A Complete Guide to the Brand Design Process

Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. This famous citation clearly describes the vision of the issue by Amazon and the general role of a brand and the identity it creates in the current world. What can highlight a company, a product, or a service in a more and more saturated environment?

The answer would be “reputation and uniqueness”, as well as the hard and comprehensive branding process that stands behind the success. We have prepared a complete guide regarding the branding design of a brand explainer video process to present the main elements, stages, benefits, and peculiarities of this activity. This guideline possesses a solid value for a variety of stakeholders. So let’s get started!

Branding definition

Branding is definitely a very comprehensive notion. The term “brand” itself means a type of product, service, etc., made or offered by a particular company under a particular name. Consequently, it can be easily applied to a company itself, especially if it specializes in a specific domain.

In other words, the broad meaning of a brand implies a set of images, associations, logos, concepts, goods or services, colors, and so on that appear in the mind of people while contacting a particular company or product. It can evolve into a certain cliche, attribute, or symbol of high quality, exclusive professionalism, unique approach, etc. 

A brand can be directly associated with a company, separated product (or service), a particular specialist (personal brand), or even a country. Perhaps all of us know Apple, Antonio Stradivari, or “Made in Germany”, for instance. 

In a narrow definition, the branding process itself is a set of activities necessary to create an outstanding name.  In a broader sense, “branding” includes several integral and interconnected aspects such as: 

• Elaborating a branding strategy;
• Comprehensive market research (analysis of the target audience, including the creation of the ideal customer profile, investigation of competitors;
• Setting up a team of professionals;
• Creation of brand identity; 
• Generating a unique style (visual elements, mottos, etc.)
• Spreading and supporting brand awareness;

These elements generally represent the main branding steps in the process. In this guide, we summarized our findings regarding each of them. But before diving deep into the technical and operational characteristics of the branding process, let’s take a closer look at how it affects a company’s performance. 

Branding added value (why branding matters)

It is hard to overestimate how branding influences the performance of the company; however, this effect may sometimes be quite hard to single out from the cumulative result of all the measures implemented.

The first thing to mention here is changing the customers’ attitude. The branding process aims not only at creating a unique visual component. One of the main objectives is to fill the company’s daily activity with purpose, values, and vision. People tend to interact with something meaningful and empathic. Branding also allows for building the loyalty of customers.  

This point is highly interconnected with the second one — communication. Branding is a two-way process. On the one hand, you transmit messages and ideas via your brand: colors, logos, specific events, presentations, etc. On the other hand, it is a way to hear customers’ opinions, for instance, through collecting feedback. It is also a way to understand how people perceive your company, goods, or services. 

The third important element is that branding ensures an additional competitive advantage. With the increasing competition among companies and products, it becomes more and more difficult to stand out. In general, individual logo and branding design and the above-mentioned sense of meaningfulness help you outperform the competitors. 

Last but not least, the branding process creates a special working environment for the employees and a unique identity. It allows them to feel that they are part of something bigger than a simple company, that they work around a particular idea and share common values. 

It becomes an honor to join this or that particular team. Everyone has heard about “Googlers”. This is only one of the examples when the name of a company, a brand, becomes a substitute for a profession. This identity positively influences the performance and atmosphere inside the team. In addition, it assists in attracting the best talents. 

To sum up, branding allows you to stand out among the multitude of options the market offers.

Identity guidelines include

To set up a consistent and impressive brand, a company needs a comprehensive and considered approach. Identity guidelines are a set of instruments and the rules of their usage, elaborated to make the branding process as efficient as possible. 

In short, these are written brand standards that serve as a manual for creating a brand. Though they are unique in each company’s case, they always must follow several rules:

• Be unified. Customers may approach you via different channels and interact with the company in different ways, but they should always be aware that they work with this exact company. Colors, typefaces, logos should be the same in any real or online presence of the company.
  
• Be clear and concise. It is very important to be able to present yourself easily and to leave no room for misunderstanding. This rule also applies to the description of the services the company provides. 
  
• Be flexible. Everything changes, so should your company. Rebranding may occur several times, especially if the company has existed for a long time. Flexibility is vital to ensure the continuity of the branding process.
   
• Be impactful. Once the customers interact with your brand, they should remember it forever and never confuse it with your competitors. 

These are the main rules of the branding methodology, which should be considered while elaborating the identity guidelines. 

As for the structural elements, identity guidelines include:

Logo. This is the main image that represents your brand. It should be unique, comprehensive, and speak for itself. Pay attention to ensure your logo is correctly presented and of equal quality via every channel of visualization (webpage, social media, printed materials, etc.).

Color Palette. Colors can tell customers a lot about your company. According to various researches, red color, for example, stimulates people to take risks while yellow can stimulate feelings of optimism and hope. Specialists also advise not to use too many colors while creating a brand. Since the same colors should be used everywhere, an exaggerated palette may cause some inconvenience. 

