1.
What is branding?
You know to
this question people simply answer it as ‘company name’ or ‘corporate logo’. To
me its much more then it, let me put it this way as to how branding can be
understood—as easy as a pie.
You see just like we know people by their names, we know
hundreds of brands by name. But, like people too, the more you know about a
brand, the more it seems to have its own individual personality.
But while we know people by their names, we don’t say they
“are” their names. Here’s where we get to what branding really is. Branding is
the sum total of a company’s identity—from its name and logo to every piece of
communication, internal or external—to every encounter every customer or
potential customer has with it.
Here’s my explanation of branding using a pie as an
example. Not plain, ordinary pie. But apple pie with two scoops of ice cream
and a cherry on top.
The cherry is a brand’s promise.
The ice cream represents all your products and services. The apples are the corporation itself—the corporate environment. The crust is the structure of your company—not the
building (although how it looks is part of branding) but your systems.
So here is your delicious, multi-tiered, integrated apple
pie. Of course the cherry gets the attention. And that’s your name in neon
lights, your fancy new logo, and your overall visual appeal. If a prospect buys
a slice of your pie just for the cherry then you’ve done well!
But integrating the ice cream (Product/Service), apples
(Corporate Culture) and crust (Systems) are essential for building true “core”
brand equity. Don’t get caught up in thinking branding is only about the
cherry. This happens at graphic design firms whose only expertise is generating
visual solutions. You may even find it at large advertising agencies that want
to do more ads. To them the cherry is all that matters.
But we at
Barkha’s Brand clinic think differently.
I don’t care if you do no ads at all—if that’s what’s right for your
company. Maybe your success lies in direct contact at trade shows or public
relations and press releases. Whatever it is, whatever your sweet suite of
services is, you need the ingredients working in combination to make your pie a
success.
And once you know
all that goes into it, branding is as easy as a pie!
2. Many brand logo designers have different key rules of what a logo
should do (i.e. be scalable, must work in black, be memorable, be only 2 or 3 colours
etc) what are your key rules of a logo?
The K.I.S (Keep
It Simple) principle was pounded into my head since the beginning – and
I still follow it today in most of my designs. I know that my most successful efforts are the simplest and
get the best of my ideas in my dreams or through intuitions. I
always find myself trying to subtract detail from design concepts in an attempt
to distil the idea down to the most basic communication tool.
I know that as designers we are influenced – both
consciously and subconsciously – by everything we see around ourselves. Still,
I always try to avoid anything
that has been defined as the latest and greatest “trend” in design. One
of my “mantra” is: “Just be yourself be natural and give in your 200%, the rest
will follow”
We as a team
have created as many as 60 effective logo designs to this date – we have
adopted latest technology in our office so that really successful designs can be created with
software giving “special effects.” And give treatments to great design
solutions with a concept defined, companies brand value, brand image and the
company’s vision and mission statement in mind.
I don’t like just having
an icon, or piece of art, up next to a type treatment. In
some cases it is appropriate and effective – but it’s something I try to avoid
in creating a strong and unique logo for a client. I enjoy making a long term
deeply meaning logo. It should give the brand a power packed image.
3.
In today’s competitive time how much impact does a logo have in building the
brand image?
The symbolic, emblem, graphic representation of the
brand name and the company, the most important aspect of a brand is
Logo ‘the Face of the company’. And it is the logo that registers
your brand in the minds of people.
The reality is your customers and prospects are not
always in front of your products or advertising. So it means that they can
easily forget about you or be persuaded by your competitor to buy their
products instead. That’s why u need to take an advantage of a little thing of
Human ‘Memory’. It is always believed that if u want to memorize anything then
always make it remember by having some image of it and u will never forget it.
So, logo plays that soft and subtle role in helping ur ur ur ur
Like for example Mc Donald’s has made its mark in
the hearts and minds of children and in the minds of their parents as well, the
brand image and loyalty that they have established in their target audiences
mind is incredible. Mc Donald’s logo literally tempts you to go and grab a
burger or French fries. Mc Donald’s as a brand with its logo has helped Mc
Donald’s built to its brand image.
Always position and maintain ur
INVISIBILITY = DEATH
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