Branding is a process that helps to define who you are, and how to best communicate to your target audience. I’m sure there are countless clever ways to describe branding but in my view, it’s highlighting and matching the core traits of a brand/company/organisation with the values/cultural patterns of said brand’s intended audience.
1. Rich qualitative research: interviews, workshops and questionnaires are conducted to understand your brand or organisation. The level of research undertaken is dependant on how big or established your brand/organisation is already. 2. Market research: Leaping into a market without understanding it would be a bit reckless. Market research is gathered in order to understand the competition, value of the market, key indicators such as visual language, positioning and cultural touch points. The level of research undertaken is dependant on how big or established your market is already. 3. Creative development: Collating mood boards and positioning statements to reflect the answers and desired outcomes from steps 1 & 2. This can be taken and tested internally or with focus groups. This is a presentation of a creative argument - one that addresses the needs identified in the first phases. Depending on the project, sometimes this is 1 solution, sometimes a presentation of more ideas is appropriate. 4. Reflection and refinement: The initial creative is discussed, ideas are pushed around internally and externally and critiques are made. This is a collaborative process and does not require you to have an MA in Fine Art. It does require you to engage with ideas and critical thinking, rather than opinion. 5. Development: this stage pushes the refined creative forward and shows you how it can used across multiple elements: websites, printed brochures, social media, in store displays - whatever is relevant to your business/organisation. 6. Implementation! It’s no good developing beautiful creative if it never sees the light. We develop guidelines and examples to help you understand how to use your brand and what the frameworks for your brand are. Your new branding is rolled out across your marketing platforms. 7. Measurement and feedback: it’s always good to know what was successful and what wasn’t, that’s why we like to measure the impact either qualitatively or quantitatively.
In an ideal world, every project would have a tidy 6 weeks allotted to it. The process can be compressed into the timescales required, but it may mean compromising on phases. If the timeline is tight, there is an increased need for you as a client, to be responsive and feedback thoroughly.
The short answer is as much or as little involvement as you like. After the initial briefing, the project can develop up to the point of creative development without much involvement. However, the more involvement the better really as it’s easier to get buy-in for ideas when you understand everything that has gone into a project.
Not at all, brands can be updated or tweaked to be more reflective of the current visual aesthetic.
