A brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company and how it relates to key constituencies. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand. A brand evokes passion, perseverance, power and the desire to succeed.
Take a moment and ask yourself this question “Why does my competitor’s business get more attention than mine?” The answer just may have to do with the elements that go into how memorable the business is, and this is where Branding comes into picture.
But exactly what is a brand, anyway?
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. Since then, it has continued to evolve to encompass identity – it affects the personality of a product, company or service.Think of branding as predefining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. Good branding differentiates your products and services in a positive way that really sticks in the minds of potential customers.
How has Design influenced my life?
Ever since I became obsessed with Art and Design, I’ve garnered a lot of wisdom and conscience and this has helped me evolve into a better thinker and has totally transformed my observational skills. The power of Design, or should I say, the Influence of Design has had a phenomenal change on my work ethics and my everyday life. I experience these results quite frequently; when I speak with my friends, when I go out for a walk or even when I visit the mall.Things are beginning to show a lot of new meanings and a whole new world has awakened within me. After all this time, the best way I can put it is, ‘Being a Designer totally kicks ass’. The moment I see something, I start to notice the “art” in it. This happens frequently when I visit the mall. Every time I see a hoarding or a sign or better yet, a logo, my “designer” mind in me starts its engines. ‘What typeface is that?’, ‘Will that look better in different color palettes?’, ‘I could do way better than that design!’ and so on. And when I start to think of it, i feel really proud that I can notice all these intricate details and the people around me are so damn clueless about it. Realizing this makes me feel I’m top of the creativity chain.
The very title of being addressed as a ‘Designer’ is quite an honor because the truth is, we designers make awesome stuff happen. It is that simple. Where would the world be without us? From the smallest details of the shape of a fountain pen nib to the design of the NASA Space Shuttle, our contribution is everywhere. We are the reason the world is such a beautiful and a simplified place to dwell in. Granted, the skeleton of innovation is mostly due to the scientists and innovators but c’mon let’s face it, without us, even their works will go to a bitter waste.
Well, coming back to the topic, How can you transform your skills into creating a Brand that symbolizes accomplishment and epitomises success. What are the things you need to keep in mind if you are planning to build a brand and decide to pursue your goals.
Whether you are an art student who is doing your course at a Design University or a visionary who has little or no educational background in the design industry, you can always grow from a little speck of talent to a household name. You may wonder how you are able to even think of achieving such a gigantic feat. Well, that’s what Branding is all about.
So, from my experiences and ideas, I’d like to share a few things which I feel would be the best steps to build a successful (Design) Brand on the web and maybe even take it to the next level.
This is a long article, so there are chances that I might wander a bit off track sometimes. But, I have broken down this article into succinct points so identify those areas where you occupy the back seat and try to understand them more than the others. I would love to hear your opinions about this (both positive and negative) :)
Times change and so must you
In the past, self-help management was about improving oneself and following the old school methods. If you wanted to be more level-headed you took a meditation class; if you wanted to be a better designer, you studied Paul Rand, David Carson and William Morris; if you were looking to advance your career, you’d get a Masters Degree. The advent of the World Wide Web and the rise of social media has changed all that.
The Internet has provided us unparalleled access to audiences. Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online communities have allowed no-names to become household names and people have taken notice. There are books, blogs, experts and companies to help you build your ‘personal brand’. They’ll tell you that all you need for personal branding is a business card, blog, profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and a personal style; and you are on your highway to success.
Let us indulge ourselves into understanding what makes a Brand and how can we take this “brand” and build a successful empire out of it.
1) Create an Identity
The first thing to do is create an identity for yourself. Choose a name that best reflects the designs you focus on. You can either follow the old school method of prefixing/suffixing the word ‘Design’, ‘Creativity’ or ‘Art’; for example, ‘The Design Observer‘, ‘Sick Designer‘, ‘Design you Trust‘ and ‘Creativenerds‘ or you can be unique and chose a special name that suits you best. Some of the best ones that I’ve seen are ‘Retinart‘, ‘Synaptic Stimuli’, to name a few. Or you can meddle with your maiden name and create a brand that will last forever, for example ‘Marcofolio‘, ‘Iamfinch‘, and so on.
