1. STRATEGY

Defining the brand identity

To create the desired image of the brand among the relevant target groups, all touchpoints – website, business cards or publications, showroom or working environment, the culture cultivated within the company or internal and external communication – must be consistent and speak the same language. This is ensured and controlled by the corporate identity.

The content and strategic basis for the corporate identity – and thus the brand design – is the development of the brand profile. In this step, the character of the brand, its values and goals are clarified – of course always with regard to the wishes and expectations of the target groups and in contrast to competing market participants.

We identify the brand’s strengths

We are convinced that every company, every brand has an inherent quality that is unique. We identify these individual strengths in a one-day brand workshop.

• Values
• Vision and mission
• USP
• Target demo(s)
• Positioning
• Tonality

The brand profile can then be used to align the components of a corporate identity that creates the guardrails for a holistic, coherent presentation of the company. The brand profile is an important first step in clarifying the brand’s role in the world – and then communicating it effectively.

Developing the right brand name

An important part of the brand identity is the brand name. The naming process takes place after the development of the brand profile and before the creation of the brand design: Because for a term to become a name and part of the brand identity, it needs both a content basis and a visual context.

2. DESIGN

Developing the brand design

Brand design is the immediate, visible expression of the brand personality. It uses visual means to convey what the brand stands for, its attitude, services, and competencies that it embodies. A successful brand design has the power to convey a feeling for the brand at first glance: whether it is classic or innovative, whether it stands for craftsmanship or digital expertise, whether it is about sustainable products or complex processes.

It thus creates identification potentials and projection surfaces with regard to the competence, attitude and performance promise of a company – both internally and externally. It differentiates companies visibly and perceptibly from other market participants – i.e. competitors in both the sales and employer markets.

The external appearance thus significantly shapes the way the company is perceived by the specific target group(s): customers, suppliers, partners and potential employees. This makes brand design an important visual control instrument that can make a lasting contribution to the success of the brand.

We shape brand personalities

We use the brand profile to create a custom-tailored brand design that makes the values and performance of your brand clearly discernible. Either based on your existing design that we optimize, hone and develop further, or as a visible image we invent anew from the ground up.

Elements of the brand design system

Brand design is a lot more than just a logo: to generate an image among target demos, the logo, or rather text/image branding, has to be embedded in an appropriate design context. To achieve this, we use the brand profile as a starting point from which to integrate the logo into a concept and a draft for the brand design that includes the following elements:

• Logo
• Typography, house font
• Iconography
• Color concept
• Imagery
• Design elements (recurring graphic elements)
• Materials

4. DOCUMENTATION AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

3 design routes

As part of our work to create a custom-tailored visual appearance, we usually draft three design routes. These always reflect the brand personality we have identified but do so in different ways: for instance by employing different color combinations, typographies, text/image branding. This helps us form a basis for our discussions with you — and gradually work out together a finalized brand design.

Using brand design: equipping business

What looks good in theory now has to pass the litmus test in practice: in this step, brand design is rolled out across all relevant media und touchpoints to generate a brand design that is consistent throughout: from business cards, letterheads and invoicing templates, compliment cards and brochures to labels and packaging as well as all spatial solutions, e.g. in the form of a pathfinding system. A dynamic image, self-consistent and properly applied, can visually anchor communications with the observer and develop it further.

Application of the brand design: Website

We realize the brand appearance digital first: As the central communication and sales channel for the majority of our customers, the first step is to implement the brand design in a responsive website. In the course of the design of the digital appearance, the further communication media are conceived. In this way we ensure that all media are designed from a single source and can be recognised and assigned by the addressees.

Setting the rules for use: Brand Design Manual

If the brand design proves its worth in practical application, rules for deploying all its elements are then documented in a Brand Design Manual or Style Guide. Clear and binding guidelines make processes efficient and prevent visual arbitrariness that runs counter to coherent brand management. With a Brand Manual, we create transparency for our clients as they continue to use:

• The logo / text-image branding with sizing, interspacing and safe zones in various media and formats, use in color and black-and-white
• Naming, use and allocation of core and distinguishing colors as well as permissible combinations
• Naming, use and allocation of fonts, font styles and combinations and sizes
• Definition and use of graphic elements as well as e.g. icons
• Image style, editing and image expression as well as positioning and combination with graphic elements

RESULT

Your foundation for striking brand communications

Together with you, we are digging up a treasure — and putting it out into the world:
We offer you every step in the branding process: from working out the brand profile to the design and launch of the website.
At the end of the process stands – with brand profile, brand design, execution and a Brand Design Manual – the foundation for consistent communication, management and ongoing development of your brand.