Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room
What Is a Brand?
Do you have an amazing product or service you want the world to know of, but are not sure of the best way to present it? Any successful business will inevitably brand themselves with the goods or services they provide. A well-branded company puts the time and research into creating a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes their goods or service from their competition.
Solid brands build trust with their customers which in turn influence the future behavior of customers. Strong brands sell more at higher prices and their customers are more likely to share and participate.
Essentially your "Brand" is everything people encounter when they interact with your company. "Branding" is your attempt to influence their perception of your company by giving them the right impression.
If you have not been through the Product Development process, we highly suggest you start here in order to build a strong base to build your brand.
What is brand Identity?
A brand identity encompasses the sensory elements that uniquely identify and distinguish the brand. Brand identity is the intent the brand is making to cultivate a certain image in the consumers' mind. Brand identity includes:
Color, design, logo, fonts, websites, packaging, uniforms, sounds, slogans, jingles, office ambiance, signage, business cards, etc.
This identity is a strict policy the brand adheres to in order to make sure that its message is constantly on track.
Have you ever walked into a new Best Buy, CVS or Costco and knew exactly how to navigate the store? Even if you don't eat fast food, if you were driving to McDonald's can you imagine exactly how the experience would go before you even walked in? This is brand identity.
What is a brand style guide?
In order to maintain the brand identity, a style guide is kept on record which outlines all of the specifications of what is allowed and what isn't. This document essentially governs the brand identity. A style guide prevents confusion among your audience by ensuring a consistent brand experience. This guide can in turn be given to designers, developers and marketers without risk of shifting the brand identity.
Here are some great examples of Best Buy's style guide:
At BlueSky, the style guide we provide our clients includes:
- Brand positioning - This takes place in the discovery phase and is the most important as it sets the foundation for all of the design work to follow. We will work with you to gather all the necessary information in order to have a firm grasp on your background, goals, and audience. We will comb through your existing materials and research your competitors. It is after this stage where we will present you the design concepts.
-
Logo guidelines - Outlining the different elements of your logo and how they should be used
- Icon version
- Trademark version
- Primary version
- Secondary version
- Variants
- Safe area
- Sizing
- Misuse guideline
- Legal requirements (if any)
- Typography - Guideline for typefaces and font systems including:
- List of typefaces used for your brand
- Font system outlining how your fonts should be used
- Type hierarchy with a combination of font styles for headings, body copy, call to action, etc.
- Color palette - A detailed document listing the specifications for the colors in your logo needed by print vendors, web developers and graphic designers to ensure your brand colors will match across different applications. Pantone, CMYK, RGB, and HEX codes provided.
- Iconography - Small shapes or mars that your brand can use on its website, packing material, business cards, favicon, etc.
- Illustrations - Viewing examples of how your logo and branding image looks in real case scenarios such as vehicle decals, shipping containers, brochures, etc.
What is a logo?
A logo is a uniform mark that represents a an organization and serves as the strongest point of recognition for a company. Imagine watching your favorite sports game and all the players were wearing random cloths! Each has their specific mark that is unique to their organization which allows the world identify them. You don't need to know who all the players are, but this mark allows you to follow along and identify which team is which. This is the same concept for brands.
How can BlueSky help with my branding?
BlueSky focuses specifically on identity branding. First we will asses your company through an initial information gathering phase to get to know you and your company better. After this phase, we will sort through this information and work on structuring your brand identity. After we have pieced all the parts together we start to construct all the various materials tailored to your brand. Along the way we will be working with you hand-in-hand to ensure your vision is being properly reflected. Finally, we will deliver you a complete professional style guideline you will use to govern your brand image and make sure your message is never tainted.
But if you are in an industry where the look and feel of your company directly has an effect on your customer growth (food industry, eCommerce, entertainment, clothing, retail, financial, etc) your brand identity is IMPERATIVE to the success of your company.
Whether you want to enhance your existing brand identity and give it an enhanced new look or you are a new company starting from scratch, BlueSky can establish a strong brand image your customers are sure to remember.
- Build trust with your customers
- Become more memorable
- Look more professional
- Sell more at higher prices
- Increase customer loyalty and participation