Ford Field Guides
Brand building guidance and tools for solo business owners
For pivots, fresh starts, and second acts.
Building a business on your own is a ride.
Even the most motivated person can get stalled or slowed.
Starting can be incredibly daunting, and without a strong foundation it’s easy to get derailed as you grow.
Enter Ford Field Guide No. 1.
A set of tools and resources paired with real human feedback. All for you to craft visuals and language that feel true to you and your vision.
This is an antidote to the creative bottleneck, giving you everything you need to create a rock solid foundation for your business.
LIVE MARCH 2026
Field Guide No. 1:
Brand & Vision Mapping
Cross the threshold from great idea to real life.
Field Guide No. 1 helps you get clear on what you want to communicate, and then helps you translate that clarity into visuals, language, and direction you can use.
HOW IT HELPS
Through video, self-guided prompts, mood boards, and templates, you’ll define your brand from the inside out.
You’ll build a working style guide and digital vault you can return to whenever you need to steady, expand, or evolve what you’re building.
In addition to core brand-building work, you’ll find perspective on common blocks, shortcuts worth taking, and best practices gathered from years of real-world creative work.
HOW IT WORKS
Clarify your vision, voice, and visual direction.
Translate ideas into usable brand assets.
Create systems for rollout, iteration, and growth.
Move forward with confidence in your communications, from social to merch.
USE THIS GUIDE TO
Hot Tip: The FFG approach isn’t about perfection or a big reveal. It’s about creating a creative foundation that can carry you through every stage of your business.
I’m Carrie.
For over 25 years, I’ve worked with solo founders and small teams to build brands, design websites, and shape strategies.
I’ve been translating creative mess into clarity for a very long time.
Carrie Ford Hilliker
designer, strategist
systems thinker, artist
-> Creator of Ford Field Guides
-> Founder of FordVisuals Design
When people are just starting out, they’re usually slowed down by a few specific things. Here’s a high level look, and how the Guides are addressing each one.
Slowing you down
Getting it Just Right
Uncertainty around identity, language, and visuals.
Overwhelm and Paralysis
Too many decisions to make, tools to learn, and opinions to filter.
Tech Friction
Aversion, fatigue, access or all of the above.
Time and Energy
Starting a business while the rest of life happens is a lot.
Budget Realities
If you’re in the middle of a pivot, budgets may not be flowing. And if they are, where to spend?
Solid Ground from Jump
This approach values and encourages building a strong visual and verbal foundation from day one. Feeling confident in the way your business faces the world allows you the room to make mistakes.
Next Things Next
In order to push past the sense of overwhelm and subsequent freezing, we focus on what’s in front of us. We’ll stay organized and methodical so you don’t have to.
Smooth Tech Stacking
So many people are either not comfortable with new tech or just don’t have the mental space to learn yet another thing. We have solutions for keeping these issues to a minimum, including types of software, getting lean and realistic about your needs, cutting the tech fat. The focus is on ease and momentum and best practices, not flash.
An Anytime Resource
The Field Guides are resources to lean on. When you’re running a solo business it’s easy to feel like it’s just you and whatever weird AI tool someone convinced you to use. This is created and run by a real person and always will be.
Creation and Beauty as Resistance
Making this economically accessible to as many people as possible is a primary goal of the Field Guides.
The Field Guides are designed to help you find clarity and momentum so you can move forward without losing your way.
Our Principles
Let’s fix that
Trellised Freedom
You’re given enough guidance to keep you oriented, but enough openness to follow your instincts.
Evolution Over Perfection
Progress, refinement, and learning as you go always win over waiting for things to feel flawless.
Whole-system Thinking
Never underestimate the supporting cast. Branding is the big picture, not just a logo and a name.
Flexible Foundations
Build something solid enough to support growth, and flexible enough to change without collapsing.
Left Foot, Right Foot
This method is about keeping it moving and consistently integrating. This is not a high-pressure reveal. Baby steps and giant leaps both count.
Your pace, your rhythm
Move quickly or slowly. Dip in deeply or take what you need. The guides adapt to real life, not the other way around.
Accessibility
In addition to being offered at an accessible price point, the content is always available, as long as you’re subscribing.
Ford Field Guides
coming this year | 2026
︵ ︵ ︵
Field Guide No. 1:
Brand & Vision Mapping
Cross the threshold from great idea to real life.
︵ ︵ ︵
Field Guide No. 2:
Blueprint to Build
This is the workhorse. Turn those visuals and messaging into a functional brand.
︵ ︵ ︵
Field Guide No. 3:
Check-in and Check-up
Strenghthen, refine, ensure what you’ve built stays fresh.