Today, I watch a webinar that posts on the PaperSpecs.com. The speaker of this webinar is Christopher Simmons of MINE, a SanFrancisco-based graphic designer, and named one of the “50 most influential designers working today”. Christopher Simmons informs five key ingredients we need to tackle a useful branding project today.
Leader+People+Product+Design
The first step of starting a brand project is to fits into the whole ecosystem of a brand. We shall do researches on the client’s information including the company’s mission, products, services, and also their customers’ reviews. Besides, the information from the client’s competitors is necessary which help the designer to figure out the differentiation of client’s products from his competitors. Besides, a good leadership (clients) helps motivate good people(designers) are prompted to create a great product and then around that is design.
1. Determine what makes the brand unique
First of all, we need to know the demands of our clients and their target audiences before we begin the strategy campaign, and then to find out the overlap part of them which is the unique position of the client’s business that is enable the company to stand out from its competition.
2. Never present a logo in color
Secondly, designers usually start with the logo first because it is the most tangible thing. However, it is better to design the logo in black & White version because we want our client to really focus on the content and the message and later worry about the other details of color and execution.
3. Give clients choice and direction
Move on to the next key ingredient; Designers can make several design options and directions for their strategy campaigns. Then let the clients decide which of them works. Because it still needs to be more interactive and collaborative than that, we do need to have different points of view and some recommendation from other people.
4. Test the viability of your logo
There is a straightforward way to test the feasibility and practicality of our logo in this webinar. It is called the t-shirt test. We stick the logo on a T-shirt, and if we would wear that T-shirt, then it is probably a good logo, so we always going to show it in this context know whether it is good for the company or not.
5. Take a broader view of design
Designing across media is to rethink what media mean. Besides the traditional sense including prints, digital designs, and social media, there are also things like signage and environments.
