Branding can a subjective, thorny and potentially costly exercise. Sometimes everything clicks straight away and everyone is happy. But sometimes the whole process is a minefield of design-by-committee, colour-wars and endless tweaking to accommodate various personal quirks.
Worse still, you could face a terse ‘please explain’ about the amount of time and money you’ve spent.
An effective brand should be the foundation for all of an organisation’s activities, in particular how it communicates and engages with its target audiences (staff, clients/customers and other stakeholders).
So if you are going to invest in branding, or re-branding like I did recently, consider these tips for a solution that encapsulates your organisation’s personality.
To help define your brand, ask:
- What is your vision?
- What is your mission?
- What are your values?
- Who is your audience?
- Why should they care (what benefits do you offer them)?
- How do you interact with your audience?
- What qualities do you want your audience to associate with your organisation?
Your brand should be in sync with all of these things. Once you are clear on these elements, you can create a design brief and get the ball rolling. And it gives you a reference point to consider options, and variations or refinements.
Here’s a short case study example based on my own recent branding refresh project.
After more than 10 years it was time to update both my website and branding so I took the opportunity to revisit my business:
- vision—to run a successful communications consultancy
- mission—to help my clients communicate with their audiences in a clear, polished and meaningful way
- values—professionalism, respect, enthusiasm and creativity
- audience—government departments (mainly via communications teams), peak bodies, consultancies and small businesses
- benefits for my audience—professional, personalised and polished communications services that achieve objectives and engage audiences; my clients have peace of mind and time to focus on other priorities
- interactions with my audience—personal, professional, responsive, versatile, easy to deal with
- qualities associated with my business—trustworthy, professional, reliable, down-to-earth, value for money, calm, creative, experienced.
So…my logo includes a hand-drawn ‘CLC’ in a circle symbol, reflecting the personalised and creative nature of my business. The blue-green colour is modern and fresh but also calm. The symbol is teamed with my business name which is straight forward and explains the ‘who’ (yours truly) and the ‘what’ (communications services).
Pleasingly, when testing my new logo with some valued clients, their comments mirrored the thinking behind the design:
‘It shows you are a creative person…in a strong and professional way. And we all know if you want a job done right…’
‘Looks calm like you’
‘Responsive, versatile, creative….and professional, trustworthy, highly capable…’
‘Modern, effective, polished’
Are you updating or establishing branding? Contact us if you would like to talk about how we can help.
| Cinden Lester has helped various clients develop successful branding by providing advice and managing the design process to achieve the desired outcome.She has also improved numerous government and private sector websites. A particular skill is reviewing existing sites that have grown and become cumbersome over time, to advise on improved structure, content, language and style. |
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