Maybe you’re a start-up looking for a new logo, or you’re part of a well-established company with a brand that’s feeling a little tired and in need of a refresh?
Maybe you’re keen for us to pick a font and smoosh it together with a pretty little icon and taadaa – we gots us all a logo? Kinda. Yeah and nah… and not quite.
You see, the design of your logo is not quite as important as the design thinking behind it. Actually, not even half as important. In fact, we go as far as to say that logo design is about the last and final 10% of brand development.
Your brand is much more than your logo. In our previous post about logos, we’ve mentioned that your logo is only part of a broader corporate identity or ‘brand landscape’ – it’s definitely an important part, mind you, but it cannot exist on its own. In the construction of your brand, elements like typography (font choice that extends beyond the fonts used in your logo), tone or language, use of colour and imagery need to be considered in your wider brand development. Using these things consistently is important in communicating to your customers that you take your work seriously, and creates an impact when your aesthetic is communicated across all platforms – the work done with Biddy + May is a good example of this.
To put it simply, the logo design stage is similar to constructing a garment. It is still a solid, thoughtfully-constructed entity, and many clients are happy to walk away with that. But strong branding is also about putting the garment on a moving model, pairing it with accessories and a voice that will bring the garment to life. Strong brand story-telling drills right down into the ‘big idea’ behind a brand – why we need it, who it’s for, what impact it has and what experiencing it feels like.
Our ‘creative brand backgrounding’ takes info from three important tools in the Husk Brand Toolkit – the Brand Quiz, Brand Perception Survey and the Brand Workshop. Once those are completed, we have begun to better understand the business, the experience, the customer and the unique product or service they have to offer. From there, enter the Brand Think Tank – stage left.
During the think-tanking stage, the Huskies brainstorm and develop ideas around the context of your brand, this includes thought generation for design and marketing ideas that are clear, workable and ready to use. Many businesses find this creative idea injection invaluable in developing their brand look-and-feel and/or creating campaigns that support the brand well.
What’s more, no two think tanks are the same, because we tailor the content and idea generation for each individual client. For example, there might be a business that is based around catering delivery, and a vehicle-wrap design is essential to brand exposure — our thinktank will then look into taglines, copy/art direction, design mood boards (including colour palettes) and menu design and vehicle wrap ideas. If you’re starting from scratch, we can do anything from company name brainstorming down to taglines and keywords… The possibilities are endless!
Does a think tank sound like something you’re after? Give us a holler today!
