Understanding a Brand
How can you tell if a company is doing a good BRANDING job? It’s one of those words that everyone knows, but not everyone understands.
When developed correctly, your brand could be your most powerful weapon, but building a successful brand is harder than it looks. Only by understanding the whole process, will you be able to create a stunning signature brand!
Defining the audience
Who, what, why, and where?
Before even thinking about next steps, you must define your target audience. No product or service is created for everyone, not even bottled water companies! With so many brands communicating so many messages there is a very slim chance you’ll reach who you need to, unless you define it early.
Initially, designing a target audience is all about creating context. If what you offer and the products you present correspond with what your target audience is looking for, you’ll be more likely to gain a customer.
Personal vs. Business Branding
What’s the best option for you?
If you’re just starting and don’t know how to position yourself and your business, consider these few things:
Business Branding – Playing it safe
Business branding require a lot of work but have proven to be extremely efficient. What makes this type of branding difficult to create is the fact that there is a whole new personality to come up with. Through this process you’ll have to create a brand new “person”, compatible with the needs of your customers. In the long run, if you choose to move on from your brand, you are more likely to cash in this type of branding rather than a personal one.
It takes a lot of hard work, but at the end it all comes down to what type of business you’re trying to build. For the braves, personal branding is the way to go!
Personal Branding – Going All In
If what you’re selling with your business is your true passion, personal branding is the choice for you! These brands are much easier to create due to already existing brand personality – your personality. Personal brand also gives you a perfect launch pad through already existing channels such as your social media.
Personal branding makes it easy to be distinct, and a signature logo is a perfect fit for artists, influencers, personal trainers, designers, business executives, freelancers, photographers and more.
Here is how modern logo design by Artlogo can make your business stand out!
Creating Brand Identity
Your brand is a blend of elements that make your business different and recognizable. It starts with a beautiful visual presentation, but it becomes complete only when you add your values, ideas and a strong message that will resonate with potential customers through what is called a BRAND IDENTITY.
Brand identity is everything that you want your brand to be recognized as! It is closely connected to every action you take as a company or an individual. In a way, your identity is your birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security card and passport, all in one. It is a proof of your excellence.
Start by asking yourself these simple questions:
What is my promise to the world and what I want my customers to take away from my business?
Once you have a clear answer, you are ready to start working on your brand!
Keep in mind that you are fighting for a position in customer’s mind. How your brand is presented to a customer, decides how a customer is going to feel about your brand.
Visual Identity
Visual elements are what makes the first impression of your brand, and you already know there is no second chance for a first impression. Defining brand name, color scheme, graphic elements, and typography, identify and differentiate a brand in target audience mind. It is a crucial step to growing your brand.
When it comes to visual identity, consistency is the key! Creating a consistent identity means staying on the same path every step of the way. Building a strong brand image means staying on the path and maintaining the identity throughout every branded product, document, website, email, blog, social media post, marketing material, etc.
Building a Voice
Your voice says everything your visual elements cannot! It again starts with two simple questions:
Who am I talking to and what am I trying to tell them?
1. Talk in the same voice as your audience.
2. Say a lot with a few words.
3. Create a message that resonates with truth.
Your verbal identity socializes your brand, making it recognizable. Whenever your voice is heard, whether it is a marketing campaign, website copy, branded product or any other instance, your customers should be able to know it’s you talking to them, a skill brought to perfection by none other than YouTubers! It takes no more than a few seconds and is as simple as “Ayo Good Morning!”
Identity Starts With a Logo
Talking about first impressions, when was the last time a brand knocked you of your feet? In 95% of interactions, your logo is the first thing your clients will notice, so how do you make it pop out? Whether you are building your own business or crafting a logo for a client, always start by asking questions.
What type of logo will work for this kind of business? Will there be text? Is there a color scheme? What will you need to apply it to?
Try thinking of some of the world’s most famous brands and their logos. What are the first ones to come to your mind? Well-designed logos are simple and easily recognizable.
