers stitch their education together from scraps. A few YouTube logo tutorials, a Showit template shop, a Skillshare class on color theory, maybe a stab at Tobias Dahlberg’s Brand Mastery. Each gap stays open: nobody teaches client pricing, nobody hands you a portfolio, nobody walks you through a discovery call. The Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy course content is structured to fill those gaps in one studio-in-a-box format. The page below covers the curriculum, the competitive comparison, who the program is actually for, the creators behind it, and the FAQs we keep getting from buyers.
How It Stacks Up Against Tonic, With Grace and Gold, and Flux Academy
Among the brand-design programs we curate, the Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy carves out an unusual niche. Tonic Site Shop’s Designer Membership is recurring and Showit-heavy, with strong template work but less emphasis on identity design in Illustrator. With Grace and Gold leans template-first too, with lighter coverage of pricing and project management. Flux Academy’s Brand Design Mastery sits around the $650+ range and aims at a broader audience. The strongest case for this brand designer training is the one-time price, the Studio CEO business module, the five real-niche portfolio projects, and the Illustrator-first technical track. Few programs at this tier combine all four.
Verified Course Contents and the 6-Module Curriculum
What you actually get inside Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy is reportable rather than aspirational. The full curriculum runs across six modules: Studio CEO Foundations (12 lessons on niching, Dubsado, ClickUp, pricing, discovery calls, contracts), Elements of Design (13 lessons covering color, typography, grid, white space), Brand and Logo Design (13 lessons including a 41-minute Illustrator Foundations deep dive and the full intake-to-final-files process), Marketing for Designers (10 lessons on email, SEO, Instagram, Pinterest, Manychat), Portfolio Building Projects (5 complete client projects), and a Bonuses module.
The portfolio module is where the curriculum earns its keep. Students build a boutique wedding planner identity, an Instagram carousel series for a business coach, a portrait photographer homepage, a floral designer identity, and a retail candle boutique identity. The bonus stack includes a pricing calculator, ClickUp client-workflow templates, canned client emails, editable Illustrator logo and presentation files, a brand strategy workbook, style guide template, premium font guide, and access to the Designer Facebook Community plus monthly Q&A calls on the vendor side.
Who the Program Is For (and Who It Isn’t)
Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy is built for aspiring and early-career brand designers serving creative businesses. It fits self-taught designers transitioning out of photography, VA work, or marketing into client design, and freelance designers who already design well but lack pricing, workflow, and portfolio systems.
It is not for photographers trying to build their personal brand. The confusion comes up often because Krista has a photography background, but the curriculum trains designers who serve creative clients, not photographers branding themselves. It is also not the right fit for experienced agency directors who already have studio systems running, or for people who want Canva-only training, since Module 3 assumes a working Adobe Illustrator install.
About the Davey and Krista Team Behind the Curriculum
Krista Jones is, per their bio, a 15-year design veteran. She is a named Showit Designer of the Year, co-founder of Rising Tide Society (later acquired by HoneyBook), and among Showit’s top template designers. Davey Jones, per their bio, has 15+ years in brand and web strategy. He is CEO of Formilytics, makers of BDOW! (the email tool formerly known as Sumo), and hosts the Brands That Book podcast with 120+ episodes. The husband-and-wife team is based in Lexington, Virginia, and publishes the DesignEdit newsletter. For broader design-education context, the NC State College of Design graphic design program outlines what a formal identity-design curriculum covers and is a useful benchmark.
Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy: Common Questions Answered
What is Brand Design Academy?
A self-paced video course by Davey and Krista with 6 modules. It teaches brand designers the full studio system: design fundamentals, identity work in Illustrator, client business operations (Dubsado, ClickUp, pricing), designer-specific marketing, and five portfolio-ready client projects.
Who is the course for?
Aspiring and early-career brand designers serving creative businesses, and self-taught designers transitioning from photography, VA, or marketing roles into client design work. It is not built for photographers branding themselves.
Is it worth it?
At the current UDCourse price, the bundle includes Illustrator templates, ClickUp client-workflow files, a pricing calculator, canned client emails, and a brand-strategy workbook. We judge value on deliverables and creator credentials rather than testimonial volume. Both are strong.
Is it legit?
Yes. Krista Jones is a named Showit Designer of the Year and Rising Tide Society co-founder. Davey Jones is CEO of Formilytics and hosts the Brands That Book podcast. The program has run through multiple cohorts.
Do I need Adobe Illustrator?
Yes for Module 3 and the bonus Illustrator templates. Module 3 includes a 41-minute Illustrator deep dive for designers new to the tool, but a working install is assumed. The course is not Canva-only.
Is it only for Showit users?
No. The brand-design principles are platform-agnostic. Krista’s Showit credibility is backstory, not an audience requirement. The identity work happens in Illustrator and the marketing tactics apply across any website platform.
The Bottom Line on Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy
If you are a new or self-taught designer who needs the whole studio in one place, Davey and Krista Brand Design Academy is one of the few brand designer training programs that pairs design fundamentals with the business systems most creators leave out. UDCourse lists it at $64 (down from the $397 original). Worth a look against Maddie Peschong’s Rebrand course before you commit to a longer or pricier curriculum.