Like any other successful piece of art, choosing a name is not so easy. It requires a lot of research, thinking, mind mapping and sometimes even sketching out a lot of ideas. To come up with a name that will stand the test of times and become memorable, I suggest you choose an area of design or art that you are very passionate about and start your ‘name finding’ journey with that. Usually, Latin and Greek equivalents are a great source of inspiration.
However, make sure you are careful enough NOT to pick a name which is:
- hard to remember
- might become out-dated as your business/brand grows
- conflicts the interests of others who are in the same field
Types of Brand names:
Brand names come in many styles. A few include:- Acronym: A name made of initials such as UPS or IBM
- Descriptive: Names that describe a product benefit or function like Whole Foods or Airbus
- Alliteration and rhyme: Names that are fun to say and stick in the mind like Reese’s Pieces or Dunkin’ Donuts
- Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant vivid image like Amazon or Crest
- Neologisms: Completely made-up words like Wii or Kodak
- Foreign word: Adoption of a word from another language like Volvo or Samsung
- Founders’ names: Using the names of real people like Hewlett-Packard or Disney
- Geography: Many brands are named for regions and landmarks like Cisco and Fuji Film
- Personification: Many brands take their names from myth like Nike or from the minds of ad execs like Betty Crocker
2) Design a Logo, choose the colours and invent a tag line
A successful brand is (almost) always identified by its Logo. Nothing reflects a company’s vision, personality and strategy more than its brand image. And nothing expresses an organisation’s brand image more quickly than its logo. Your logo, or brand identity, is the visual centrepiece of your organisation.The world has evolved much since the advent of the World Wide Web and is today evolving at an exponential rate far beyond our pace of understanding. Changing markets, increasing competition and educated consumers have made building brand recognition, a challenging task.
Ask yourself the question, “How can my logo stand out?” The answer is quite simple: Simplicity. There is no greater visual relief than a simple, well designed logo that at first glance captures the name and feel of a company. These days our minds are in such overwhelm processing the demands of visual stimulation that we filter out anything too colourful, complicated and wordy. Today, as the information age moves forward, our attention span is going the opposite way. We want simple, positive communication we can relate to and remember easily.
Choosing the right Logo
A good logo needs to evoke a specific emotional response in the consumer for it to be remembered. As a matter of fact, Emotional connectivity and simplicity increase your brand’s chances for longevity which is a crucial factor in building a successful brand.A few tips on creating a good logo. Your logo must:
- be simple, natural and friendly
- have a strong yet encompass balanced imagery with less or no other elements
- be distinctive and bold in design, making it easy to see at a glance
- have graphic elements that reflect your business/brand and your brand name
- communicates your business clearly
- look good in black and white, as well as in color.
The right set of colours, fonts and imagery work together to convey this message instantly and concisely to those who need to hear it; the wrong choices can confuse the message and give your prospect the wrong impression.
Choosing the right Colours
Different colours convey different moods. Red symbolizes luck, energy, passion; Blue symbolizes corporate, professionalism, stability and conservativeness; Green symbolizes an organic self; brown signifies luxury, elegance and taste. So, make sure you choose the right colours which reflect your brand.Choosing the right Typeface
Likewise, choosing the right typeface involves a lot of research and experimentation. Serifs signify professionalism. Sans Serifs symbolize friendliness, approachability, boldness and audacity. Ask yourself this question while choosing the typeface for your logo: “What impression do I get from this font? Does it reflect my brand and qualify as a yardstick to its success?” Also, don’t be afraid to pay for just the right font – fonts are relatively inexpensive and can make or break a designChoosing the best tag line
A tag line is a three to seven word phrase that accompanies your logo. It expresses your company’s most important benefits and/or what you want your customers to remember about working with you.Great tag lines appear to be effortlessly created because they just seem to flow. In fact, creating and refining one takes time, just like designing a great logo. The benefits of taking the time to craft a great tag line lie with the tag line’s stickiness. Great tag lines stick in your memory.
