Our branding process

Here at Balance, we love a good branding project, whether it’s working with a start-up or an established organisation that needs a refresh. A company’s brand is so important. It’s what leaves a memorable impression (hopefully a good one!) on consumers and it gives your customers and clients an idea of what they can expect from your company.

Each branding job is very different; however, our method is always the same. Here we explain what our process is and the journey we go through with our clients when styling their business.

It’s good to talk

We live in an age of emails and notifications. But we still prefer to have a good old conversation – face-to-face preferably but if that’s not possible, a Zoom meeting or telephone call at least. This is important as it gives us a chance to get a good understanding of what their company is all about. What’s their personality, what are their values, what are their aims? We also want to get to know your product(s), your target market and what your aims are – where do you want to be in 1, 5 and 10 years?

We also like to hear about any thoughts you’ve had about your branding. Some clients we work with have a clear idea of what they want. Others have no idea whatsoever, and that is absolutely fine. Branding and logo designs aren’t everyone’s speciality, just like dancing isn’t a forte of mine. If I was looking to teach my children how to dance, I’d call an expert – there’s no shame in that. So, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed if you’re not sure what colours, typeface or imagery you should be using.

We tend to follow this up with an email just asking for any additional information that we may require. We may ask for examples of designs you love, keywords that best describe your business and any sketches or doodles you’ve jotted down that may help us to understand your vision.

 Research, research, research

After getting to know you, we like to get to know your customers or clients and also your competitors. We’re not saying you should be doing what they’re doing, but it’s common sense to keep one eye open to see if you can learn what works and what doesn’t.

We’ll then start creating (or adding to if you’ve already started one) a mood board. We’ll explore colour palettes, understand the psychology behind the colour, typefaces, photography and illustration styles as well as logo designs. We then share the mood board with the client to see what tickles their fancy and what is a big fat NO! Occasionally, we’ll then develop the mood board further to help us cement the feel that the branding should capture.

Time to start sketching?

So, this is the point that a lot of designers start sketching their ideas. I work a little differently. I like to take a day or two, if time allows, to digest all the nougats of information we’ve taken in during the research and mood board stage. Allowing myself this time just allows my brain to put all the pieces together. It’s then, at this point, I’m ready to hit the ground running and start putting my ideas down on paper. Occasionally, if I have a really clear idea of what I want to create, I may just go straight to the Mac, open up Adobe Illustrator and start developing on-screen but there is no beating good old-fashioned pen and paper when it comes to getting ideas out fast. 

Let’s get digital

After getting my ideas down on paper, it’s now time to whittle them down to my favourite concepts. If I haven’t done so already, I’ll get Illustrator up and running, and start bringing my drawings to life. To begin with, I’ll start in simple black and white. This helps me to concentrate on the form of the logo and minimise any distractions. 

Next up is to identify a font that can be used as the starting point. My first port of call is typically Adobe Fonts where there are thousands of typefaces to choose from and they’re all available free of charge when you subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud! Depending on the logo, we may use the typeface as it is, after all, they have been designed by expert typographic designers. Quite often though, we may just tweak the type a little. Adding a subtle flourish here and there can bring a logo to life, give it some soul and help bring some individuality.

We then look at creating the mark (if applicable). Illustrator has all the tools to create beautiful logos, but sometimes, if creating something that will require a more hand-drawn quality, I may use a Wacom tablet.  

Once the form of the logo is in place, I then start to add the colour. Drawing inspiration from our mood board, we’ll identify a colour palette that creates the right impression for the brand. Colour is so important; it can tell us so much without us even realising it. Every colour sends a subconscious message to us so we must get this right.

Usually, we’ll pick out one or two main colours, the stars of the show, and then find some additional ones that will compliment them – the supporting cast. A tool I love when creating a colour palette is coolors.co. It allows you to enter your main colours and then presents you with additional colours that compliment them. If you’re not keen on what it comes back with straightaway, you simply generate some new ones. You keep going until your happy. Brilliant!

Before we show the concepts to the client, we produce variations of the logos that will work on both light and dark backgrounds. We also add the logos to mock-up visuals. It helps bring the logos to life and gives the clients a really good understanding of how their new logo will work in the real world.

Develop

Now, I like to think that we’re good at what we do but we realise that we’re not always going to get it right first time. We’re only human after all! That’s why we’re more than happy to develop any of our concepts until our client (and we) are completely happy and confident that the logo is completely right for the client.  

Finishing off

Once the logo has been approved, we create a suite of logos that will ensure the client can promote themselves no matter what the orientation of the space is or what colour the background is. We add all the logos to a logo pack which is then provided to the client.

The logo pack will include all the logo options and will be supplied as eps files (best for print) and jpg and png files (best for web). We’ll also provide the logo as any other file type requested by the client.

We also provide a social avatar as standard, to ensure the customer can show off their shiny new branding straightaway across all their social channels.

A logo guide is also supplied. Think of this as a mini brand guide, detailing the colours used and the supporting palette as well as the typefaces used. We can, of course, produce much more in-depth brand guidelines too but we like to ensure all our clients have the information they need to get up and running and stay true to their new branding from the get-go. 

Branding is extremely important; it is often the first impression so you have to get it right. We wouldn’t go to a meeting in our scruffs and neither should our branding. If you’d like some help dressing your business give us a shout. Dancing might not be our thing, but helping businesses look their best definitely is.