Generally speaking I am not a “reader” in the sense I really should be. I read a lot of content, and I am what I call a “picture reader” which is how I refer to flipping through imagery online, or in annuals, design publications or the like, but you’ll most likely not find me on the bus or T reading my favorite piece of non fiction (which is in total and complete contrast to my wife who cannot let a piece of printed matter pass through the house without taking in every single character on the page).

I did, however, read a book a few months back from cover to cover — I could not put it down — and it has been the sole source of a complete shift in my perspective on the branding process. DK Holland in her book, Branding for Nonprofits outlines a series of very simple, but incredibly important factors in the process of developing a branding program. While these may seem rudimentary for the branding (and corporate ID) veteran, these served as a great reminder for me. Like many designers I spoken with over the years, I think we tend to get caught up in quick turnaround times and tight budgets and forget about starting far enough back at the beginning as we should and taking the steps DK Holland outlines. I am also struck by how, as look back over my career, I could have applied these techniques to any client — not just nonprofit clients.

Here are a few of them I have found to be invaluable:

Branding Markers
DK Holland defines these markers as “a way to think about the brand you have versus the brand you aspire to.”

They are:

Reputation: How well is your organization known?
Esteem: How highly regarded are you?
Relevance: How important are your organization’s mission and activities to the concerns of the audience?
Differentiation: Are there others that do what you do? What makes you different than them? What makes you the same? Where are the points of “alignment”?

Looking closely at these markers helps identify an organization’s weak spots, and shows you know what you’ll need to focus on improving, while they can also underscore those thing you can remain confident in. While this exercise may uncover several weak spots, some may be more serious than others. If your brand is viewed as very reputable, for example, but not very relevant to your primary audience, you have something to look carefully at. However, if your brand is highly relevant and respected but largely an unknown, this is a problem — but one that can be improved with careful consideration to awareness. This emphasizes why it’s important to know the strengths and weaknesses of a brand at the beginning of the design process.

Design Brief

There are also important profiling exercise, where we can looked closely across a spectrum of issues in order to craft stronger, more useful creative briefs to work against. These are (but aren’t limited to):

1. Profile — What does your brand/organization do? Why does it matter to your audience? Be as accurate as possible and be sure your mission and values statements are integrated into these responses somehow.

2. Context — What is it about the current world view that makes your mission and vision relevant to your primary audiences?

3. Positioning — What is your organization’s relationship to other organizations similar in size and mission? Be sure you include competitors so that you can start to see how those organizations fit relative to yours, and vice versa.

4. Audiences — List your audiences, start with primary audience (e.g., members) and identify secondary and tertiary audiences too. Ask yourself the following: “Who are we trying to reach that we haven’t yet?” “What do our audiences value that we already provide?” “What do our audiences value that we could provide?” “Do we have any demographic information, proof or other helpful information about our audiences that might help inform an approach for the creative team?”

5. Brand personality — Describe your organization’s personality. How does the community see your organization? Are you viewed positively? Are you seen as active, involved and engaged with them, or as distant and unreachable? Are you a young organization? Well established? (If you don’t know these answers, you may have some digging to do.)

6. Current situation — What about your current situation has you concerned about a revised branding program?

7. Budget — How much are you willing to invest in this new branding effort? Establishing a budget is difficult without the solution in sight, but landing in the ballpark could help the creative team keep things in perspective.

8. Schedule/deadlines — When do you expect to have this project completed? is there anything driving the deadline? (e.g., the date of a specific event or anniversary)?

9. Design media — What kind of materials are you going to be designing for? Brochures? Annual Reports? Web sites? Outdoor boards? Others?

10. Technical/practical requirements — Are there specific requirements that must be established in advance? For example, is your organization required to use union labor? Are there concerns over being “green”? Note any and all of these that you can in the brief.

So, to summarize, by taking some time upfront and investing it in looking closely – even if it’s briefly at the basics – can inform a stronger, more accurate design brief and ultimately yield design recommendations for a more relevant branding program you and your client can feel confident in.

Special thanks to DK Holland for inspiring me to consider the details, even for the clients who feel “small.” As I like to say, “Everyone deserves good design.”

Tags: Branding, Communication, Creativity, Design

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