Key Considerations for Branding
1. Understand the Company:
Brand Purpose: Understand the core purpose of the company—why it exists
beyond just making money.
Mission & Values: Familiarize yourself with the company's mission, values, and
vision. This will guide the overall tone and message of the brand.
Target Audience: Define who the audience is (age, interests, values, and
demographics) and tailor the brand identity to resonate with them.
Competitors: Analyse competitors to differentiate the brand from others in the
same industry.
Brand Personality: Think about the personality you want the brand to project
(e.g., friendly, luxurious, professional, youthful).
2. Consistency is Key:
Branding is about maintaining consistency across all touchpoints—website,
packaging, advertising, social media, etc.
Make sure that the visual identity (logo, colors, typography) and messaging are
coherent across all platforms.
3. Design for Emotion:
The goal is to create a brand that evokes specific emotions in the target audience.
The brand’s design should visually express the company’s values and resonate
with consumers on an emotional level.
4. Simplicity & Scalability:
A logo or branding should be simple, scalable, and adaptable. It should look great
on a business card as well as a billboard. Avoid complex designs that might lose
clarity at smaller sizes.
5. Cultural & Ethical Sensitivity:
Ensure that your design does not unintentionally offend or alienate any cultural or
social groups. This is especially important in global branding.
Design Process Steps for Branding
1. Discovery Phase (Research and Strategy)
This is where the foundation for the brand is laid.
Brief: Understand what you wants from the brand, including goals, expectations,
and any specific preferences.
Market Research: Study the industry, competition, and trends. Look at what is
working for similar brands and find gaps or opportunities.
Audience Research: Develop audience personas to understand who the brand is
targeting and what they need or expect from the brand.
Brand Positioning: Define the unique value proposition (UVP) that differentiates
the company from others.
“MAKE YOUR BRAND STATEMENT”
2. Concept Development (Ideation)
The creative phase where ideas begin to take shape.
Mood boarding: Collect images, colours, fonts, and materials that align with the
brand values and evoke the desired emotions.
Brainstorming: Start generating concepts for the logo, visual elements, and
possible brand messaging.
Sketching: Begin sketching ideas for the logo, iconography, and other elements of
the brand.
3. Design Phase (Creation)
Translating ideas into tangible designs.
Logo Design: Create several variations of the logo. Focus on simplicity,
scalability, and relevance to the brand’s mission.
Colour Palette: Choose a colour scheme that aligns with the brand’s personality
and appeals to the target audience. Each colour should evoke specific emotions.
Typography: Choose fonts that are legible and consistent with the brand’s
personality (e.g., elegant serif for luxury, bold sans-serif for modern tech).
Imagery Style: Decide on the style of photography, illustrations, and iconography
that will be used consistently across all branding materials.
Brand Guidelines: Document all the design choices in a brand guideline to
ensure consistency across all brand communications. This document should cover
logo usage, colour palette, typography, imagery style, and tone of voice.
4. Prototyping & Mockups
Test and refine the designs.
Mockups: Create digital mockups to showcase the branding in context. For
example, design how the logo looks on business cards, websites, merchandise, etc.
Client Feedback: Present your designs to the client and gather feedback. Be
prepared for multiple rounds of revisions based on their input.
Refinement: Based on feedback, refine the logo, colour palette, typography, and
other visual elements.
5. Implementation Phase
Bring the design to life across various media.
Final Artwork: Finalize the logo, designs, and assets in the required formats
Brand Rollout: Work on the deployment of the new brand across various
platforms (web, social media, print, signage, etc.).
Consistency Check: Ensure that the brand's visual identity and message are
consistent across all applications.
6. Evaluation & Maintenance
This phase involves ongoing assessment and tweaks.
Brand Launch: Help the client launch the new branding. This can include
announcing the new identity via a website, social media, email, etc.
Monitoring: Monitor how the brand is being received by the target audience.
Analyse brand recognition, engagement, and feedback.
Adaptation & Evolution: Over time, branding may need updates or tweaks to
stay relevant. Be open to small adjustments or full redesigns as the company
evolves.
Additional Tips
User-Centered Design: Think about how users interact with the brand. For digital
branding, consider user experience (UX) design principles.
Sustainability: If relevant, consider designing with sustainability in mind. Brands that
focus on eco-friendly practices often want this reflected in their visual identity.
Adaptability: Design for multiple contexts—print, digital, and even merchandise—
ensuring the brand works in all environments.
Feedback Loops: Always work with feedback. Regularly check in with the client and
stakeholders to ensure alignment with the business goals.
Check list
Completed
Step/Stage Key Topic/Action Status/Notes Comments
(Y/N)
1. Discovery & Understand the brand’s
Brief
Research objectives
Analyse competitors &
Market Research
trends
Audience
Define target personas
Research
Brand Identify unique value
Positioning proposition
2. Concept
Moodboarding Gather visual inspirations
Development
Generate ideas for brand
Brainstorming
identity
Explore logo & visual
Sketching
concepts
Create multiple logo
3. Design Phase Logo Design
variations
Colour Palette Select colours
Choose fonts that align
Typography
with brand
Decide on
Imagery Style photography/illustration
style
Document logo usage,
Brand Guidelines
colours, fonts
Design brand applications
4. Prototyping &
Mockups (e.g., business cards,
Mockups
website)
Present designs & collect
Feedback
feedback
Refine designs based on
Refinement
feedback
Prepare files in required
5. Implementation Final Artwork
formats
Launch brand across
Brand Rollout
platforms
Consistency Ensure brand consistency
Check in all applications
6. Evaluation & Monitor audience
Brand Launch
Maintenance reception
Track brand performance
Monitoring
(engagement, feedback)
Identify areas for future
Brand Evolution
improvements or updates
