Brand Corporate Identity

23.09.2024

Graciella Limpah / 0364517

Brand Corporate Identity / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University

Task 1 - Breaking Brand

JUMPLINKS

LECTURES

Brand Corporate Identity is an integral part of graphic design discipline as it focuses on the visual integrity of a brand. As such the module introduces students to the basics of identity design and the effective use of symbols in the area of visual communication.

A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company while companies can’t control this process, they can influences it by communicating the qualities that make this product different than that product. When enough people arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. In other words, a brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is. It is a mental construct shared by society about a product, service, organization or even a person.

A brand is an approximate - yet very distinct - understanding of a product, service, company or person.

The gut feeling is one aspect of the brand’s identity, the other is its ‘visual identity’ which helps to manage the message or image or gut feeling. Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer, brand identity is different from “brand image” and “branding,” even though these terms are sometimes treated as interchangeable.

Branding is a process of giving a meaning to specific organization, company, products or services by creating and shaping a brand in consumers’ mind. It is a strategy designed by organizations to help people to quickly identify and experience their brand, and give them a reason to choose their products over the competition’s.

Branding in the case of Diesel and Benetton campaigns are the process of hijacking and shaping an image in the consumer minds and in doing so creating an indelible and distinct mark and association.

Branding can be achieved through :
Brand definition : purpose, values, promise
Brand positioning statement : what your brand does, who you target, and the benefits of your brand, a concise statement
Brand identity : name, tone of voice, visual identity design (logo design, color palette, typographies)
Advertising and communications : TV, radio, magazines, outdoor ads, website, mobile apps
Product design
Sponsoring and partnerships
In-store experience
Workspace experience and management style
Customer service
Pricing strategy

Benefits of branding include: making you stand out in a crowded market; providing you with credibility; allowing you to charge what you're worth; encouraging customer loyalty, repeat business, and referrals; branding equals consistency; drawing in ideal clients; boosting your company's confidence; making it simpler to roll out new goods and services; and providing a clear plan for the future.

Designers are essential to the development of a brand, but they are only one member of a wider group of people who work together to give the brand shape and voice. It is evident that a brand cannot exist without the skill sets that a designer contributes. The face of the brand is the visual identity that a designer develops. It is your responsibility to give the messaging, strategy, and content shape. This entails research (client and product histories, target market comprehension, and more) and trademark development for the designer.

Terms
Logo
According to Neumeier, 2003, the term logo is short for logotype, design speak for a trademark made from a custom lettered-word. The term logo caught on with people because it sound cool, but what people really mean is trademark, whether the term is a logo, symbol, monogram, emblem or other graphic device.

What is commonly (wrongly) understood is that a logo is a symbol made up of text and images that identifies a business/service/product/person. The general term logo refers to all marks that represent a brand. A logotype is a logo centered around a company name or initials. A logo mark is a logo centered around a symbolic image or icon.

Monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable ‘symbols’ or ‘logos’.

Heraldry
Heraldry is a board term, encompassing the design, display, and study of armorial bearings (armory), together with the study of ceremony, rank. And pedigree. It is generally European in its origin. Even though the concept of symbols/seals/flags representing, royalty, armies, or empires is not exclusive to Europe, this particular style of composite of visual elements that make up the heraldic symbols is however Euro centric in nature.

A crest is a distinctive device representing a family or corporate body, borne above the shield of a coat of arms or separately reproduced, for example on writing paper.
A coat of arms is a distinctive heraldic bearings or shield of a person, family, corporation, or country.
An Insignia is a distinguishing badge or emblem of military rank, office, or membership of an organization: a khaki uniform with colonel’s insignia on the collar.

Mark
By itself it just means an impression made on a something, paper, wall, wood, etc. However when combined with another word, i.e. trademark, watermark, earmarks, farm marks, ceramic marks, this marks signifies ownership or identification. They represent the quality, ability and skill levels of its creator and with that comes a promise of excellence.

A trademark is a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.

A trademark is also used as legal protection against intellectual property infringement or theft. A service mark or service mark is a trademark used in the US and several other countries to identify a service rather than a product. Both ‘unregistered’ marks are temporary until the recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source become a registered trademark. The registered trademark symbol, is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been successfully registered with a national trademark office.

Brand Ideal
According to Garbe, 2012, A brand ideal is a higher purpose of a brand or organization that goes beyond the product or service they sell. The ideal is the brand’s inspirational reason for being. It explains why the brand exists and the impact it seeks to make in the world.

Brand values deliver real engagement and direct you towards more powerful bonds with your target audience. For most businesses, brand values act as the “true north” on their compass towards market success; the core brand values remain fixed and steady. It is the part (internal : purpose, personality and proposition) that truly transforms the relationships you build with your customers. The best brand value examples work because they are reflective of customer ideology, but they still embrace the passions of the business in question. (Couchman, 2017)

A brand ideal is a higher purpose of a brand or organization that goes beyond the product or service they sell.
Ideals are essential to a responsible creative process, regardless of the size of a company or the nature of a business.

Vision : a compelling vision by an effective, articulate, and passionate leader is the foundation for the best brands. Vision requires courage. Big ideas, enterprises, product, and services are sustained by individuals who have the ability to imagine what others cannot see. And the tenacity to deliver what they believe is possible.

Meaning: the best brands stand for something - a big idea, a strategic position or a defined set of values. Meaning is rarely immediate and it evolves over time. Designers transform meaning into unique visual form and expression. It is critical that this meaning is explained so that it can be understood, communicated, and approved. Knowing this, all elements of the brand identity system should have a framework that stands for meaning and logic.

