‘I’ll know it when I see it.’
For a brand agency, that’s like firing a gun into the air and hoping a duck is flying by.
If you’ve ever heard the dreaded ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ during a brand creation project, it’s likely due to a lack of collaboration. Creating a new brand identity should be an inclusive process, one where all parties head off on a journey together, and the destination becomes clearer with each step.
The job of a branding agency is to get all the stakeholders aligned on the new brand’s fundamentals before the creative kicks off. What is your purpose, your business idea and what is it that makes you different? These are all important factors, and so too are your values, personality or archetypes. These all become part of the creative brief.
The more we understand the vision of those who run or own the brand, the better prepared we are to deliver a complete brand that delivers on those factors. There really shouldn’t be any big surprises or awkward moments in the presentation when everyone is working from the same brief.
There’s a saying, ‘the more you put in the more you get out’. This has never been truer than with the process of creating a new brand. The more engaged you are in the early stages where the building blocks are taking shape, the better the result is at the end. The final product shouldn’t be seen as something that’s fleeting, but rather something that endures the test of time and is based on solid thinking and long term insights.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is the design of a brand worth?
Design is never simple. It can mean something different to everyone who comes into contact with it. But when it’s done right and has the correct fundamentals behind it, it should feel simple. Design needs to do a lot of heavy lifting – not only when someone sees it for the first time, but for each subsequent contact after that. As Paul Rand said, ‘Design is the silent ambassador of your brand’. It can make you feel confident, empowered, included or inspired. Done badly, it can make you feel empty, hesitant or uncertain.
Your new brand should feel unique. There’s really only one reason you would ever want to hear that misattribution is high, and that’s when a new brand is aiming for instant credibility in the market. Otherwise a mistake has been made – someone didn’t do their homework. And your new brand should be memorable. There is no magic formula for making it memorable, as everyone will have their own opinion when they come into contact with the brand. But memorability comes from a combination of uniqueness and bravery, from doing something others haven’t done before. In the end, there are no shortcuts.
If you want to build a meaningful brand, we’ve certainly created our fair share over the years and would love to be your partner every step of the way.
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