Be sure to click on the notes tab below for more detailed information! An overview of branding, brand Identity and logo design. Covers the importance of strategy, successful identity attributes, process, working with a designer and factors that affect cost.
Exploring the Impact of Social Media Trends on Society.pdf
Branding & Brand Identity for Business: A Foundation for Success
1. Branding & Brand Identity for Business:
A Foundation for Success
Valentino Sanna vsanna@ignitiondesign.ca
2. Overview
• Introduction
• Why Branding is Important
• Defining Your Brand Strategy
• Attributes of Successful Brand Identity
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
3. Overview (cont’d)
• Brand Identity Process: A Case Study
• Working with a Graphic Designer
• How Much Will it Cost?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
6. What is a Brand?
DEFINITIONS
A brand is the perception formed in the
mind about a company, person or idea
based on the ability to deliver on a promise
or expectation.
7. What is Branding?
DEFINITIONS
A disciplined and strategic process of
building awareness and extending
customer loyalty to a product or service.
8. What is Brand Identity?
DEFINITIONS
The combination of logo, colour, imagery,
and typeface to form a unique cohesive
visual expression of a brand.
9. How it all works together
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
LOGO
Brand Experience
Brand Identity
System
Brand Strategy
11. Why is Branding Important?
4 Key Reasons:
• Branding provides a competitive advantage
• Brands provide a stable asset
• Brands provide economic value
• Brands set expectations
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
14. Market Analysis and Research
Essential Questions
• What is the current state of my market or industry
segment? Am I trying to reach a new market?
• What need will my product or service fill? What are the
features or benefits for the customer?
• Who are my competitors and how is my brand unusual,
unique or different?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
15. Market Analysis and Research
Essential Questions
• Who is my customer and what are their
demographic attributes?
• What are my short- and long-term business goals?
• What is the current perception of the brand and is
a new one needed?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
16. Positioning
Essential Questions
• What is the mission and or vision for my
brand?
• What the core values of the brand?
• What personality or tone do I wish to convey?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
17. Creative Considerations
Essential Questions
• What are the primary and secondary objectives you
wish to achieve with a new logo/branding?
• What is the primary key message or overall impression
you would like to convey with the new brand identity? Is
there a secondary message?
• What applications are required for the identity and are
there any limitations in creative direction?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
36. Getting from A to B
• Work with the client using a questionnaire
to help define brand strategy
• Prepare a creative brief
• Explore concepts
• Incorporate type and colour
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
37. Getting from A to B (cont’d)
• Narrow down the choices
• Client presentation, refinement from
client feedback to approval
• Prepare final art files
• Develop Brand Identity Guidelines
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
38. Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
47. Where do I find a Designer?
• Word of mouth referrals
• LinkedIn
• Google search
• Avoid online bid sites!
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
48. How do I choose a Designer?
• Look for a designer with branding experience
• Make sure they understand strategy and ask
the right questions
• Look at their portfolio
• If needed, get references
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
50. Factors that affect cost
• How much strategy work is done up front?
• How big is the organization?
• How many different applications are required?
• What is the scope of the Brand Guidelines?
• What additional items are required?
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
51. Sean Adams & Moreno Morioka, Logo Design Workbook, Rockport Publishers Inc., 2004
Gerren Lamson, Designing a Brand Identity, creativemarket.com, 2013
Melissa Mazzoleni, 4 Key Reasons Why Branding is Important, howdesign.com, 2014
John Murphy & Michael Rowe, How to Design Trade Marks and Logos, North Light Books, 1993
Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009
Images: DepositPhotos.com, except where noted.
All logos represented are registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Branding and Brand Identity for Small Business: A Foundation for Success
REFERENCES AND CREDITS
52. THE CREATIVE SPARK TO POWER YOUR BRAND SUCCESS
BRAND IDENTITY / COMMUNICATION DESIGN / WEB DESIGN
905.845.1055 / www.ignitiondesign.ca
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Hinweis der Redaktion
Is this what you think of when someone says branding? Just to assure you that you’re in the right place, this is NOT the kind of branding we’re here to discuss. We can however, trace the roots of corporate branding even further back than the old west. Throughout history man has had a need to uniquely identify or claim ownership of what belonged to him or to the wares he produced. Since ancient times trademarks and logos provided assurance of quality and distinguished one make from another. This need increased dramatically with the rise of advanced manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. From then on logos have been used and often combined with advertising to deliver cohesive messages and produce positive associations about a product or service. This is where we get branding today.
