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Designing for Culture: My Branding Process
I believe it is highly valuable to share my creative process, as it is the best way to truly understand how a designer works. Ultimately, many of us can design shiny, pretty things, but it takes deep research and skill to design something that actually moves culture. I will focus on my design process for branding projects since this is my area of expertise. However, this framework can easily be applied to any design task.
Step 1: Deep Dive Research
Before even thinking about design, I always start with research. In a branding project, I begin by researching the company, its founders, its products, and its culture so I can truly become an expert on that business. This can be accomplished in multiple ways: quick online research, client interviews, customer surveys, and more. Naturally, there are different levels of depth to this phase.
Step 2: Foundational Brand Strategy
The next step is strategy. This is the absolute foundation of a branding project; without it, the design cannot exist. We need to establish the brand's positioning, conduct a competitor analysis, define the target audience, and build the brand identity. While this is usually handled by a dedicated strategist, a streamlined version can still be executed by a designer. Through strategy, we establish how the brand will be positioned in the market, how it will communicate, its distinct personality, and exactly who it is speaking to. This is the ABC of branding and simply cannot be skipped.
Step 3: The Client Workshop
After becoming an absolute expert on the brand, it is time to get my hands dirty. At this point, we have already discussed the brand with the client, including our mutual goals and where we want to take the project. However, there is still a subjective side to this phase. Design is unfortunately not an exact science. While strategy can easily be backed up by data, validating design with data is a bit more difficult. This is why I always conduct a workshop with the client to showcase our findings and better understand their preferences and ideas.
Step 4: Purposeful Design
Finally, it is time to design. I take all the gathered information, and the design almost naturally reveals itself. Every visual element, from the logo to the color palette, will be backed by solid reasoning. We aim to achieve specific goals by standing out from competitors or using a particular aesthetic to connect with our target audience. Thanks to all the preliminary steps, we can design a visual concept and logo that are objectively right for the brand. This approach consistently leads to smooth projects and excellent client relationships because we never design things randomly. Instead, every design decision is rooted in thorough research. This ensures that I am always designing for the end user and not just for myself.
Designing for Culture: My Branding Process
I believe it is highly valuable to share my creative process, as it is the best way to truly understand how a designer works. Ultimately, many of us can design shiny, pretty things, but it takes deep research and skill to design something that actually moves culture. I will focus on my design process for branding projects since this is my area of expertise. However, this framework can easily be applied to any design task.
Step 1: Deep Dive Research
Before even thinking about design, I always start with research. In a branding project, I begin by researching the company, its founders, its products, and its culture so I can truly become an expert on that business. This can be accomplished in multiple ways: quick online research, client interviews, customer surveys, and more. Naturally, there are different levels of depth to this phase.
Step 2: Foundational Brand Strategy
The next step is strategy. This is the absolute foundation of a branding project; without it, the design cannot exist. We need to establish the brand's positioning, conduct a competitor analysis, define the target audience, and build the brand identity. While this is usually handled by a dedicated strategist, a streamlined version can still be executed by a designer. Through strategy, we establish how the brand will be positioned in the market, how it will communicate, its distinct personality, and exactly who it is speaking to. This is the ABC of branding and simply cannot be skipped.
Step 3: The Client Workshop
After becoming an absolute expert on the brand, it is time to get my hands dirty. At this point, we have already discussed the brand with the client, including our mutual goals and where we want to take the project. However, there is still a subjective side to this phase. Design is unfortunately not an exact science. While strategy can easily be backed up by data, validating design with data is a bit more difficult. This is why I always conduct a workshop with the client to showcase our findings and better understand their preferences and ideas.
Step 4: Purposeful Design
Finally, it is time to design. I take all the gathered information, and the design almost naturally reveals itself. Every visual element, from the logo to the color palette, will be backed by solid reasoning. We aim to achieve specific goals by standing out from competitors or using a particular aesthetic to connect with our target audience. Thanks to all the preliminary steps, we can design a visual concept and logo that are objectively right for the brand. This approach consistently leads to smooth projects and excellent client relationships because we never design things randomly. Instead, every design decision is rooted in thorough research. This ensures that I am always designing for the end user and not just for myself.
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