Brand designers are a dime a dozen. Just log into Facebook, post in any group looking for a designer and watch hundreds of comments roll in. But every designer has a different process, and there are a zillion different creative solutions for any brand. Pop & Grey takes a strategic approach to brand design and always puts the strategy before the design itself.
My combined background in journalism, marketing and design taught me to ask the hard questions, write the story and then create the visuals that tell that story. This is truly the only way to build a compelling brand with depth and magnetism.
Pretty Doesn’t Sell
Does this sound familiar? You find a designer you love online based on the projects in their portfolio. You hire them to create that style for you. They ask you exactly what you want, and they use their best design skills to give you something beautiful. You love it, scramble to update your website, social channels, business cards, ads, and anything else you can get your hands on. You wait for the inquiries to roll in.
And then…
Nothing…
Crickets…
And it feels like your investment went up in flames.
So what went wrong?
You chose a designer based on their style, not the goals of your business. The problem isn’t with the designer; it’s with the process of starting with the visuals without any insight into the business goals and message. Pretty doesn’t sell. When you work with a designer based on replicating other projects they’ve done then you’re going to look, feel, and sound like every other project they’ve done. Which translates to you being lost in a sea of monotony instead of standing out from the crowd.
This is why a strategic approach to brand design is imperative. Here is how Pop and Grey does it differently:
Let’s Put the Horse Before the Cart
Jumping into visuals and designs is, essentially, putting the cart before the horse. It’s going to leave you stuck and your potential clients confused at best, or repelled at worst. So let’s take a step back to assess your goals so that we can take a step forward with intention into your new brand.
My favorite part of the design process actually isn’t the design at all. It’s the process of creating your brand brief. Clients always love the result the brand brief, but I find that they don’t always know what to expect going into it.
The design is only as good as the positioning, so we’ll dig into this first by dissecting the following areas of your business:
Your Brand Values
Your brand values are what’s important to you AND what’s important to your clients. Often these are non-negotiables about how you work. But you also have to think of them from your clients’ perspective as well. You can start by thinking about your personal values, but we have to distinguish between personal and brand values and where they overlap, if at all. What’s important about how you serve clients isn’t always the same as what’s important to how you live your life in general.
Once we can speak your brand values to your clients and show them how they align with their own values, you’re going to be a much easier sell when they get on the phone with you. Why? Because the way you work is already aligned with what makes them feel most comfortable.
Your Ideal Clients
This is a murky area for many because they’re in the habit of working with everyone with a checkbook. There’s no shame in that game. It’s where we all started. But now is when we really hone in on those IDEAL clients, not just anyone who can afford you. Who are the people who see the true value in what you do and receive your best work and enthusiasm in the process?
How amazing would it feel to only work with those people?
We will position your business to attract a specific group, which in turn, will repel others. I know it’s scary, but this is so valuable and will attract those perfect inquiries and weed out the ones who aren’t a great fit. When your audience is very clear, you know who to speak to in your copy for your website and what to present on social media that make a connection.
Your Sweet Spot (Where your brand values overlap with what your ideal client values and needs)Â
Here, we’ll decide the ONE most important thing for you to deliver. Plus the one most important thing from a client perspective that they really want to receive. These are related but not necessarily the exact same things. We talk through how that ties into your positioning and messaging so that we’re sure to highlight that sweet spot wherever we can. When your visuals reinforce that same message, you’ll start to see the brand come together.
Your Brand Voice
How you say things is just as important as what you say. I know I say this to my 8-year-old constantly, and it’s just as true in branding as it is in parenting. We’ll determine your tone and what is most essential to come across. This is mostly a bird’s eye view of what tone should come across in how you speak and write. If your project includes copywriting (The Works package), then we’ll go through a more extensive brand voice process. This includes creating a full on-brand word bank to use when creating content.
Your Brand Experience
Your service experience, whether it’s in-person or digital, needs to be congruent with your values, voice, and overall feel. We’ll talk through little touches you can incorporate into your onboarding, offboarding, and everywhere in between to make sure this happens. Your digital brand presence should prep people for what the experience of working with you will look and feel like. Once we understand what kind of experience works best for your brand, We’ll talk through how your website can support it. This will give potential customers a cohesive experience from the time they discover you online throughout their entire project.
Your Visual Direction
We do all of that hard work to get to this fun part. It’s the icing on the cake. Your visual direction is the psychology and reasoning around how we’ll design your brand. Everything in the rest of your brief leads up to this, and this process will help you understand why one style versus another will help your brand to grow beyond what its capable of right now. We’ll pull all of the important details from the brief and decode the colors, fonts, and feel that can reinforce them. Before I ever start designing, we’ll walk through this direction and discuss what I’ll be doing and why. This will let you know where the seeds of the ideas come from and why they will work to attract your ideal client.
Your Mood Board
This is where your Pinterest board comes in and all that talking we’ve done about visuals. I’ll start with what you pinned before our meeting to see what kind of look you are drawn to, then assess whether those types of visuals fit in with the positioning and messaging we are working on. Your mood board will give you a hint of the look and feel we’ll be going for when the design phase begins. This gives you an opportunity to tell me what feels really good to you, what you don’t like, and what you’re questioning. I love this part because it allows us to work through thoughts before we waste time in the design phase chasing a direction that doesn’t feel right to you. Because in the end, your visuals have to attract your client, but they also have to feel good to you.
This prework phase is essential to designing a brand that makes an emotional connection with your ideal customer.
Communication is key. Your visual brand is truly just another mode of communicating with your client.
Ensuring that what you are communicating with your copy and in your tagline is aligned with what your visuals are actually saying is essential.
Pretty design is only the goal when it has a purpose. Ready to see a strategic approach to brand design in action? Book a consultation call here.