In perhaps more common use a brand may refer to a category of products identified by name. For example Levis and Wrangler are brand names of jeans. But when it comes to marketing your business, your brand is something less tangible. It is the reputation of or gut feeling a person has about your business and this drives their decision making in choosing one brand over another.
There are two aspects to branding. Initially we use positioning to define a unique placement of your brand in the mind of a consumer to set it apart from your competitors. But branding is also ongoing and happens when customers interact with and develop a relationship with your brand. Every experience with your brand is an opportunity to build trust or damage credibility.
Brand Identity is more than just a logo but sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably. A unique, memorable, and easily recognized brand identity is one of your most valuable business assets. It becomes the face of a business and is often the first connection to your target audience.. How much value do you place on making a positive first impression? An integral part of a complete identity system includes Brand Identity Guidelines. These are used to ensure the visual expression of the brand is applied consistently across all mediums.
The logo or identity is the central, identifiable visual element that helps customers discover, share and remember a company's brand. The logo along with other visual components specified in the Brand Identity Guidelines form the larger Brand Identity System. This System, along with the strategic aspects of branding, help form the end user experiences.
In order for your business to survive and thrive it needs to compete for resources, funding, talent, and audience attention. Branding therefore must be an integral part of your overall business strategy. Done correctly branding affects decision-making and choice leading to greater bottom-line performance. At the heart of branding is a promise: who you are, what you believe in, and what unique value you provide. The expectation is that the promise will be met at every stage of the customer relationship. When brand promises are kept, audiences respond with loyalty and affection. Apple is a perfect example.
Brand Strategy provides a central unifying idea around which all actions, behaviours and communications are aligned. Clarity about the values of your brand and how it should be positioned or perceived is the critical and foundational starting point before any creative design can begin. Armed with answers to essential briefing questions the designer can then create a logo or identity that truly embodies what the brand stands for.
The first step in defining your strategy is to understand the marketplace around you and your target audience. You may have already answered some of these questions if you done a business plan. The more you understand the past and current state of your business, the more information you will have to draw on to inform your strategy and affect your future success.
The second step is positioning, where we try to define the essence or soul of the brand.
The third step is looking at creative considerations. These set the tone for themes to explore in the conceptual stage of the design process.
Name only logos can simply be the name of a brand set in an appropriate typeface or custom lettering may be used to create the appearance of a signature.
Symbols can illustrate something about the business or be totally abstract.
Many older, well-established brands such as Ford use an enclosing shape to represent a seal or stamp of quality. An example of a more illustrative approach is used by Best Buy to represent a sales tag.
Often times a long name can be easier to remember and apply if reduced to only its initials. In other cases, brands like CIBC (formerly known as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) have grown beyond their original geographic location and have rebranded to appeal to a global audience.
A good brand identity design is a visual interpretation and personification of your brand values. Using shape, colour and typography as his primary tools, the designer’s job is to imagine something that is both pleasing to the eye and engages the viewer. A successful identity should share all, if not most, of the following attributes.
First and foremost a logo should be uniquely identifiable to help distinguish it from its competition. Think of how many brand messages you are exposed to each day—for instance on a public transit ride, in a grocery store or surfing the web. Remember it’s not necessary to make your identity represent exactly what your company does. This will avoid your identity resembling the competition and not limit areas of future growth.
It has to be simple enough to be instantly recognizable. When we can easily recall and remember an identity, we form positive associations that lead to feelings of comfort and trust.
Starbucks is but one example of a trend where major brands are simplifying their identities to iconic symbols making them even easier to remember.
Brand identity should draw the viewer in with appropriate aesthetics that appeal to the intended audience. What works for a luxury watch brand is not the same as what works for a energy drink aimed at youth.
It should use shape and colour to enhance recognition and emotional response. The Nike swoosh creates an image of energy and dynamic power and Coca Cola uses red to suggest energy, life and vitality. It’s hard to imagine either of these identities without their signature shape or colour. We would not have the same reaction to them, nor would they be as successful, otherwise.
