Issue 74
Brand designer: How to master the profession
Hello, dear readers! 👋
This is the 5th special issue edition where I focus on the specific profession related to dev or design. In the new part we will talk about the profession of a brand designer.
Other special issues:
Inside issue:
The best articles and lectures on the topic
A large selection of tools
Educational materials on the main tools
Resources for finding mockups, fonts, illustrations and other assets
Examples of good branding
A brand designer is a specialist who develops a brand image - identity. Anything that a consumer sees, hears, or even feels when contacting a brand can be part of the identity: logo, packaging, video, music, and much more.
The main task of a brand designer is to create a recognizable and unique image of the company that will inspire the trust of the target audience and, as a result, help the company achieve its business goals.
A good brand designer is distinguished not only by applied skills, but also by knowledge of the basics of marketing and psychology, the ability to explore the audience, as well as the ability to work with meanings and images that will help better convey the character of the brand.
The result of the brand designer's work is a guideline - a detailed guide that contains all the rules for using identity, including recommendations on layout layout, as well as on the use of a logo, fonts, photos, text and much more.
Key qualities of a good brand designer:
Proficiency in basic up-to-date tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma and others
Ability to research the audience and competitors
The ability to delve into a business problem and offer its solution by means of brand design
Understanding of the technical features of the production of printed products, as well as the ability to prepare layouts for printing
Design foundation
📚 Books
Elis Tybout & Tim Calkins “Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World“
Margaret Mark & Carol Pearson “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes“
Pauline Brown “Aesthetic Intelligence: How to Boost It and Use It in Business and Beyond“
Laura Ries “Visual Hammer: Nail your brand into the mind with the emotional power of a visual“
David Airey “Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities“
Ben Parr “Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention“
David Airey «Identity Designed: The Definitive Guide to Visual Branding»
🗞 News and articles
Paul Worthington writes about why modern brands have become hostages of utilitarian modernism from the 20th century and why designers and businesses do not want to change anything.
The main thoughts from the note:
In today's digital environment, brands need to maintain visual consistency in all layouts and on all screens. The designers responded to this challenge with a general simplification, flexibility and minimalism
Brands follow a proven path and do not create anything new, but on the contrary copy each other
The concept of branding today has gone beyond visual design and advertising images. Now it is necessary to pay more attention to conceptual creativity and more complex meanings with which the audience will want to associate themselves
For uniqueness, it is no longer enough just to have high-quality design as before, because today good design is available to everyone. Good design today is the new "bad" design
It will be difficult to create something truly new, because most designers are conservative
Why do modern brands follow the same business model
A big article by Ben Schott on Bloomberg about the same type of marketing techniques of modern startups. The author proposes and describes the concept of a "bland brand", which has won the attention of the modern consumer, who considers himself more cunning than marketing tricks. According to his observations, modern companies talk about their uniqueness, but in fact use template business models and images, creating identical products with monotonous manifestos and values.
How I used Midjourney to design a brand identity. Matty Brownell shared his experience of using Midjourney for branding development and gave basic tips on how to get the desired result.
A Study of 597 Logos Shows Which Kind Is Most Effective
Harvard Business Review writes about the study of the effectiveness of logos depending on their type: figurative and abstract. Literally "descriptive" and "non-descriptive", descriptive and nondescriptive.
Figurative logos are those that communicate the essence of the brand's offer. The image of a burger in the Burger King logo, a logo in the form of a piece of a puzzle for a brand of puzzles.
Abstract logos do not communicate anything about the essence of the brand, but simply identify it. The letter M in the McDonald's logo, apple at Apple.
Although, researchers call figurative logos more effective and name such of their strengths:
They make brands more authentic in the eyes of consumers
They have a more favorable effect on the evaluation of brands by consumers
They increase consumers' willingness to buy
Increase sales
What to learn from Tropicana’s packaging redesign failure?
An article about the failed redesign of Tropicana juices in 2009 and what lessons can be learned from this legendary example. As a result, the company lost $50 million and eventually returned the old packaging back.
The author analyzes in detail the results of errors in the redesign, the differences between the new and old packaging, the reaction of consumers to the updated packaging and the reasons for the failed redesign.
The example of Tropicana shows how much influence packaging design has on the brand, its position in the market and consumer perception, as well as the financial performance of the company.
2022 Craft Beer Branding and Package Design Trends
A large annual review of trends in the design and positioning of craft beer brands. The authors explain why modern breweries often rebrand, how beer can manufacturers influence the industry, why it is not easy to create lifestyle brands, and much more.
Inside the article there are real examples, as well as expert opinions of the owners and founders of breweries, marketing directors, economists and other specialists from the industry.
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