A good logo is distinguishing, user-friendly, vivid and straightforward. It has one simple purpose – to attract the customer and communicate the brand’s message. Global companies, such as Apple, Nike, Coca Cola, Disney, etc. don't need words – they are unmistakably glued to the brand’s message, and over time, consumers have been trained to build the bond that is vital for growing brand awareness. Some studies have shown that it takes an investment of anywhere between $1.000.000 and $5.000.000 to make your brand recognizable on a global level.
You want a logo to tell a story of your brand, and to do that, you first need to understand what your brand really is about. Once your vision is unique, clear and relatable, telling a story will be a piece of cake. Where your message leads, design follows, and customers correlate.
From being babies, to school days and later in life, our minds are trained to enjoy a good story. Resonating with those stories is what makes us humans, so we don’t even need to mention how critical it is for your brand to tell it’s story the right way.
How Can Logo Tell a Story
A good logo design has unmatching power to establish a prospective client’s opinion of your brand. To stand out in the overwhelming sea of brands, you must use your logo as a tool to affect the way people comprehend you starting with the very first contact.
The concept of storytelling through graphic solution that is logo is nothing new. In fact, this type of brand communication dates back to Ancient Egypt where hieroglyphics said a lot by saying nothing.
If it’s you can’t grasp how a static logo can tell a story, just think of the minimalistic art. Some of those pieces are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and they are, just as your logo, nothing else but a static photo. But how can something so simple create so much controversy and attract so many people? It’s easy – we love to dream.
Let your logo give a taste of what you are about and let the customers interpret it the way they want.
Try thinking of some of the world’s most famous brands and their logos. What are the first ones to come to your mind? Well-designed logos are simple and easily recognizable.
A good logo is distinguishing, user-friendly, vivid and straightforward. It has one simple purpose – to attract the customer and communicate the brand’s message. Global companies, such as Apple, Nike, Coca Cola, Disney, etc. don't need words – they are unmistakably glued to the brand’s message, and over time, consumers have been trained to build the bond that is vital for growing brand awareness. Some studies have shown that it takes an investment of anywhere between $1.000.000 and $5.000.000 to make your brand recognizable on a global level.
Designing a Personal Logo
When you think of a logo, first thing that comes to mind are corporations, but its power expands much further. With number of businesses growing daily, personal branding is becoming more and more important. Personal logos are taking over the world! These logos are almost always tailor made. Custom logo design is usually more inspiring and relatable in the eyes of customers.
A personal logo outlines and underlines your personal brand, specifically in instances where audience interaction is crucial! Your signature brand logo should emphasize who you are, and all that you represent so your supporters, fans and potential customers could easily recognize you and separate you from other, less exciting brands. A signature logo, like all things in business, should be the best representation of you. In some cases, it might be just your name, in others it will be the name of your business, website, or a product. And just like all the corporate brands, together with other brand elements, your signature logo should create a sense of belonging that is brand identity!
Easy Steps to a Beautiful Signature Logo
Keep in mind that the attention span of the modern audience is marginal and it’s only getting shorter! Successful logo design is the one that catches the eye and creates a feeling. Whether you are a business or an individual, your logo works the same way – Attract and relate.
Follow these easy steps to make your personal logo stunning!
Step 1 – Do Your Research
Evaluating a brand must be one of the first steps in your logo design process. It’s important to take time and consider different points of view before making the final decision on logo name, type, color and more. Just by asking a question as simple as “What does my business mean to you? “ to people close to your brand, you’ll open an ocean of possibilities that you never knew existed.
Use your competition to inspire your logo. Whatever it is that you’ll do with your business, there is a big chance someone, somewhere is doing the same thing. This is your opportunity to evaluate a brand and learn from other people’s mistakes. Take a close look at every aspect of competitive brands, define your key differences, build a style that will be a better fit to your audience, and you’ll be ready take over your industry!
Step 2 – Logo Placement
Where will your logo be used? Are your services digital or do you provide “real life” products? Your design process should be closely related to your logo placement. Take time doing this research and be thorough. The more possibilities you can predict, the more successful your logo design will be. Where you use your logo might establish the color choice and logo type.
