So you have this idea for your new venture’s logo but you’re not sure how to create it without drawing it up with clipart in Word (please don’t do that), or you have the idea for your new brand’s look and feel but don’t know how to give it a personality? Or do you have a brand already but it’s outdated and needs to be revived? Developing a strong, recognisable and current brand identity is one of the most important tasks business owners should invest time into.

I will sit with you and unpack what it is exactly that you want your target audiences to understand from their initial interaction with your brand. Are you a serious company that needs to portray reliability, professionalism and credibility? Or are you a funky agency that needs to show your fun side, but also that you can get the job done, and done well? These are some of the many questions we need to ask before we put pen (or mouse) to paper (or screen). After this process, it’s time to delve into actually designing the marketing collateral your business needs in order to be a success. Have a look at my graphic design page to what marketing materials may be relevant to your needs.

Where many people come short is placing all the emphasis on developing a super cool logo, without thinking of how it will be pulled through to the overall brand look and feel, without thinking about how it will translate across various media (for example on the web, in print, branding and signage) and without thinking about whether or not it actually has anything to do with what you do. So, you’ve had a thing for butterflies all your life? That doesn’t mean your logo should have a butterfly in it. Unless you breed butterflies. Then, by all means, add a butterfly.

Colours, fonts, shapes and textures should all be thought about during the brand development phase – not only once you start implementing your brand into marketing material. That will just create an unidentifiable mess and you’ll land up diluting your brand before you even start getting it out into the market.

Your brand is what you put out into the world. Make it memorable. And make it consistent. Being consistent in how you present your brand (in ALL that you do) will allow your customers and prospective customers to identify you from the throngs of other brands in your market.

Think about this – what shade of red does Coca-Cola use? I bet you know. And I bet you would be able to pick it out without even seeing the Coca-Cola logo. That’s good brand cohesion in all marketing and advertising efforts put out to the market, regardless of whether it’s a TV ad, in-store merchandising or promotional items you have been given at a fundraiser.

I am not saying every brand should be a household name (our brains couldn’t cope with that), but you brand should speak to the people in the industries you target and should be top of mind to anyone that may be interested in your products/services.

Here’s what my brand development service includes:

• Brand Name (if you don’t already have one)
• Logo Development
• Vision, Mission and Value statements
• Defining your business’s Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) and Unique differentiators
• A tag line/unique differentiator statement that will further explain your brand in a concise and impactful way
• Font/typeface specification
• Shapes and textures to be associated with your brand
• Additional design elements, like icons or patterns that will support your brand
• Colour Usage and Colour Breakdowns for various applications
• Imagery guidelines (the type of images you should associate with your brand)
• Development of a Corporate Identity Manual which will provide guidelines for the correct usage of all elements associated with your brand

Whether you are starting from scratch or need to give your current brand a breath of fresh air, contact me on natalie@thecreativelab.co.za or fill in a short form here and I will get back to you, and we can have a look at how we can take your brand to the next level.

My Work

If you’d like to see what I do for yourself, have a look at my work and browse through some of the recent designs I have produced for my clients. These pages are regularly updated with new projects, so don’t forget to visit often!