Brand Strategy
What Is It That You Want, Really?
Brand Strategy—it's a plan to achieve specific goals that communicate what makes you or your brand unique. What are we making—and why? How do you want people to think and feel about your brand?
When I meet with new clients they often ask "where do we start?" So, a few years ago, I wrote a six step process that acts as a roadmap to ensure successful projects. It helps build consensus efficiently, create informed and effective design solutions, and defines our role as more than designers, but creative partners you can trust.
ListenGreat relationships are based on communication.
Your brand is your business and your business has a story. It’s so foundational that you almost never think of it. Yet, without it there’s no distinction or character. We listen, we ask questions about the current perception of your business, company values, target audience, and examine your industry and competitors. How do you want to be seen? What do you want people to know about you now and moving forward? In the hands of our expertise, we help you pinpoint the most effective way to visually communicate your brand that is compelling and memorable.
STRATEGIZEYou have goals, we have strategies.
Once we’ve clarified your goals, we develop a well-planned strategy and create an informed design solution that achieves your specific objectives. During our strategy presentation we make recommendations on content, style and specific branding assets. This might include visual examples (mood boards, physical examples, online references) of what we think might best accomplish your goals. We also outline a roadmap and timeline to achieve each item. Brand strategy is the foundation of our work. It defines the tone and sets the stage for all of the work to come, and ensures that what we create is consistent with the client directive.
PrepareSuccess begins long before the moment arrives. Preparation creates the advantage.
We gather all the content and structure of what we will be creating so that the design process can be as efficient as possible. This might include the existing assets your business has, such as images, diagrams, materials, and copy. We will analyze the quality (resolution, mechanical formats, etc.) of the content to make sure we can use it. We also create new content (illustrations, photography, copy, storyboards, etc.) so that when we start designing we have all of the tools we need in place.
DesignWe put it in fourth gear, and let creativity drive.
This is when we let our creativity take over and begin building original and authentic visual communications that capture the essence of your brand. We also create mock-ups of our design concepts to help you visualize the final product. Together, we'll review our work at every stage, gather your feedback and finalize the ingredients (layouts, colors, typefaces, etc.) and overall look and feel of your brand.
Produce Rock solid assets and guidelines designed exclusively for you.
We build out high resolution mechanical files of all the deliverables to universal graphic standards and coordinate with vendors (if needed). This phase might include press checks and overseeing the production of the deliverables. We also enter all of our design elements into a brand guideline that will serve as a reference for you, your staff and any vendors you work with in the future.
DeliverWe present the deliverables and the mechanical files to you.
A successful project culminates in a smooth hand-off of visual assets and website management. We want to execute this critical transition flawlessly. In some cases, training might be necessary to explain how they work, and stewardship to help maintain the consistency of your brand as your practice evolves. We want the assets we create for you to serve you for many years to come, so it’s important to us that you understand how they work.