3) Set up your brand online
This is one of the most important things to do once you have chosen the right name for your brand. This is the world of cybersquatting and parked domains so it also wise that you do a thorough check on the availability of the domain names while you are busy researching for your brand name. Typically, a .com TLD works great but I’ve also seen some very popular websites which do not have the .com TLD.
Once you decide on a name (and sometimes even when you are looking at the final list of names), buy the URL immediately (you can do this on GoDaddy, NameCheap and other sites for $10 or less). If the URL is not available, use the Whois.net directory to identify the owner. See if they are using the URL for business purposes and contact the owner from a personal e-mail address (you don’t want to overpay especially for a niche name, and when they see a business address, their eyes may light up with dollar signs).
4) Utilize the Power of the Social Media
Obviously you must have noticed the remarkable influence the Social Networks has had on the users. It has completely transformed the way we learn and share things. It has created a new platform to grow and evolve as a designer and an entrepreneur. In a nut shell, it is the best thing that has ever happened after the birth of the Internet :)Twitter and Facebook have been monumental in helping creative individuals build a brand online. I am an avid user of both and I can say, within 5 months, I was able to rocket my blog out of obscurity and into something everyone were eager to read. So, this is not just an advice, it is an order :) I’m sure you have a Facebook profile. So, just create a group/fan page and start sharing it with your friends. This will help you a lot in the promotions.
Create a twitter account under your brand name (it is better if this account is different from your personal account, if you have any) and start following established design blogs who are already doing great on twitter and also follow those designers who are new to the field just like you are. This is the right time to build a great community and become a part of something great.
5) Start building your Portfolio
As a designer, you are entrusted by the laws of Creativity to show the world how awesome you are! Start showcasing your work online as this is the best way to get some exposure and if you are lucky, a design studio might be interested in hiring you :) There are many portfolio websites which allow you to showcase your works. A few of my favourites being Deviant Art, Behance, CarbonMade, Wix and so on.
Alternatively, once you’ve bought the domain and the webspace from a trustworthy webhost, the next immediate thing to do is to create a portfolio site and start uploading your works as and when you do it. You may use Flash, the WordPress framework or any other CMS favourable to you or even build the entire thing from scratch; it is left to you.
6) Start a Blog/Website
WordPress, blogger and typepad have free templates that you can use for your blog. With the recent developments in the open source community, there has been a drastic increase in the popularity of the Wordpres blogging platform and there are over thousands of themes available for free downloading, so choose the right one and start off sharing your ideas and thoughts. Choose the template that best matches your blog’s content, audience and mood.Starting a successful design blog is like learning to walk: You will most likely fail a number of times, you’ll need a lot of patience, and you can’t do it on your own. –Preston LeeEventually, work on designing your theme and start using it on your blog. As a designer, you are pretty much expected to design a theme that best reflects your passion to learn and design. So, work on your blog’s redesign in your secret bunker and when the time is right, release it to the public. With the right amount of promotion, you can usher in a new era for your blog.
7) Pave way for Brand Awareness and Promote smartly
Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo and so on to certain associations in memory. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs to and what products and services are sold under the brand name.It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products. ‘Brand love’, or love of a brand, is an emerging term encompassing the perceived value of the brand image. Brand love levels are measured through social media posts about a brand, or tweets of a brand on sites such as Twitter. Becoming a Facebook fan of a particular brand is also a measurement of the level of ‘brand love’.
8) Define ‘what makes you, YOU’
Some of the most profound questions in Science are also the most intangible. “Who are you? How do you discover you inner self? Why is there such a diversification in the class of people?”A Picasso always looks like Picasso painted it. A Beethoven symphony always sounds like a Beethoven symphony. Part of being a master is learning how to sing nobody else’s voice but your own. Every artist is looking for their big, definitive moment, whether they’re a master or not. That’s the moment where they finally find their true voice, once and for all.
