Articles, advice and musings in the world of graphic design, branding, corporate reporting and so much more.
Viewing entries tagged
branding strategy
True story; an esteemed client came to us the other day with a sustainability report one of their consultants had written and presented to them. Let’s just say the client's feedback to the consultant wasn’t positive. I won’t quote the feedback as this is a family blog.
Any design agency worth its salt will bang on about the importance of being consistent on how a brand or corporate identity is applied.
It is important. Here’s why.
Launching a new company is an exciting time for everyone involved. It’s tempting to try and save money and do a bit of DIY branding – we understand that – so here are five steps you should consider to get your new brand in the best possible place.
Rebranding an organisation that has some perceived problems can present opportunities and pitfalls. All brands have inherent brand equity, good or bad.
Using three diverse examples. let’s discuss the advantages of a timeline for an annual report and stakeholder communication.
Icons, icons, icons – they are everywhere. We get requests for icons all the time; for annual reports, infographics and branding, to name a few.
We have established that the CMYK has a smaller range of colours. So start by selecting your colours in CMYK. Get a high-quality print test sheet run, on both gloss/silk and matt/uncoated stock first. Whilst you are at it, produce a printed test sheet with all the percentage tints on it as well, it will give you a really good overview.
Bringing together a brand’s colour palette and applying them in a consistent way is one of the pillars of a strong identity. It is a big subject, here we touch on why they are important and what you might want to consider when putting a branding palette together.
When you engage a branding agency, whether it is for a rebranding exercise or a new branding project, the agency should be asking you some important questions before establishing the brief.
Some brands, like, Ford, Coca-Cola and Boots have retained the original logo design from their very conception, or thereabouts. Having said that, all of them have been through subtle branding exercises. These subtle changes are to gently modernise the identity.
Some organisations have made a more drastic change. This might mean a change in name and a complete rebrand from the logo upwards.
Branding gets used to describe a visual identity for a product or service. It often relates to a wider application, rather than just a logo and colour palette for instance.
The actual term for this part of a brand is ‘corporate identity’. A corporate identity is the visual elements a company uses to identify itself.
Style guides and brand books underpin a brand's communication framework. they affect the way a charity speak to their supporters and funders to how a brand communicates to its customers and stakeholders.
The decision to rebrand can be a difficult one for organisation that has high recognition. No matter the organisation if the brand is tired, no longer works on modern digital channels, or has simply become cringe-worthy, it may be time to grasp the nettle and seek out a design and rebranding agency.
With a publishing deal under my belt and a book launched in Europe, and let’s face it the UK being the primary market, Know Your Onions: Graphic Design (as of March 2019) has been re-printed 14 times to the tune of 56,000 copies. It has been translated into Chinese, simplified Chinese for Thailand and Japanese. I am, of course, delighted by this, but find it odd that France, Germany, Italy and cultural countries that are more aligned with the UK have not been so successful.
I am very lucky to have a close relationship with my readership, through Twitter and email. This manifests itself in a number of ways. Sure I get tweets, but I also get direct questions and requests from my readership who want some specific advice. I do my best to accommodate them and help where I can. In one instance I advised a reader to sort his portfolio out. He did. Eighteen months later he arrived at my door and presented his portfolio. I gave him a job. That all worked out very well – for both of us.
Working with luxury brands and services requires a shift in communication mind set. You are no longer required to speak to the masses, but to the few. Often your market is more demanding and harder to impress. You must understand what is important to them and your aim is to communicate the product or services in a light that makes it a 'must have'
Designers and clients have mixed views on the benefits of having a style guide for an organisation's communications collateral. Why's that? Well exponents love 'em because they bring order out of potential chaos, helping to reign in the potential 'home-made' designers from trying to include kittens and clipart in publications. Detractors see a style guides as a restriction of creativity and a draconian, corporate bible, that does not fit their needs and hinders their expression. Thing is, a good style guide should remove all of these reservations and provide a platform for creativity and consistency – so that everybody is a happy bunny. What does a style guide do? What makes them good? What makes them bad? Read on...
Happy April fools day, a couple of days ago. Seriously, the e-newsletter is no joke. In this issue we look at brand, marketing and design mistakes and the fools that made them.
As part of a branding strategy and positioning, we are often asked to write or review the organisations 'mission statements. These bits of copy do a number of 'jobs' and should help the organisation communicate with the outside world as well as their own staff. Here then are a few pointers that should help you when thinking about putting together a set of texts.
Branding is an emotive subject, no matter if it is a rebrand, launch of a new brand or just communicating brand values. We all have an opinion. Brand, what does that mean? What on earth does a sub-brand mean? Can you brand under an existing brand and still have a brand? Oh my life, what is brand hierarchy? What is evolution and what is revolution in terms of brand?
