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Building The Promise
Translating the brand promise to visible, tangible solutions
Color
"Color is free. Paint, vinyl, and ink are not," one of my favorite quips, ask almost any client.
Use color creatively, but always judiciously, that's paramount. Take into account our society's collective color associations, other societies too if relevant.
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Here, it's ...
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Yellow, caution (the only color our brains process in two steps, hence we notice this color more).
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Blue, the "trust me" color; always a banking favorite.
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Green, the color of growth and health.
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Purple, the regal choice.
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Black, luxury (when used correctly).
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White, the whiteboard, a blank slate.
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Red, hot ... like Tetreault Design.
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Typography
Unlike color, type is always free, but gone is the era of type being limited to Linotype and Letraset.
Today, there's seemingly an infinite number of digital typefaces, all of which can be easily altered, seemingly infinitely.
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A well designed and specified typeface adds to a brand's story beyond simply conveying a name and a tagline.
Type brings its own "visual presence" to the brand, helping to shape the brand's identity.
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Materials
Typically "the fly in the ointment" from a brand's ROI perspective.
Even if the business model is based on only a digital footprint, looking at a projected five or ten year brand cycle should include "what if" scenarios for potential future brand needs.
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It's always easier and more cost effective to ponder these questions from the onset.
Utility
Strongly related to "materials," design utility looks at how a brand is presented to the stakeholders.
Digital print, published periodicals, posters, promotional spots, Facebook, Flicker, billboards, bronze castings, screen printing, wayfinding, and swag all have different production specifications and some have extended production cycles.
Brands applied to new projection formats often fail to cohesively make the transition, the planned (designed) growth path failed to consider all the possibilities.
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Again, identifying these potential future needs at the onset provides a template for brand evolution with minimal disruption.
"Making The Gumbo"
"Bring to a slow boil, then add equal parts of creativity, experience, knowledge, insight, exploration, and curiosity.
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Sprinkle in a bit of boldness, then off-set with a dollop of responsibility."
The Rollout
Time to test the efforts. A soft rollout provides the opportunity to learn how all the stakeholders interact with the new or evolved brand.
A soft rollout may include only a portion of the brand (ie: posters, banners, and ancillary wayfinding), keeping some or the majority of the less changeable and more costly ROI components for the full rollout.
Unfortunately, the less easily modified and more costly components typically take longer to acquire ...the design and rollout dilemma.
Living With It
The reality sinks in. Living with a brand is, quite simply, just restraint and more work.
We all have great epiphanies. Rather than deploying these new ideas (they're all good because you know your business better than any consulting designer) ...I strongly suggest recording the ideas in detail, then reviewing them when the brand is ready for an update.
You will thank me, maybe a few years down the road.
