work with us

Our Services

THE STUFF WE DO BEST

  • Logos, style guides, color palettes, messaging, voice, and all the materials that bring your story to life.

  • Whether you're launching a seasonal promotion, building a donor campaign, or rolling out a new product line, we bring strategy, storytelling, and style to the table. From neighborhood events to global brands, we develop the visuals, messaging, and rollout plans that drive engagement and deliver results - across digital, print, and everything in between.

  • Custom Squarespace and Shopify sites designed for clarity, connection, and conversion - without the big agency bloat.

  • We create cohesive, on-brand content plans and assets to help you grow your presence and engage authentically with your audience.

  • From launch to growth - or when it’s time for a fresh perspective - we help you make sense of your priorities, define your niche, and build a brand that aligns with your values and goals. Whether you're starting from scratch or ready to modernize and refresh your existing brand, we guide the strategy behind what you show the world and why it matters.

  • Posters, maps, merch, vibes. We've done it all - for small towns, food festivals, elevated and elegant events, and rock & roll shows.

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SELECTED WORK

Our Clients

About balsam branding

Balsam Branding is a creative studio rooted in beautiful Western North Carolina, specializing in authentic design and strategic brand elevation. Led by award-winning creative Cynthia Eck, our work merges thoughtful storytelling with purposeful strategy.

Balsam evolved from Badlands Creative, a boutique agency founded in 2013 to serve the small-but-mighty. We've since grown to partner with businesses, nonprofits, and destination organizations nationwide - developing distinctive campaigns, creating meaningful connections, and producing immersive events.

Cynthia brings over 15 years of experience leading branding, campaigns, and events for clients ranging from mom-and-pop startups to global giants like Whole Foods Market, LiveNation, House of Blues, and TGI Fridays.

Whether we’re crafting a local identity or managing a large-scale, high-impact project, our work is rooted in intentional, results-driven design that inspires growth and leaves a lasting impression.

What ties it all together? An uncanny ability to translate your work into an experience your audience actually feels.

here’s what the clients say

  • Sammy chebir - san antonio coffee roasters

    “Behind any successful re-branding project is a great group of designers who know how to communicate and how to take your ideas and shape them into something better. Every time we look at our logo, website and labels we feel thankful for everything Cynthia and her team did for us.”

  • Soleil Schwabe - Peach Property Group

    “Great experience with our new website! Thank you to the team for their helpfulness, positivity, and communication. We were nervous about picking an out-of-state company to re-do our website, but we are so happy with the outcome. Highly recommend to any company anywhere!”

  • justin behrmann - upkeep

    “Working with Cynthia is a dream. She saw my company through brand creation, web design, to all manners of marketing collateral & stationery. She really is a one-stop shop for design. I would hands down recommended her & team for your design gig. Once you work with her the first time, you'll be referring to her as 'my designer, Cynthia' from then on out. Why work with anyone else?!”

  • Kyle Bonorden

    “I am very pleased with the work done by Cynthia and team. They helped me with branding and web design for my new food-based business. They were a good choice - easy to work with and a good value for the service delivered!”

  • Sarah O'Brien - Downtown Inc.

    “Having worked with countless boutique design, brand, and advertising firms over the last decade I can say hands down Cynthia is the leader of the pack. Authentic, creative, and inspiring messaging and coupled with top notch design, created an identity awareness and brand recognition that my previous destination desperately needed. From one small staff to another, Cindy was always ready, willing, and able to take on whatever tasks needed to happen to complete the project.”

  • Johnny Montes - The Gritty Porch

    “Cynthia and the team were a pleasure to work with. They did a phenomenal job on our branding and website! They laid out every step of the process and were very helpful in answering questions and offering suggestions to help our small business. Although they were in another state from us, we never felt it in terms of communication. We would highly recommend them to anyone!!”

  • Naseem Khonsari - Lost Pines Art Bazaar

    “We’ve worked with Cynthia on several projects both for our store, Lost Pines Art Bazaar, and nonprofit community initiatives we’ve been involved in.  It’s always a pleasure working with Cynthia to help actualize ideas we have, but don’t have the graphic expertise to execute. I’d recommend her for any project you have.”

  • Kevin Mawby - Astro Record Store

    Cynthia crafted an imaginative and hugely effective re-branding for my vintage record business. I cannot be happier with the results. The graphics and marketing tie together perfectly, and seamlessly carry the mid-century sensibility of analog recording technology into the digital age. Cynthia and team serve all of my marketing needs from website, to social media to signage and print. They even produce limited edition, hand-crafted show-bills for my in-store events.