Creating a Strong Brand Identity
We spoke about designing hostel spaces in a previous blog. This article looks at how you can create a strong visual identity for your brand. Your logo speaks for your brand even before you do. Additionally, studies have shown that presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%. Today a brand means a set of associations which your users have about your business, and visual identity is the face of these perceptions.
So what makes a good logo? A logo is more than clean fonts and a clever icon. It is a reflection of your brand name, your mission, vision, your users, competitors and your story. A logo wasn’t always this complicated. At one point branding stood for the act of marking cows with a hot iron press. This act was done by farmers to identify which cows belonged to their farms. However, the world has changed considerably. While we no longer need to go about stamping cows with hot iron rods, we still need to look at differentiating our brand to stand out. An average user interacts with 5000 brands a day. So creating a memorable brand is even more challenging in this logo cluttered environment. Further, unique brands have a strong story, and the first step to creating one is a positioning strategy.
BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGY
Begin by defining the type of hostel you intend to create (party, adventure, eco, hipster, etc.) If you can’t figure this one out, you could always research the various categories of hostels first. Then you could look at the competitors and demand in the area you’re in. Once you’ve prepared the category of hostel you are building, then research how people around the world are attacking the same problem. Its key to be informed about where the market is. This information allows you to understand what the expectations of your guests are and what your competitors are offering.
The next step would be a detailed study of the demographics of your target audience. Once you define your potential guests it becomes easier to understand what kind of brand you want to create. For example, party hostels tend to be more vibrant with their colours, whereas eco hostels use earthy tones and neutral shades.
You could then start refining this information to a single statement. This statement is a clear vision of what your brand is, who it’s for and what its benefits are. Many times, we ignore this step but it is crucial to creating a brand with a focus.
Your Story
Brand essence is a distillation of your positioning in one clear word. For example, Volvo stands for Safety, Apple for Innovation. This is important because this essence helps you tell a story. Ask people what makes a strong brand — it is one which has a solid story. This story translates into everything you design — whether it is your logo, interiors or marketing material. We have curated examples of hostel brands with strong stories later on in this article.
Your Logo
A logo is the face of your brand. While a logo may seem easy to make, it involves a lot of market research, knowledge about your guest and application of visual design principles. I would suggest hiring a designer whose expertise would be translating your positioning and essence into expression. A designer could help define the mood you want to create for your brand. For example, do you want it to be earthy, rustic or do you want something minimal? Pinterest is a resource to moodboard and understand the themes you do like. While there are multiple generic logos out there, creating a memorable one which captures what you stand for is the real challenge. An interesting fact to note is that colour improves brand recognition by up to 80%. Colour psychology plays a big part in a user’s decision-making process as well.
We have curated some examples of hostels with strong identities which summarise their brand positioning.
Simple hostel
Bunka Hostel, Tokyo
Drawing from the aesthetic of the Japanese culture, the Bunka hostel logo is derived from the symbol: 円 (circle in English) made up of small squares. the circle represents the ‘connection between people= 縁 (bonding in English), and the orderly-looking grid pattern is the symbol of the cleanliness, trust, and sense of security.
Dragon Dive Komodo
This all-in-all logo summarises all that the hostel stands for. The logo has multiple elements such as a Manta, because its location is famous for spotting Manta. The mask symbolises the scuba diving course they offer. An octopus is illustrated with an octopus leg. The Dragon of Komodo and the emblem of the Komodo National Park is visible here too.
