A brand is really essential in today’s marketplace if you want your business or organisation to stand out and get attention. With so much competition in almost every area, nobody can thrive on a name, product or service alone.
A brand supports everything you do, providing a common visual style and message for all of your communications. It tells people something about who you are and what you do every time they interact with it. But how do you create a brand? Here we aim to break the process down into five simple steps.
1) Establish your brand values
To define your brand in words before you move onto the visual style, you need to make sure you have agreed on some basic principles. Decide what you want to achieve as a brand, who your audience is going to be, and what qualities or feelings you want them to associate with your brand. You can then find ways to incorporate these factors into your actual designs.
2) Choose your brand’s colours
Individuals have different preferences, which can be a problem in the design process because people tend to choose a colour they like rather than one that works. The fact is, you should never ignore the power of colour psychology. Colours (and the ways in which they are used) have a powerful effect on the way your brand will be perceived.
3) Create your logo
A good corporate logo will be easy to understand, unique, attention-grabbing and meaningful. This isn’t easy to achieve, but you can approach it step by step to make things easier. Although there is no perfect blueprint, you might include several or all of the following somewhere in your design:
Name – Usually the company name itself will appear in the main logo, especially for new start-ups in the process of launching a brand. The font choice will be crucial here, as it must be both clear and creative.
Symbol – This should be something that signifies and differentiates your brand, and ideally it should be subtly incorporated into the rest of the logo instead of being tacked on.
Strapline – You may choose to include your company slogan in your logo to provide additional context and confirm your message, if it’s short and snappy. Two or three words should be enough.
4) Roll out your branding
Implementing your designs and message across the board may be the most challenging step on the journey to creating a brand. In some ways you will find this easier with a small group of employees, because you can discuss the brand values in a group and make sure everyone is on-message when they communicate on behalf of the brand.
5) Maintain the consistency
As time goes on, you will need to make sure that everyone continues to represent your brand in the way you originally agreed. Specific training may be required for new employees (and existing ones) to ensure they always keep the values of your company in mind. Any necessary design changes later need to be handled smoothly.
