Branding and logos - from ideas to implementation

Getting branding right is a difficult process. Often both clients and designers fail to understand what each party needs or is looking for. This article seeks to give some advice on how to issue a brief and issues to consider for small to medium sized enterprises.

Before you contact a designer

Before you contact a designer it is a good idea to think about what you are looking to achieve from your branding / rebranding. Ask yourself some questions:

What do I want to achieve from branding / rebranding?
What words do I associate with my business?
What words do I not associate with my business?
Who are my customers / audience?
What are they looking for?
Do I associate any colours with my business?
What logos do I like?
What logos do I not like?

Simplicity pays dividends

Particularly for small to medium sized enterprises a simple well designed logo can provide a strong visual image but also limit overheads.

Consider for example a logo with twelve different colours and a large amount of detail. Printing this logo whether on an office printer or via a professional print firm is going to be considerably more expensive than printing a simple graphical logo with a few colours.

How well will the logo scale? Let's say for example you have created a logo and you now want to create a website. The logo will need to scale to usually around 10cm. If the logo does not scale well you will have to go back to the drawing board.

Many of the most well known brands are very simple. Look at Nike and Apple for example. They work in almost any environment from a t-shirt to a mobile phone to a website. Keeping things simple means that you will be able to use your branding where you want and when you want.

Working with a designer

Most designers will have their own way of working but all will look at your brief and respond accordingly.

The process at Shape Shed is to:

Understand the brief and business
Produce three concept designs - one on brief, one pushing the brief and the other off brief
Meet with the client to discuss concept designs
Produce a phase two design based on the meeting
Produce a phase three design based on feedback if necessary
Sign off
Issue branding and guidelines

Using your brand

If you have spent money on branding you will need to make sure that you apply it across your business. For a small business this can have significant cost implications. But it is important that you maintain the same identity wherever you communicate.

Ensure that your branding is applied to:

Stationary
Invoices
Your website
Brochures and pamphlets
Business cards
Advertising
Transport vehicles

Think about where your customers will see you as a company and make sure your branding is there.

Branding / rebranding can be difficult but it does not need to be. Following a few principles will help you to get branding that works for your business. Branding should enthuse you rather than cause headaches!

Comments

chiefgeek Jan 3 2007

You have some nice articles about CSS and design on your site, but I must take issue with this one.

Branding is NOT logo design.

From Jim Paglia at Ins and Outs: “Branding is every influence that contributes to your stakeholdersâ€™ experience.”

http://www.brandsthatstand.com/

Logo / identity design is just one (small) part of defining, establishing and LIVING your brand. Branding is far more strategic in nature than designing an identity and choosing some colors. Its what you do to make your customers (or prospective customers) say, “I see ME in that organization.”

George Ornbo Jan 3 2007

@chiefgeek - I agree with you comments. The article really is really about a framework to getting to a graphical reprentation of a brand. The much harder aspect of implementing it or “LIVING” it as you say is not covered here. I fear it would take a large book to cover that.