Authenticity: it is not possible without and organization having clarity about its market, positioning, value proposition and competitive difference. Authenticity refers to self-knowledge and making decisions that are congruent with that self-knowledge. Organizations who know who they are, and what they stand for, start the identity process from a position of strength. They create brands that are sustainable and genuine. Brand expression must be appropriate to the organization’s unique mission, history, culture, values and personality.

Differentiation: Brands always compete with each other within their business category and, at some level, compete with all brands that want our attention, focus and loyalty.

Sustainability: sustainability is the ability to have longevity in an environment in constant flux and characterized b future permutations that no one can predict.

Coherence: whenever a customer experiences a brand it must feel familiar and have the desired effect.

Flexibility: an effective brand identity positions a company for change and growth in the future. It supports and evolving strategy.

Commitment: organizations need to ensure all people engaged with the brand have complete motivation and dedication in order for it to succeed.

Value : Measurable results need to be created that promote and sustain the brand.

Positioning
Simply, brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers. Brand positioning is also referred to as a positioning strategy, brand strategy, or a brand positioning statement.
Once a brand has been successfully positioned, it is notoriously difficult to reposition. Volvo positioned itself as a tough safe car and quickly become the number one choice for families. An unintended consequence was that safety had less “sex-appeal” and resulted in an unappealing perception.

Positioning is going to occur whether clients like it or not. The question is, whether they’d like a hand in positively shaping it in the minds of the target audience. There are 4 types of positioning :
-Arm wrestling : trying to take on the market leader and beat them at their own game and it is possible if there is a well establish market category with no clear leader. However, it takes lots of money and time. Think coke and Pepsi.
-Big fish, smaller pond : here the focus is on a niche market within a larger market that is being underserved, where there is a larger player who’s not meeting a specific need. Plus-point is the audience has a frame of reference while the down-side is the market leader could match your offer (Maccentric vs Mac).
-Reframe the market : this style of brand positioning reframes an existing market in new terms. It makes the benefits highlighted by previous market leaders irrelevant, or frankly, boring. This works if the product/service features innovation or if there is a change in market need/expectation (Apple/Tesla/Pandemic).
-Change the game : is reserved for when there is no market category for what you do. You are the first of your kind and you get to invent your market. The advantage to this strategy is you’ll be the default market leader. The downside, without any major barriers (patents or copyrights) people may be able to copy you and beat you before you have a chance to establish yourself (think grab).

In order to create a position strategy, you must first identify your brands uniqueness and determine what differentiates you from your competition.

There are 7 key steps to effectively clarify your positioning in the marketplace :

Determine how your brand is currently positioning itself
Identify your direct competitors
Understand how each competitor is positioning their brand
Compare your positioning to your competitors to identify your uniqueness
Develop a distinct and value-based positioning idea
Craft a brand positioning statement
Test the efficacy of your brand positioning statement

How to create a brand positioning statement :

Target Customer : What is a concise summary of the attitudinal and demographic description of the target group of customers your brand is attempting to appeal to and attract?
Market Definition: What category is your brand competing in and in what context does your brand have relevance to your customers?
Brand Promise: What is the most compelling (emotional/rational) benefit to your target customers that your brand can own relative to your competition?
Reason to believe: What is the most compelling evidence that your brand delivers on its brand promise?

Here is how to craft your positioning statement :

For [target customers], [company name] is the [market definition] that delivers [brand promise] because only [company name] is [reason to believe].

Example : For World Wide Web users who enjoy books, Amazon.com is a retail bokseller that provides instant access to over 1.1 million books. Unlike traditional book retailers, Amazon.com provides a combination of extraordinary convenience, low prices, and comprehensive selection.

A tagline is an external statement used in your marketing efforts. Insights from your positioning statement can be turned into a tagline, but it is important to distinguish between the two.

To position your brand in your customer’s mind, you must start from within your business. Every member of your organization that touches the customer has to be the perfect expression of your position.

INSTRUCTIONS

For task 1, we have to select an existing brand, preferably a large brand that has a regional or international presence for the purpose of analysis. Breaking brand essentially requires the student to deconstruct a brand.

Form a group of 4 for the research, share a google docs, then each one of the group make a slide for that brand and submit the slide.

Here is the research me and my group have already done. We choose the brand "H&M" for us to identify.

After completed the research together, by my own, I do another google docs to type in information with my own word, as long as shorten it. Here is the shortened version :

Then, I then move all the information to the slide and here is the finished slides :

FEEDBACK

Able to paraphrase and summarise information from research demonstrating good analytical abilities. Still some reliance on research as demonstrated on last framework (refer to comment on research).

REFLECTION

By completing this task, I have gained a deeper understanding of the various aspects that make up a brand. It has given me insight into the essential components a brand needs, which I hadn't fully realized before. This task has been especially useful in preparing me for creating our own brand identity. I now have a clearer idea of the steps and elements involved in building a brand from the ground up.
Additionally, learning about marketing strategies has been an enjoyable and eye-opening experience for me. Since I had never studied marketing before, this module has introduced me to new concepts that are both challenging and interesting. It has allowed me to see how important marketing is in shaping a brand’s success. Because this module requires us to create a brand, I feel that this task has significantly helped me understand the practical elements needed to successfully build and launch one. It has made me feel more confident about moving forward with my own brand creation, armed with the knowledge I've gained.

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Graciella Limpah (0364517)