BRATTLEBORO — We hear from people all the time who are trying to create a brand for a new venture or are thinking about rebranding an existing venture. Often, by the time they come to us, they're pretty certain that the timing is right and that they need our help.
So, how do you know when it's time to get help and when you might be able to handle it on your own?
First off, a quick idea of what we mean by brand.
A brand is an organization's “being” - its way of communicating who and what it is to its customers and the world. In a way, though, a brand is the entire experience of the customer in addition to the foundations upon which the organization was built.
For the purposes of this article, however, we want to talk about a logo or wordmark, the visual representation of your brand. Your logo is the way that you'll be identified for many successful years to come, so a lot is riding on it.
So, first off, congratulations. This is an important step for your business, and it should be exciting and fun. Here are some things you can start to think about.
• What is your product or service? How do you talk about what you do? What do you offer customers beyond the things they expect (project management, customer service, etc.)?
• Who is your audience? Picture your ideal customer. How old are they? Are they more likely to be male or female? What socioeconomic stratum are they in? What do they expect of you?
• Who is your competition? What is distinctive about what you offer that is different from your competition? Do you offer more than your competition in terms of quality, price, service, convenience or something else?
• What is the “spirit” of your organization or product? What is the sense that you want your visual brand to convey? Think of things like trustworthiness, fun, gravitas, or sustainability.
In answering these questions, you can start to piece together a narrative of what you are offering, who you're trying to reach and what they want to see, why someone should choose you over others, and the feeling that you want to convey to your customers.
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Armed with this information, you now have the foundation for picking an image or icon for your logo.
There are a lot of possible directions to go in here. Do you want to use an image that matches your name, like Puma? That option can be great, but it is used less often than you might think.
A lot of times, people use an image that complements their name rather than amplifies it. How different would Nike be if the logo took the form of the winged Greek goddess of victory, making it similar to FTD's wing-footed Mercury, Roman god of merchandise? Instead, Nike went for a different approach of creating a logo that shows action, motion, dynamism, and athleticism.
Using what you've learned from answering the questions above, what might this look like for your organization?
Looking locally, we see how Altiplano uses the national bird of Guatemala, the country from which the business receives many of its goods. The Brooks House, on the other hand, splits the difference by using just a portion of its identity in an image of its iconic tower.
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There is no absolute right approach when it comes to picking an image for your logo, but there are a lot of ways to go wrong.
For instance, don't get too clever. You might know that the name “Fletcher” is derived from the job of making arrows, but that image might be too obscure a visual reference for Fletcher's Sandwiches.
Another pitfall: be careful of what the logo looks like from all angles. Ask a few people to tell you what they think it is and to describe the feelings it evokes in them. Others might see things you don't see.
Finally, be diligent in not copying other logos. Brands are jealously and litigiously guarded, and even coming close to another company can open you up to trouble.
What makes this harder still is that we are all susceptible to the influence of marketing that bombards us every minute of the day. We may borrow a visual idea without even meaning to, but you could face the same legal consequences regardless of your pure intent.
If you start with some of these understandings outlined above, you may find that an image comes to you and you just know that it's the right one. If, however, you get a bit of “designer's block” after answering the initial questions, it might be time to bring in the professionals. Even so, you will, at the very least, have a great foundation for who you are and what you do.