It sometimes has a hidden element or meaning that demands attention. Have a careful look at the FedEx logo. The negative space between the capital E and the lower case X form an arrow shape. This subtly portrays forward movement and is ideally suited to a shipping company. We naturally want to try to figure out the meaning of these kinds of identities and the more time we spend with them, the more familiar they become.
It must be culturally relevant. Certain symbols and colours have very specific meanings to different cultures. For instance, in the Western world we are very familiar with the Red Cross Society. In other parts of the world, the cross is replaced with a crescent and the name changes to the Red Crescent Society to be more sensitive to followers of the Islamic faith. Make sure you do some research ahead of exploring a creative direction that could cause problems in an increasingly global marketplace.
It will stand the test of time and not date itself quickly. The CN logo is an example of an identity that is timeless in appeal and not be subject to changing trends or fashion. Most companies or organizations would do well to follow this route, but there are always exceptions. For example, certain product brands will be more fashion-forward in their approach to capitalize on the latest fad or trend.
It should be easily reproduced across a variety of media, both in print and online, and at a variety of sizes. What is legible on the side of a truck may not work as well when reduced to the size of a favicon in a browser address bar. A complex identity with gradients and transparency may work well on a web page, but may prove difficult to embroider on branded apparel. A well-designed brand identity system is flexible enough to easily accommodate different methods of reproduction and sizes.
Can you recognize these partial logos? If yes, it shows that they are successful in incorporating the attributes just discussed. Of course, repeated exposure helps too.
In 1947 AATel Communications started by providing telecommunications systems to local business. At the time, the name was purposely chosen to put them at the top of alphabetical listings in the phone book. Over the years Aatel has grown with the changes in technology and now operates four lines of business: Communications (phone and computer networks), Life Safety, Security and Audio-Visual. Their target market, now regional, includes the commercial, government, education and healthcare sectors. A new brand strategy was needed to reflect the growth of the company and to position it to compete at a higher level. The old identity caused confusion as to how the name of the business was pronounced and did not inspire confidence internally or a trustworthy professional image externally. The new brand identity overcomes all of these challenges. The name is set in lowercase to overcome the pronunciation issue. The symbol graphically depicts the integration of all the technological systems and the diversity of client solutions. The identifier (Communications Inc.) is replaced with a tagline that speaks to what the brand is. Sub brand architecture was developed to represent the different lines of business and is outlined in the Brand Identity Guidelines.
The process of creating a successful brand identity requires research, gathering information, strategic analysis, creative design and skilled project management. While the amount of time and resources spent on each stage will vary for each client, the process itself should remain the same.
This important document is developed by the designer to ensure consistent brand reproduction across all media both internally and with external suppliers. The amount of time and resources spent on creating this document will vary, but at the bare minimum a manual should cover both proper and unauthorized uses of the logo, its precise colour breakdowns and typeface specifications. More elaborate brand guidelines may also include exact layout specifications for diverse applications such as business cards, uniforms or external signage and provide guidelines as to the selection of imagery and secondary colours. This pages that follow are a representative sample selection from Aatel.
This section of the guidelines includes additional information on the sub brand logos developed to represent the client’s four lines of business.
Brand Identity Guidelines include notes on the various art files that are supplied and how they are to be used.
Brand Identity Guidelines include notes on the various art files that are supplied and how they are to be used.
In choosing any business relationship, word of mouth is always best. If budget is truly a concern hire a student or recent grad from a local college or university. You will get much better quality and support the economy closest to you.
Make sure the designer can describe the rationale for their creative solutions and how this enhanced the brand. Having specific experience in your industry is also helpful.
It’s important to think of branding as an integral part of your business plan from the very start. Smart companies will include branding as part of their start up costs because they see the value and return on their investment. They understand that there is more risk involved without doing it right from the start. That said it’s never too late to change course and make a fresh start by rebranding if there is a compelling reason to do so. Examples include a name change, a new line of business, a merger or simply to revitalize a tired brand.
The number of applications to be designed and specified in the Guidelines can vary greatly. A consultant may only need business cards while a large corporation may require a branded fleet of trucks. How many of these items are required at launch will also affect cost.