Branding design is a vital element in a company's development. Whether you're launching a new business or have an established brand, it should always be your priority. If you're still doubting, recent results show that consistent branding can increase business revenue by 23%.
Although crafting branding design is a creative process, it requires technical skills, dedication, and thorough planning. The end result should be comprehensive and consistent enough to cover all style elements and communication channels, which can be baffling at the beginning.
But Doctor Idea is here to help. We made an easy 7 step plan to help you achieve a powerful branding design.
The branding design process begins with the idea which reflects your fundamental values and a business mission. Also, your company's niche can serve as guidelines for crafting your style and brand collateral. The niche recommendations are useful when deciding on branding colors, imagery, or typography.
The field can be your cheat sheet because what works for a financial institution, might not work for a sustainable cosmetics brand. People tend to create associations with specific fields. While finance and technology sectors would find cold colors and rigorous shapes more appropriate, sustainable cosmetics brands might want to consider earth tones and softer cuts.
The target audience helps to come up with an appropriate branding style and a clear tone of voice. You might have a persona in mind, as it's one of the key points in creating a business strategy, marketing campaigns, and any other major decisions affecting business.
Whether you already have an ideal buyer described or still in the brainstorming phase, it's helpful to go more in-depth and use good old empathy. Yes, you don't need complicated metrics or tools to define your target buyer.
Think of the buyer as a person: what are his or her concerns and problems your business can solve, what they do for a living, and how they spend their leisure time. All these elements will help you come up not only with a number in an Excel sheet, but a real human. It will facilitate further progress in creating branding design.
Of course, you don't have to do everything by yourself. To get a better picture of the audience, you can use online tools, like HubSpot Make My Persona or WebFX tool. These platforms are free and can be helpful in creating a visual buyer persona for a business.
There are myriads of platforms and design tools to look for inspiration. You can begin by researching your competitors and what works best for them. Don't worry, it doesn't mean you're trying to copy them. Searching what ranks high on search engine results, can help you get a better idea of what your customers need and search for.
Find top competitors, especially the ones that have a large client base and are established in the market. Don't only check their website, but also take a peek at their social media channels, prints, and other collateral.
It will save you time because instead of devoting hours finding what works best for your users, you can implement some tested techniques. Of course, don't be a copycat and find ways to customize those methods to meet your branding. You should always but your unique selling point and stay authentic.
Here comes the creative part, yet the most difficult one, too. If you asked, how to design a branding strategy, these six elements would be the primary ones:
These six elements will follow your brand everywhere, which means you have to create something worth showing. If you completed the first three steps, characterizing the main pillars won't be as challenging. However, each of them has to consistently tell a story about the brand and reflect your style. Consistency here is essential, because, for example, a logo without a brand story means nothing, while colors should resemble your tone of voice, and so on.
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When you have all the essentials under your belt, you can do yourself a favor and document it. Whether you're a designer who crafted branding or someone who ordered the work, it's crucial to keep the work documented and clear.
The outline will help future team members to understand style requirements and avoid mistakes. If you just write it down on a whiteboard or send someone on a Slack chat, guidelines can be lost, and all your hard work will go to waste.
Branding design is not only about visuals, but it's also about consistent and comprehensive use of your brand style and communication. Before you head to creative fields, think about all the channels you use to reach users.
Even the most well-known brands have been going through development and improvement to meet changing market needs. No matter, your brand is Coca Cola or a local retail shop, you have to strive to meet your audience's demands.
Perhaps, the business is expanding to other niches or your services change of course. You don't need to stiff your growth, because smart changes are always welcomed.
Branding design is every company's priority. It represents your vision and values and helps people to associate it with certain colors and typography. If you choose your branding wisely, eventually it will start selling itself. So, remember, to craft an impeccable branding design, you should always:
Keep in mind that if you’re searching for a professional graphic design service to help you with branding, check Doctor Idea plans. We offer a flexible subscription-based service. Pick the package that meets your style, and we will do all the work for you.
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