How To Make The Most Of Your Brand Through Design

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How to make the most of your brand through design

Your brand is your single most important business asset. It is the essence of what your business is and what it stands for according to its customers. Great graphic design will bring your brand to life and help you be distinctive and remembered by customers.

What is your brand?

Originally the word "brand" comes from the practice of branding livestock to identify ownership of cattle. That evolved into the "branding" of companies and products and their logos.

These days though, your brand isn't just your logo, colours, font etc. – these are the tools a graphic designer will use to represent your brand. This is a definition from Wolff Olins:

A set of ideas a company or product stands for in people's minds
Shaped by the actions of the company or product
Recognised through visual and verbal style

The "visual style" is where a designer comes in.

Distinctiveness

Having said that, the design element is essential. Research shows that the main driver for gaining and maintaining customers through brand is distinctiveness (that recognition through visual and verbal style). This is where great graphic design comes in. A good designer can take that essence of who and what you are and turn that into distinctive branding that will ensure that you will be recognised and remembered by customers. They can also advise you when and how to use different elements.

You still need to do the groundwork, though. You need a company name that stands out, and you need to be able to articulate what your brand is about. That is how you get the most out of your designer.

Who is your audience?

To describe your brand, you need to know who it is you are talking to. Who are your customers? If you are a small business, it is much easier to do this if you pick a niche. However, make sure it is a big enough market that you can make a living from it.

Define your brand

If you can define your brand makes it easier for a designer to represent it (and for you to explain what you offer to customers). Now you know who your audience is, think about their needs and expectations and how you differ in how you can help them.

Brand butterfly

One way to do this is to use Wolff Olins "brand butterfly". It is a Venn diagram. You think about what issues your customers face, then what is special about you. The idea is that the overlap is a "brand proposition" (a short description of your brand). This will really help a designer develop something that makes you stand out and achieve that distinctiveness.

Do you need to rebrand?

If you are concerned that you don't stand out or that your branding doesn't reflect who you are, it is worth having a chat with a designer. You don't want to lose the brand equity (existing brand recognition) you have built up. However, most of the time, a great designer can tweak your branding and make a considerable difference while still being recognisable.

If you need some help creating a brand or have any concerns about your branding, contact us here or give us a call on 0141 471 9308.

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