Step 3 – Mood board
Congrats! You are now just one step away from creating a first draft.
Considering everything you took away from steps 1 and 2, get online and start looking for some inspiration. We suggest you start from Pinterest. Research is one of the most underrated skills and one that could really separate you from everyone else. Use other people’s work to build your own mood board and make your dream logo come true.
Step 4 – Sketch, sketch, sketch
Software is nice but there’s just something special about a pen and a blank piece of paper. Did you know that some of the world’s most famous logos were drawn on coffee napkins?
Outline as many logo ideas as you can come up with on a piece of paper to see how feel about them once they are “real”. In this process, you’ll learn that certain patterns repeat themselves, and as you get more comfortable, you’ll be able to combine them into a sketch that makes you happy. Once you start creating, it becomes addictive! Let your creativity take over and don’t stop until you find “the one”.
Step 5 – Vector Work
Once you are happy with your sketches and you are confident in your choice of colors, it’s time to give your draft its full potential. Combining all those elements for the first time will make your personal logo breathtaking, but here is a pro tip: Start in black and white. Before adding color to your vector work, make sure your logo design works without it. To test it out, make sure to build a few mock logo placements. If your colorless logo makes you feel good, just wait to see what magic colors can do.
If you are a beginner, you might decide to go with a free logo design software such as Tailor Brands, Canva, LogoMakr, etc. or a skilled professional that will bring your idea to life.
But if you are an experienced designer or aspire to be one, you might go for one of the “real deals” These are our top 5 picks:
1. Adobe Illustrator
2. CorelDRAW
3. Figma
4. Affinity Designer
5. Photoshop
Step 6 – Feedback
As hard as it is to hear someone critic your work, it’s a step you shouldn’t skip it! No matter how amazing you think your design is, it is very likely some people are not going to be as impressed. It doesn’t mean your logo looks bad. Once you dig into your work, and start developing your idea, sense of first impression that your logo offers simply fades away. That’s why a fresh perspective is exactly what you need.
Nurturing a Brand
Your logo is all set, but your job is not even close to being done. Setting up your brand is a complex process and takes time. Your logo is what people see but your brand is what they feel when they look at it, and that feeling is not easy to build!
The process of brand development is delicate and everlasting. Over the years we’ve witnessed so many global brands go from their original looks to a brand-new identity. Brands such as Pepsi, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Apple, and others tend to refresh their looks as well as their key messages and, in some instances, even their colors in order to follow trends and remain relevant in the eyes of their customers. The ability to adapt and accept the changes your brand needs is very challenging and requires a lot of research.
Check out how some of the world’s biggest brands adapted over the years.
What makes brands successful? – Coca Cola Case
For over 130 years the Coca Cola brand has used its creativity and always fresh point of view in order to stay connected to their always-growing customer base. Over this time, Coca-Cola’s brand identity has gained strong market positioning in the hearts and minds of consumers at all levels and through all generations.
The secret behind Coca Cola’s success hides in the fact that since the beginning, focus of the company was on building a brand, rather than providing exciting products. Most brands in todays business world, still tend to crash too early due to the “product/service first” kind of mentality. Considering that Coca Cola understood this over 13 decades ago truly gives things a different perspective. Since you were a kid, Coca-Cola company has been able to push their brand, their vision, and their sense of exciting experience, onto you, and just like that, you felt like you belong with Coca Cola before even tasting it.
And their brand? A real work of art. Not many companies can say they went through as many rebranding phases as Coca Cola. And even less brands can say that they managed to stay as consistent in their change as Coca Cola did.
The secret? Coca Cola managed to stay true to their values and ideas through every change and in every part of the world. Whether you’re walking the streets of Los Angeles or wondering around Japan, you’ll always be able to recognize the Coca Cola brand. To prove that to their fans all over the world, brilliant minds behind this brand launched a worldwide marketing campaign that couldn’t be more simple yet prove so much.
Speaking of logo placements...
Be like Coca Cola, use your brand to inspire generations, and we know a great way to start. Contact Artlogo professionals and create your beautiful signature logo.
