Jeff Whitlock built the Brand Identity Canvas at the startup SafeBoda, when the team used a product redesign to refine its brand (Whitlock, 2016). Brand books took time and skills the team did not have, and he found no tool that was quick, simple and did not "require an MBA in marketing to understand", so he created his own (Whitlock, 2016). Behind it stands his view that a brand is "the collection of feelings and associations that consumers build through every micro-interaction" with a company's product, services, content and customers; a great product and brand should therefore reinforce each other from the start (Whitlock, 2016). The canvas puts mission and vision at the top and reads from left to right, so that each column guides the next, from the one-word essence to the visual language (Whitlock, 2016, "Explaining the Logic Behind It"). For simplicity, Whitlock left out customer personas, their problems and the value offered to them, although these should influence the whole board (Whitlock, 2016, "An Important Caveat").