This week we looked at branding and the process on how to develop an effective identity for a product, service, or business. I found the diagram below very useful for my design thinking. It outlines the process that must be taken to ensure the effectiveness of a brand.

We also looked at the different things you can use to shape a brand’s identity. Such as values, a good name that will relate somehow to the product or service, taglines/ messaging / content, a logomark/wordmark to make your brand recognisable, typography to convey a certain tone, imagery, colour, and touchpoints & application.

All of these things help bring your brand to life and project a certain message to your user base.

What to consider when designing a brand

Daniel went over some of the things that we should think about when designing the brands for our projects.

• Who is Your Ideal Customer? - Who are we targeting?
• What Pain Points Do You Solve? - How are we helping the user?
• What Kind of Personality Do You Have? - What sort of tone do you want to portray?
• Who / What is Your Competition? - Who has a similar service/product?
• How Do You Make Your Customers Feel? - Is it relief from something like stress?
• How are You Different? - How are we different from competitors?
• What's Your Story? - Why does the brand exist?

Building a Brand

We also discussed some of the basic elements of a brand's identity. They include:

• Name Mark The company's name is written in a special way
• Symbol A picture mark or a decorative abbreviation
• Colours Selected colour(s)
• Type Selected typefaces)
• Fifth element An extra, decorative element