Branding & Brand Design
We are super excited about this session with Tunji Ogunoye (#DearDesigner) because we will get to learn branding from a genius known for rebranding most of the existing companies in the Nigerian space.
Tunji Ogunoye:
The Discourse point is around Branding & Brand Design. I hope we have our questions ready.
I’ll do some sort of introduction to the topic.
The keywords are Brand, Branding, Brand Identity and Brand Design
A Brand is a summary of, or the most remarkable experience someone has about/with an entity (product, service, person, etc). It’s personal. It can vary from person to person.
Branding is the conscious effort taken by an entity to be at the top of these perceptions — the brand
Brand Identity consists of characteristics we identify an entity with — logo, name, tagline, visual properties, etc.
Brand Design is the conscious effort taken by a designer to define and manage the visual elements of an entity. The brand designer is in charge of defining and shaping perceptions of an entity’s look and feel.
Most of these terms are mostly mistaken for each other. They are very distinct from each other and I think the previous message kind of clears the air on that.
Let’s discuss guys! Questions, Questions. Questions
We deal with brands and our work as Designers (UI/UX or Brand) still gets to the root of having to shape perception for products/services/organizations/people
Question
So this means branding doesn’t end in print design as the common misconception goes?
Tunji Ogunoye:
No. It doesn’t.
Branding is first established in strategies that could be later expressed via design. It could also be expressed in print but print doesn’t define Branding/Brand Design. Print is just a medium of communication.
Question
Who is responsible for this strategy? Or how do we come about these strategies? Is the designer involved or it’s just a company thing?
Tunji Ogunoye:
Strategy isn’t the primary responsibility of a Brand Designer. He needs to understand Strategy enough to be able to interpret and utilize it in his design process. The Designer should be involved in these sessions, however, if it is a team-wide thing
Strategy is the primary responsibility of Brand Strategists or Strategists generally
Question
How can product designers apply these principles of branding when creating experiences for both users and businesses?
Tunji Ogunoye:
It’s important that Product designers understand the basics of branding because one of the important brand ideals is differentiation — the property of a brand that makes it distinct from every other around it.
Differentiation is communicated across every medium. Product Designers design amazing experiences for users and as such should also be concerned about how these users differentiate one product from the other.
It’s also important that product designers understand consistency. To build the most remarkable impact in branding, the nail must be hit on the same spot. The cutlass must hit the same spot on the tree. From visual assets to messaging, consistency is key!
Question
What are the steps to take in branding a business?
Tunji Ogunoye:
That’s a lot. But I’ll state some key things that have to be in place for this to be successful.
Once you identify a problem to be solved, you need to clearly define what the brand is — mission, brand positioning, tone/voice in communication, core values, targeting etc.
Once this is clearly defined, the creation of the brand identity designs can commence by the designer. Marketing and Brand communications can also commence bearing the strategies in mind.
Question
Who should be involved in this?
Kindly note that the aforementioned phase is done primarily by a strategist with the business stakeholders. It is also important the designer is part of the process so he can get the full grasp of who/what the brand is.
Question
What suggestions do you have for how a beginner should approach storytelling in brand design?
Tunji Ogunoye:
Storytelling is important because people connect more with stories.
Connecting to emotions is central to what Branding is and what it can achieve. Stories are important
… Stories are important to how users/consumers perceive and receive the efforts of branding. A designer should understand the basics of storytelling as it will influence how his designs impact the end users/consumers
Question
Can you please be explicit on what you mean by storytelling.
Tunji Ogunoye:
Storytelling is a way of expressing thoughts (stories) in a way that is connected to a product/service. Expressing thoughts that the user can relate to effortlessly. Using cues that the user/consumer can relate with.
Question
In your view, how do we define a good brand?
Tunji Ogunoye:
So what a brand sets out to be perceived as by their users is key, if this is what is perceived by the consumer/user, it’s a good statement
A brand that does this consistently is a good brand. I say it as a brand should keep keeping the promises. Every statement/item of a brand is a promise.
Question
What are the various ways of measuring the success of a good brand design or an ROI on a brand design?
This might also be one of the ways of convincing stakeholders to invest more in brand design.
Tunji Ogunoye:
Branding design is a marathon, not a sprint. That’s the first thing stakeholders must know.
It also won’t work in isolation. Nothing does, actually.
Other things being in place, brand design (that is consistent and clearly differentiated) clearly portrays a brand as it is — with assets that represent who/what the brand wants to be. This, in turn, builds a consistent perception of what the brand stands for.
Through design, the core intent of a brand is communicated and this reaches out to users/consumers innermost. This, in turn, builds an emotional edifice of the brand in the consumer’s mind. The consumers become ambassadors or fanatics of the brand (mostly for reasons they can’t explain), they chose this product again and again and spread this ‘gospel’ to others and this increases the numbers
Comment: Marathon, not a sprint? You can’t do branding design as a sprint or is it not part of the sprint process to conceive or sum up the project idea before starting?
Answer: I think he means you can’t approach it like a fast-paced exercise as it is something that requires long term planning and executed over a period of time.
Question
Also, what are the obvious steps that you take when working on a brand design project?
Tunji Ogunoye:
On a Brand Design project. I’ll take that as a brand identity design project. It’s important to understand who the brand is, what they stand for and what they hope to be perceived as — strategy
After which you start generating ideas around what you’ve learnt from a strategy. You execute, test and present to the stakeholders. Generating ideas include defining the direction for the identity design, mind mapping, among others.
After the presentation, get feedback, effect reviews where necessary and lastly, prepare a brand identity guide. This ensures the brand assets are clearly defined and no misrepresentation is allowed. This also ensures that new designers/other stakeholders can pick up from where you stopped and the consistency is ensured
Question
What is the best way to approach a new idea as a UI/UX before getting started?
Tunji Ogunoye:
I’m not sure I get this. Or maybe Namnso Ukpanah can provide some answers as it’s UI/X-related
Question
Please how do you get more clients as a UX designer?
Tunji Ogunoye:
Cc Namnso Ukpanah
Comment: To answer this, the first thing people want to see is a formidable portfolio, the first thing clients/employer ask from a UI/UX designers is their portfolio. Also, while building you need to be visible, this means you need to be in different forums helping newbies to grow and giving out design tips for free. In summary, you must be a person of value for people to place value on you, there are thousands of designers out there but you need to stand out. Do not underestimate the power of dribble and Behance.
Answer: I guess the direct way of answering this question is “As long as you keep providing value to clients, you will never be out of clients” Value, in this case, is providing them with design solutions that actually work because that’s why they will keep coming back to you and even referring more contacts to you. The value you provide for them in terms of solutions will also be speaking for itself.
Note: you will even go further if you also talk about what you do. Maybe random screenshots of what you are working on or even articles of your discoveries.
Question
Many brand designers see learning UI/UX as scaling in terms of learning design
Please can you speak a little on this
Tunji Ogunoye:
Design knowledge is central to all specializations. Brand designers don’t need to learn UI/X to ‘know’ design.
As regards brand designers moving to become UI/UX designers, it may be career preference decisions or maybe just exuberance or they failed to see how they can ascend in their career as a Brand Designer
For sure, more like you need to be very good with “Design” to master your craft as a UX/UI designer.
Question
To a certain group, it seems graphics and brand design is phasing away to another dimension. Please what do you think about this and if you agree, what is the other further dimension?
Tunji Ogunoye:
Hmmm. I don’t think that’s true. There are levels yet to be conquered in terms of Graphic/Brand Design. These roles are still relevant in the present clime.
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