What is Branding?

What is branding?

The official definition of branding reads “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers”

In our own layman’s terms, Branding is the attempt to create a business personality for a company, product or service.

 

What is a logo?

A logo (abbreviation of logotype, from Greek: λόγος logos “word” and τύπος typos “imprint”) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition.

Logos are usually one small part of a far bigger identity or branding package which can include a name, a slogan, colour-palettes and typefaces. These combine to form a ‘brand architecture’ which set a visual identity system and a cultural tone of voice for a business or organization.

 

Where does branding come from?

Branding, Logos – or their equivalents – are as old as civilization itself.

It is widely considered that branding began as a means of identifying an objects ownership. Some of the earliest examples of this can be found in the marking of cattle hides and horns in Ancient Egypt. The practice was developed further by Greek and Roman craftsmen who began to use branding as a ‘makers mark’ to allow goods to be traded with confidence anywhere across an entire empire.

In medieval Europe, heraldry was conceived as a means of recognizing helmeted friends and foes on the battlefield. Crosses, crescents, animals, flowers and mythical creatures were commonly used. Cattle branding became standard practice in Mexico thanks to Christopher Columbus, and was developed further by Texas ranchers as a deterrent to rustlers. More recently in the 1900’s, logos have become inherently used in advertising and marketing and this remains their main function today.

 

Why do I need branding or a logo?

Increasingly, we live in a time-poor society, where potential customers will make decisions on whether they like and trust your product or service within seconds. So it is VITAL that you make the best possible first impression.

However, having meaningless branding or a random logo – just for the sake of it, can do more harm than good. A meaningless emblem serves no purpose, it’s purely decorative. If you dig deeper into understanding how elements of a logo and furthermore – branding, interact with the human psyche you can create an visual representation of your business which is powerful on several different levels. Every part of successful logo design carries meaning; it can be subtle, subconscious, overt and even inadvertent in how it speaks to people and how they view your business.

 

Our design process

We undertake the branding and logo design process by understanding you, your business personality, your market, your competitors and most importantly – your customers. We combine that with the fundamentals of design, colour psychologies, the meanings and interpretations of shapes, symbols and typefaces and the business personality you want to project. So although a logo might not appear complicated in its appearance, there can be an entire science behind the distillation of the big and the complex into a design which is simple and unique.

If you have a logo design that is sloppy or doesn’t represent your business well, it can turn people off and make potential customer’s think less highly of your business. Alternatively, having a logo which is considered, based on sound design rationale and design best practices, can be much more attractive and inviting to potential customers.

Your logo represents your business and serves as an ‘at a glance’ ambassador; it’s the customer’s first impression and – as a business owner, you should want to make sure that first impression is a positive one.