When I work on logo design and branding projects with clients my first priority is to really get to grips with their brand and what their business is all about.
In most cases I’ll be starting from scratch and I’ll know little or nothing about the brand when we first meet. So I have to rely on the client to share their knowledge with me.
Over the years I’ve found that there’s one question that gives more useful information than any other.
Sometimes clients will have a really clear understanding of their brand, but sometimes they’ll have only a loose description to offer. In some cases they’ll actually deny that they have a brand at all!
So, as a designer it’s my job to ask the right questions. Over the years I’ve found that there’s one question that gives more useful information than any other. Every client had been able to answer it pretty instinctively and it does a great job of uncovering the brand they may not have even known that they had.
I ask the client to think of their business as a person and describe to me what they’re like. What do they look like? How do they dress? What sort of personality do they have? What’s important to them?
In almost all cases clients find this question really easy to answer and can go into a huge amount of detail about their brand once they get going. Far more than they would if I just asked them to describe their brand which often gets me generic stock answers that aren’t very useful.
This question is really powerful in several ways:
- It helps to cement the brand in the clients mind – because they’ve been encouraged to actually form a picture in their mind
- It’s an easy question to answer – most clients will know their business inside out, even if they don’t understand their brand
- It’s easy to spot if someone is describing themselves rather than their business – this can be a problem when working on branding projects with one-man-band start ups
- It uncovers aspects of the brand that might not have come to light otherwise
- It’s actually quite fun!
Surprise, surprise – this isn’t anything new and big brands have been doing it, in one way or another for years. Here’s a couple of examples:
Apple vs Microsoft
Remember those “I’m a PC”, “I’m a Mac ads” from a few years back?
Aunt Bessies
One of the many food products that use people (albeit fictional ones) to represent their brand.
Browers and Social Media, Photographed as People – By Viktorija Pashuta
This is slightly different, but still interesting to see. Fashion photographer Viktorija Pashuta took the most popular internet browsers and social media networks and then styled a model for each one.
What If Guys Were Social Networks?
You certainly don’t have to go as far as creating a public character for your brand like these examples, but I think you’ll agree it does help to bring an otherwise abstract idea to life.
If you have any other techniques or experiences that you’d like to share leave a comment – I’d love to hear about them!