Typography. Typefaces your company uses also serve as visual indicators of the identity. Not only should they be the same everywhere, but also remain unique and incomparable. It may be a wise decision to elaborate your own font.

Sound and voice. Video content is becoming more and more important nowadays. Video interaction with your customers should become an integral part of the brand identity process. With this in view, it is vital to find a suitable set of sound effects as well as a voice tone.

Motto. Some may consider this element as an optional one. However, in some cases, it can become exactly the thing that remains in the memory of thousands: “Just Do it”, “Think different”, “I’m lovin’ it”.

Branding identity team

Now is the time to assemble a team of specialists who will bring the branding process to life. So, who are these experts?

Designers. Visual elements are the most crucial parts while creating a brand identity. Graphic designers cover the sheer part of the work, so be sure you work with the professionals in the field. 

Marketing specialists. These experts play an important role in the branding process, especially while developing a strategy and collecting feedback. They also analyze the market, target audience, and competitors.

Content writers. They will fill all the brand elements with content and ensure the branding process’s continuity with regular information updates. 

Video editors. With the increasingly vital role of video content, these specialists play a crucial role in branding. Video materials are one of the most important instruments of disseminating information as well as communicating with your customers. 

Managers. Teams of technical specialists need experienced supervision who will guide them and ensure smooth and efficient working processes.  

This is definitely not the exhaustive list of specialists who might be involved in a branding process. The branding identity team may, in some cases, include psychologists, foley artists, 3D artists, and so on.

Branding process key steps

Branding is not an easy task. This activity should 100% include several branding process steps to ensure a successful result. The main stages are the following.

Strategy elaboration 

This is the initial step in the branding process. At this phase, it is important to plan all the activities as well as to clarify the vision of the future brand. Each element of the brand, from a general concept to the smallest visual detail, should be outlined at this step. Moreover, everything should be arranged and standardized. It is also important to leave the potential for future improvements and changes. 

Market research

This is the second step. It is a lasting and very comprehensive activity, so in some cases, it may be divided into several subcategories. They respectively represent the three key elements of the research: general market evaluation, target audience analysis, and investigation of competitors.

The first aspect is about a general understanding of the market environment. It focuses on finding whether there is a demand for the goods or services the company offers, what are the main company’s strengths, and what is the best way to generate awareness about the new brand. 

Analyzing the target audience is perhaps one of the most important stages since each brand aims to satisfy the needs of the particular group or groups of people — existing or potential customers. Develop and always keep in mind the ideal customer profile.

It is wise to check the activity of the competitors. On the one hand, it ensures you remain unique. On the other hand, it allows to find some mistakes in competitors’ strategies and implement the necessary improvements. 

Team set up

When the above-mentioned is done, and you clearly understand what you want to achieve, it’s time to assemble a team of versatile specialists: designers, content creators, marketing experts, video editors, and others, depending on the case. 

It is important to remember that the whole team shall not be gathered in one moment and at this very stage. Marketing specialists shall be involved in the branding process even at earlier steps, especially while conducting market research.

Creative process

At this stage, all plans and sketches are brought to life. This is the longest step which requires deep interaction between all team members. At this phase, the very essence of the future brand — its identity and unique style — is born. 

The team brings together and creates logos, color palettes, visual elements of branding, videos, images, and photos. It is also important to carry out intermediate tests to gather feedback and check whether everything goes well. 

Ongoing improvement process

When all the work is done and the company starts operating, now is the time for the final step — ongoing brand support and promotion. It is vital to spread brand awareness and adjust the latter to the changes in the surrounding environment. When the necessity to implement several simultaneous changes becomes obvious, it is time for rebranding. 

Brand identity process

As we can see, elaborating on identity is an integral part of the branding process. It is the set of unique distinguishing features like logo, colors, or fonts that allow a brand to stand out.

Your brand should be meaningful, distinctive, and flexible to remain in customers’ minds. These are the tasks for the team of designers, marketing specialists, video editors, and content writers to ensure the process of creating a brand identity is well planned, consistent, based on solid market research, and performed according to the best branding methodology.

The branding process is a complicated task though a rewarding one. It allows to boost customers’ loyalty, outperform the competitors, and create a reputation that speaks for itself.

Conclusion

The current business environment dictates tough conditions. Ever-growing competition and market saturation make companies invent new strategies and approaches to remain operative. 

The one peculiarity that always allows companies to succeed even in the harshest situation is the outstanding brand that serves as the first outbound and inbound instrument. Branding is a complicated task that requires solid knowledge and experience. We prepared this guide on how branding works and hope it will help you. However, we strongly advise consulting with experts in the field to gain maximum benefit from the brand building.

Explain Ninja operates for more than 10 years on the market and successfully launched the branding design process for hundreds of companies. As video content becomes more and more important in brand design, our video production services might be of particular interest to your project. Check it out, and let’s get started!