Recognizing your strengths is important, and you should wear them with pride. This doesn’t mean being conceited, but knowing that the things that make you exceptional also help you to meet challenges. There are always going to be some days when you just feel moody, tired, or depressed. This is when it’s most important to call on your strengths. It may sound a bit cheesy—but it’s vital to your happiness. This type of self-knowledge helps people to reach their full potential, meet their goals, and in short, to succeed.
To be able to discover yourself, you need a bit of luck too. Put your whole self into what you are doing and wish to do, and you will find your true inner voice. Hold back and you won’t. It’s that simple!
9) Believe in Change and embrace the future
In order to manoeuvre the new realities, not only do you have to be creative, but also change and evolve as the world does–not just within your particular profession ,but in everything. Your way of looking at the world will need to become ever more fertile and original. And this isn’t true just for artists, writers, techies, creative directors and CEOs; this is true for everybody.Charles Darwin, the father of evolution once said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Pay close attention on the human mentalities that keep changing. Try to analyze what people are beginning to like and dislike, what standards are they adopting in their profession and life.
10) Apply the aspects of Design thinking in your works
Design thinking (or creative thinking) is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the “building up” of ideas.Timothy Brown, founder of IDEO and a pioneer in developing conventional aspects of Design thinking explains in an article which he wrote for the Harvard Business Review: “Design Thinking is a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”
The very notion of Design goes beyond creating cool websites or designing extraordinary pieces of work using Photoshop. It is about how efficiently you can think to be able to embrace innovation and creativity in your work ethics.
You can read more about Innovation and Design thinking in one of my previous articles — Design Thinking : 10 Ways to foster Innovation
11) Measure your success periodically
How does one define or measure Success? Is it about getting the top rank in your class or is it being able to sell all your products at a lesser price?Success can be something very simple like actually getting up out of bed in the morning, awakening to a new day, knowing that you are ready for a new phase in your life; or it can be something more intense and emotionally provoking such as: a dream finally being realised and the knowledge that you can be proud of these accomplishments.
Either way Success is gained from your belief in what you are doing, what you want to achieve and more importantly how you go about realizing that goal.
Never forget to evaluate your work. When you are in the process of designing something, take a moment and look at your work and ask this question to yourself: “What would I think if someone asked my sincere opinions about this design? What kind of suggestions would I offer them to improve this? Is there a possibility to use the elements in a more efficient manner? Can I make it work with less?” Once you are able to justify the above questions, you are on the right path of being responsible enough to tabulate your success.
Step out of your usual design routine and think differently and ask yourself, “What if I had taken this route to achieve this design?” Try to get out of the habit of solving design problems in the same way you usually do and force yourself to approach the design differently than you normally would.
Ultimately, no matter how success is measured or defined, it is what you believe it is that counts.
12) Build trust into your brand
Any brand, no matter how memorable, will fail to achieve its goals if it does not gain the public’s trust. If you’re anything like the rest of us, you tend to put your faith in brands that feel authentic and are relevant to your life. That is to say that you believe in brands that are speaking with you, not at you. Finally, the strongest brands get their fans to spread the word for them. All the fancy advertising and letter-pressed business cards in the world won’t do any good if your brand can’t perform the way it says it will. Especially in today’s hyper-connected world, any bad customer interaction will spread like wildfire.The best example of a solid Design Brand that I can think of at the moment is the TUTS+ Network. They have relentlessly aimed at providing the best tutorials for the creative community and now it has become a household name. I don’t think there is any artist on the web today who isn’t aware of the TUTS+ Network. So, building trust into your brand is not only difficult, but it is highly important. Providing relevant content to the readers is one of the best ways to start building trust into your brand. Being relevant is not just about the stuff that interests you the most but it is about reaching deep down and speaking to that part of your audience’s hearts where their excitement is concentrated—the core, if you will, that represents something very significant to them.
Building trust with consumers is never easy. You can’t just put up a Facebook fan page or send out some coupons and hope that people are going to fall in love with your brand. You have to do the hard work of getting to know your customers and always stay focused on helping them to achieve their goals. But helping people in this way is a sure-fire secret to putting your brand on a path to success. People are most loyal to the brands that matter to their lives.
