--- title: "The Market Verdict — X Gravity" description: "A method for reading what the market has actually confirmed about a brand from customer behavior, with printed workbooks for four stages of company and an online workbook that runs the method for a whole team." url: https://xgravity.co/work/marketverdict.html --- [Work](https://xgravity.co/work/) / Strategy + Brand + Product # The Market Verdict Read the brand your market already confirmed. ![The Market Verdict, image 1 of 14: the marketing site home page: Are customers choosing you for the reasons you think?](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/site-home.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 2 of 14: the brand board: lockups, the mark, its motion, color and type](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/02.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 3 of 14: six of the illustrations drawn for the brand](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/03.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 4 of 14: the gap, Startup edition: the customer you planned for versus the one who showed up, from the fictional Mesa Foods example](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/gap-startup.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 5 of 14: the gap, Scale edition: growth pulls the message toward new buyers, from the fictional Meridian Field Services example](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/gap-scale.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 6 of 14: Editions: one method, matched to where you are, with the Startup steps](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/editions.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 7 of 14: four rules the method holds itself to, each with its own illustration](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/four-rules.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 8 of 14: two reads: the internal workbook, then the independent outside read](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/two-reads.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 9 of 14: the covers of the four printed workbooks: Startup, Builder, Scale and Enterprise](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/06.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 10 of 14: the online workbook prototype: the Startup edition home, with progress by stage and the evidence selector](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/app-home.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 11 of 14: the online workbook prototype: one question answered, with the fictional Mesa Foods example beside it](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/app-question.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 12 of 14: the online workbook prototype: the sealed Founder Track record, with dated correction notes](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/app-sealed.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 13 of 14: the online workbook prototype: the Standing Hypothesis page](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/app-standing.jpg) ![The Market Verdict, image 14 of 14: three phone screens from the online workbook](https://xgravity.co/assets/work/marketverdict/08.jpg) A method for reading what the market has actually confirmed about a brand from customer behavior, with printed workbooks for four stages of company and an online workbook that runs the method for a whole team. What we did Methodology, Brand identity, Illustration, Website design, Workbook design, UX/UI design ## What it is The Market Verdict reads the gap between what a brand says it is and what customers have confirmed it is, through what they buy, come back for and recommend without being asked. It produces a finding, not a score. It's built for the window before a new leader's first big commitments, when changing direction still costs a conversation instead of a campaign. ## Why it exists NPS, satisfaction scores and brand trackers ask customers what they think. None of them read what customers have actually done over time. Those two things drift apart more often than most companies expect, and the gap is usually where the most important finding is. ## How it works Two stages, one finding. The leader answers alone first and seals it. Then the team answers on their own, without seeing anyone else's answers until everyone is in. Only then are the answers compared, and every claim that goes into the final record has to say what evidence backs it. ## The workbooks Four editions for four stages of company: Startup, Builder, Scale and Enterprise. Each one walks a fictional company through every question (Mesa Foods, Trail Coffee Co., Meridian Field Services and Vertex Systems), so there's always a worked example beside the blank page. A methodology book explains the system behind them, and a whitepaper makes the case for it. ## The brand Ivory paper, deep green and serif headlines, so it reads like a field guide, not a survey. The mark is five loose dots that join into a V: scattered evidence becoming a verdict. A set of illustrations carries the same palette across the site, the workbooks and the app, and each edition gets its own accent: olive, sage, tan and rust. ## The workbook, online Now in development. One purchase opens a private workspace where each person answers on their own, and nothing is shared until everyone is in. The printed workbooks and the app read from the same content, so they never drift apart. [Next projectMonarch](https://xgravity.co/work/monarch.html)