Painting an identity

Subbit
Subbit
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

The story of the Subbit brand -pt. 1

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what of a brand? Pictures (at least good ones) are able to communicate in a single moment, an entire story. If the picture is good enough; beginning, content and conclusion are all merged into a single perfect snapshot.

But if a picture can tell a story, then what of a brand? Fair enough, a logo is not as ‘complex’ as a painting, a picture or a photograph. But a brand is not just a logo. A brand is made up of several elements, that should culminate to communicate a single message about the product or business. When we set about the designing the brand for our (then nameless) product, we had to think about all these elements. In our view, the ‘portrait’ of a good brand is created by combining a good name, typeface(s), emblems, logo, strapline(s), key colours, voice and shape; these elements should all work together to tell a compelling story.

If the picture is good enough; beginning, content and conclusion are all merged into a single perfect snapshot.

In our company we have two co founders with extensive experience in the arena of digital consultancy, and naturally, they couldn’t help but deeply integrate themselves into the branding process. Alex and Andrew (yes, I did just refer to myself in the 3rd person) share a combined 23 years experience in this field were obviously going to present a challenge to our chosen branding agency, who would be pushed to the very limits of their creative ability. Every nuance of what we separately envisioned as the brand story of our product would have to be delivered… not an easy task for any Startup, but even harder for one with founders who have such a grounding in digital design and brand development.

Our Market : The audience

In the same way that a painter or photographer will think about where his artwork will be displayed (ie. Will it being hung in a gallery or a home, or perhaps a cathedral wall), a startup should about the market they are seeking to appeal to. No brand is good in isolation of it’s purpose. It’s well and good saying “that’s a cool logo… looks really cool and modern. ” But if (for instance) you are seeking to open a tailor on Saville Row, “modern and cool” might not be the approach to take.

Unintentionally, (but certainly not unfortunately) our market is very wide. But our users did fit a certain persona that we had established during our research period. There was a level of technical savviness, a definite young adult to middle aged age range, a degree economic stability and flexibility, and lifestyle traits and choiced that are possessed by all of our potential customers. Defining these allowed to select how best to approach this audience. What emotions did we want our product to evoke in them, what did we want them to feel about our product?

No brand is good in isolation of it’s purpose.

Audience established we were able to move on…

Our Name: The subject

For most good pictures, the process begins with the subject. The subject determines every aspect of the artwork to be produced. As a hobby photographer, I would wake up in the middle of the night, with my equipment prepped the night before, in the hope that I would be able to catch an ‘interesting’ sunrise. I would pack polarising and grad filters, Wide angle prime lenses and film with just the right ISO to perform the task of fine art capture. The subject had determined every aspect of my approach to capturing the art. Composition, colour and light are all determined by how one wishes to portray the subject. I’m sure fine artists take the same approach.

One can liken the subject to the name of the brand. In essence, the name holds such an importance in determining the story of the brand. This does not mean a name has to be descriptive. In the case of ‘Magners’ the family name contributes to the story of the family owned vineyards where everything’s done by hand. In the case of ‘Monzo’ the name helps to tell the story of company hell bent on being deliberately disruptive to an otherwise stiff, monopolised and buttoned-up industry. Whereas, in the case of ‘Snapchat’, where the name is far more descriptive than the previous examples, we still have a name that successfully contributes to the story of the brand.

In order to get to our brand name, we had to initially set some goals. I could describe our back and forth conversations ad nauseum, but I feel a few choice screendumps from our Whatsapp group will be very revealing about how truly difficult this process was going to prove:

In the case of ‘Magners’ the family name contributes to the story of the family owned vineyards where everything’s done by hand. In the case of ‘Monzo’ the name helps to tell the story of company hell bent on being deliberately disruptive to an otherwise stiff, monopolised and buttoned-up industry.

End of part 1.

Subbit

Written by

Subbit

Groundbreaking London based Fintech Startup with a mission to revolution the way we pay.

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