13) Growing a Brand, Growing a team….
The best thing that has ever happened to me ever since I joined the design world is: I made a lot of friends. It gives me such immense pleasure to know that I can rely on the suggestions and opinions of these creative individuals, most of them who live at the opposite ends of the world and I’ve never even seen them once, and yet I feel so proud to be part of such a creative network.So, start building a community and participate in a constructive discussion among your fellow designers. Join a forum, teach beginners what you know and share your knowledge. Most of all do it with passion.
Your passion will drive the success of your online community. Your face will be the strand that connects others in relationship with each other. Your words will set the tone for discussion. It’s your community, make the very best of it. –Brandon CoxSuccessful brands employ the best people in the industry. Start building a team of creative professionals. You don’t have to always have PhDs in your team to make it a success. Choosing the right people takes a lot effort. Passionate guys are the key to a formidable team so “hire” the team which meshes best with your personality, aesthetic preferences and goals and choose those who are ready to do anything for what they love to do.
14) Cultivate the habits of successful design driven companies
Brand is a perception in the mind of your customer that is relevant with who you are and what you do.To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact.
These habits include:
1) Put DESIGN on the agenda of every meeting2) Have a formal Design Board
3) Invite Top Designers to address your group
4) Openly use the emotional language of Design
5) Have great ART on your walls and Support it
6) Embrace Simplicity, Clarity, Grace and Beauty
15) Discover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
I believe one of the best ways to identify your strengths, weaknesses is to try out a lot of new techniques and new ideas while you are involved in the creative process. Don’t be break up with your design just because you don’t see any possible relevance in it and for the fear that you might end up with a bad result because it didn’t turn out the way you expected. The power of the human brain is such that it will contemplate new ideas when put in such unforeseen circumstances.Experimenting allows you to see different ideas and concepts, your mind would not have envisioned. It allows you to transcend your mundane thinking into creating extraordinary works. This result in awakening your short comings, setbacks and helps you improve your works and any learn from mistakes which you can stop committing in the future.
Use your opportunities efficiently. I always say, “Don’t try be to and idealist or a realist, rather try to be an opportunist“. You never know what your future has in store for you so keep pushing your boundaries and as a result you will be able to evaluate your chances, competition and threats that might impede your process of brand development.
Success without taking risks is impossible. Mistakes are a part and parcel in the process of achieving extraordinary results. A good designer is not taken apart by such mistakes, rather he learns from it. Gain wisdom from your own mistakes and use this to accelerate self-improvement. Learning from mistakes along with risk taking are very essential to be a success designer. The important thing is to view mistakes as a useful stepping stone to a higher reality and better outlook on life.
16) Promise what you can deliver; Deliver what you can promise
Your brand image creates expectations. It defines who you are, how you operate, and how you’re different from your competitors. In essence, your brand image is a promise – a promise that must be kept. Your brand promise is irrelevant if your customers do not believe it. Therefore, your promise must be supported by reasons-to-believe. This will automatically add substance to the promise and define specific expectations for the customer.For example, an automobile manufacturer promises potential customers that Car X is an “intelligent choice for urban drivers.” What makes it an intelligent choice? Why should the customer believe this promise?
So, give your customers the reason to believe in your brand and leave it to them to take it further.
Building a great design brand is not just about creating great products but it is about reaching deep down to the heart of your clients and leaving a unforgettable impression. If you are passionate about what you do, you will most certainly reach the apex of your success.
So, I hope you enjoyed reading the article as much as I did writing it. It is quite a comprehensive article so I don’t expect you to read it at one shot. Take your time, set your priorities, choose the area you feel you are weak in and you can focus more on that area. I would love to hear your opinions about this article. if you have any valuable points to add to this article, you are more than welcome to do so. So, Good Luck; Go out there and make ideas happen :)
Here are a couple of presentations which are worth watching.
What is Design
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