Everything You Need to Know Before You Start Branding

You must have come across this term “branding” multiple times on the Internet but wondered to yourself: how cool does this look, but what does it really mean?

Let’s define Branding

Branding has become an essential investment for brands of all sizes in all industries. Hence it has become crucial to know the use and importance of branding and the influence it has on your potential customers.

Branding design is how you want the audience to perceive your brand or company: this does not just mean visually but also as a persona. You can say that branding is the visual design that helps to communicate the uniqueness in value of the brand.

It is the storyline you give your brand, conveyed through graphics.

For example: You see a yellow curvy ‘M’ backed by red and you automatically start to smell the burgers at MC Donald’s.

That’s what branding can do to you.

Every element of branding adds up to this process: The logo, the colours, the typeface, the products, the merchandise, the strategy which all together create the brand identity.

So branding is design that holds the voice of the brand, marketed and advertised to reach people that resonate with this voice and wish to associate. With all brands trying to digitally flourish, branding has gained more importance over the years.

What is a brand identity?

As the name suggests, it is what identity you portray to your audience as a brand. What your values are, what products reach the customers and most importantly it is also what people conceive from your brand persona. Hence designing it the right way can hit the right notes in finding the correct audience and shaping the brand image, because that decides the future of your company.

How you can get started with Branding?

Before you can start the branding process, it is important to jot down what is the end message you want to convey. A brand is a promise hence needs its core values to be defined.

1. Define The Brand

The title might seem simple, but this step is where the brand is truly created. People associate with a brand when it behaves like a human, has core values and consistent human behaviour.So, the core values, goals, mission and the unique selling point of the brand have to be defined.

1. The Question of What?

What is this brand? What does it stand for and what are its values? What are the goals of this brand? What is the energy it gives to the audience? What makes it unique?

2. The Question of Who?

Who are the target audience? Who does this brand resonate with? Who are the potential user groups that benefit from this brand?

3. The Question of Why?

Why should the audience prefer this brand over others?

These questions help you define your brand. Without definition there is

no design. The design process starts with ideation of what your brand

should be conceived as from the audience’ point of view.

2. Generating Brand Awareness

How to define these values? This starts with writing down an exhaustive list of keywords that you want your brand to sound from the audience’s point of view. Some examples: young, bold, quirky, inexpensive, sustainable etc. Are a few words that bring definition to your brand.

This list can be further filtered to stick with a few words that portray the true idea behind the brand

This forms the essence of the brand. What it is, how it behaves and how people perceive this behaviour.

3. Research your competition

Educate yourself about similar brands in the industry, as every brand needs a home. Research on how these brands is portraying their message through their visual identity and their strategies. This can give a clearer picture towards where you are heading.

4. Decide the look and feel of the brand - create a Moodboard.

Moodboards create the architecture of the brand. It is a visual road map towards your destination. A foundation to the home that your brand is.

This means everything visual and design.

The moodboard creates the look and feel of your brand: what is the logo going to look like? How are the colours and typography adding to the voice of the brand? How does the packaging and merchandise of the brand look? What visual language does the brand portray?

The customer experience both visual and merchandise have to be tailor made to fit the idea of the brand brought through its design.