Crafting a Compelling Visual Identity for Your Business

Branding is more than just a logo; it's the heart and soul of an organisation. When done right, it can transform businesses, inspire donations, and even shape the stock market. In this blog, we take a deep dive into the process we at Studio Joel take to create impactful brands.

Firstly, branding, when executed effectively, can realign organisations, raising millions in donated funds or billions on the stock market. Rebranding can reinvigorate companies, countries, and their citizens. It has the potential to revive ailing services, making them relevant, desired, and understood once again. Now into the process:

1. Investigate: Understanding the Landscape

Before embarking on any branding journey, a thorough investigation is essential. It's crucial to understand where your brand stands (or doesn't stand) in the market. Without proper research, you might end up solving the wrong problems. Investigating helps identify the correct issues to address.

The biggest temptation in branding projects is assuming that you already know the problem and the solution. It's vital to assess where you are, where you could be, and whether you have the strategic capability to get there.

Audits:

    • Visual Audit: Collect all existing Elevation collateral across locations and sub-brands for a clear visual assessment.

    • Verbal Audit: Evaluate the language and messaging used.

    • Behavioural Audit: Examine how the brand behaves.

    • Competition Audit: Analyse competitors, which extend beyond other churches to include entities vying for attention.

    • Peer Audit: Benchmark against organisations in multiple sectors.

These audits may seem daunting, but they are essential for strategic planning and often reveal the depth of key problems.

Simple Exercises:

    • SWOT or Facts, Obstacles, and Opportunities: Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

    • List Functional and Emotional Benefits: Distinguish "what we do" from "why we do it."

    • List Target Markets: Create customer archetypes/personas to reach diverse segments.

    • Separate Perceptions: Understand past, present, and future perceptions with key stakeholders.

    • Ask the Right Questions: Define the problem, its significance, your action plan, and the desired response.

    • Additional Research: Address gaps and increase understanding.

Investigation often reveals disparities between how an organisation perceives itself, its desired direction, and external perceptions. These variations can be substantial.

2. Strategy and Narrative: Shaping the Future

This phase is about defining your brand before visual representation. You can choose to have your brand defined by your audience or take the initiative to define it yourself.

Value Clusters:

    • Our Ambition: Driven by historical mission and vision, context, long-term goals, and objectives.

    • Why Are We Here: Impacts everything, from strategy to perception by key stakeholders.

    • What Do We Value Most: Influences behavior and outcomes.

    • What's Our Personality: Shapes character and communication.

    • What Are We Here For: Defines key markets and stakeholders.

    • What Makes Us Different: Positions your brand uniquely.

    • What Do We Do and How: Defines products, services, channels, resourcing, pricing, and innovation.

Turn brand values into practical, usable tools.

3. Bridging the Gap to Design:

This stage facilitates communication between stages 2 and 4. Defines sub-brands, brand architecture, and visual connections.

4. Design: Crafting the Identity

This step often garners the most attention but can also provoke substantial debate. The brand identity, when created or altered successfully, can make organisations and products famous worldwide.

Design Toolkit:

    • Logo and Rules

    • Iconography and Rules

    • Color Palette

    • Typography (Fonts and Guides)

    • Imagery

    • Verbal Identity

5. Implement: From Planning to Reality

Now that the verbal and visual planning is complete, make sure it's easily understood and usable with the following

  • Full List of Applications: Organize tasks.

  • Typography Applications: Ensure consistency.

  • Brand Manual: Create a guide.

  • Website Application: Implement online.

  • Imagery Systems: Establish a process.

  • Graphic Implementation: Manage graphic elements.

6. Engage and Revive: Continuous Improvement

The journey doesn't end. Continuously gather feedback and data to improve. Appoint a Creative Director/Marketing Manager to manage standards and brand implementation. Embed brand values into the organization.

Branding is a powerful tool to shape your business and its identity in a competitive world. Through a comprehensive process of investigation, strategy, design, and implementation, Studio Joel continues to elevate brands, proving that branding is not just a logo but a transformative force.

Get in touch today.

Chris CampbellComment