BRAND CORPORATE IDENTITIY - TASK 1: BREAKING BRAND

05.04.2023 - 19.04.2023 (Week 1 - Week 3)
Christie Angelica Bakhary (0350655)
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Brand Corporate Identity
Task 1: Breaking Brand

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INSTRUCTIONS

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LECTURE

LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION - Week 1 (05.04.2023)

Brand corporate identity is a part of graphic design which focuses on a brand's visual integrity.

LECTURE 2: BRAND - Week 2 (12.04.2023)

What is a Brand?

Branding has evolved over the centuries. What we brand, how we brand it, and why we brand it has changed. But branding in the twenty-first century is still about taking ownership, and not just for property and products. It's about owning what your company values and represents, owning up to your shortcomings, and earning customer trust and loyalty through your words, your actions, and your stories.

What is Brand Identity?

"Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer. Brand identity is different from "brand image" and "branding," even though these terms are sometimes treated as interchangeable" (DeBara, 2017).

What is a Branding?

Branding is the process of giving meaning to a specific organization, company, product, or service by (actively) creating and shaping a brand in consumers' minds. It is a strategy designed by organizations to help people to quickly identify and experience their brand, and give them a reason to choose their products over the competition's" (Marion, 2015).

Branding is the process of hijacking and shaping an image in the consumer's mind and, in doing so, creating an indelible and distinct mark and association.

Branding can be achieved through:

- Brand definition: purpose, values, promise

- Brand positioning statement: what your brand does, who you target, and the benefits of    your brand, a concise statement

- Brand identity: name, tone of voice, visual identity design (including logo design, color       palette, typographies...)

- Advertising and communications: TV, radio, magazines, outdoor ads, website, mobile           apps...

- Product design

- Sponsoring and partnerships

- In-store experience

- Workspace experience and management style

- Customer service

- Pricing strategy

Benefits of Branding

- Helps to stand out in a saturated market.

- Gives credibility.

- With a clear brand, you can charge what you are worth.

- Leads to customer loyalty.

- Leads to returning customers & referrals.

- Branding = Consistency.

- Helps to attract your ideal clients.

- Branding your business will save you money and time.

- Will give you confidence in your business.

- Established branding makes it easier to introduce new products/services.

- Gives a clear strategy for moving forward.

Designers' Role in Branding

Designers play a pivotal role in creating a brand, but they are part of a more extensive network of individuals collaborating to give voice and form to the brand. Clearly, there can be no brand without the skill sets a designer brings to the table. In addition, the visual identity that a designer creates constitutes the face of the brand. Their role is to give form to the content, strategy, and messaging. For the designer, this means research (history of client and product, understanding the target market, and more) and developing a trademark.

LECTURE 3: TYPES OF MARK - Week 3 (19.04.2023)

Logo

What is commonly (wrongly) understood is that a logo is a symbol made up of text and images that identifies a business/service/product/person. The general term logo refers to all marks that represent a brand. A logotype is a logo centered around a company name or initials. A logomark is a logo centered around a symbolic image or icon. A signature is when a word and a symbol are combined, it is also known by its other term, "combination mark". On the other hand, a "Logotype" is also sometimes called a wordmark, it is one and the same.

Monogram

A monogram is a motif that overlaps or combines two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable 'symbols' or logos".

Heraldry

Heraldry is a broad term, encompassing the design, display, and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), together with the study of ceremony, rank, and pedigree". It is generally European in its origin. Even though the concept of symbols/seals/flags representing royalty, armies, or empires is not exclusive to Europe, this particular style of composite of visual elements that make up the heraldic symbols is, however, Eurocentric in nature.

Mark

By itself, it means an impression made on something, paper, wall, wood, etc. It signifies ownership or identification and represents the quality, ability, and skill levels of its creator, and with that comes a promise of excellence.

Today, the term we are most familiar with is the 'trademark' in law and branding. While the ambiguous term 'logo' has usurped the term 'trademark' in prominence amongst laypeople, when it comes to the law ™ ®, the term trademark reigns supreme. A trademark is a symbol, word, or word legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product. The function of a trademark is identification. Identification often takes place within a 'design program'... both design programs and 'branding' are methods for controlling corporate identity, one at an organizational level and the other at the product level (Mollerup, 2001).

LECTURE 4: BRAND IDEALS - Week 4 (26.04.2023)

Introduction

Brand Ideals and Definition

Vision
Vision requires courage. Big ideas, enterprises, products, and services are sustained by individuals who have the ability to imagine what others cannot see. And the tenacity to deliver what they believe is possible. Hearing the vision face to face is critical to the identity process. As a result, leaders who take the time to share their most audacious dreams and challenges frequently understand the power of symbols. They also value storytelling to build their culture and brands (11 digits, n/d).

Meaning

The best brands stand for something a big idea, a strategic position, or a defined set of values (Baber, 2008). Meaning is rarely immediate and it evolves over time. Designers transform meaning into unique visual forms and expressions. It is critical that this meaning is explained so that it can be understood, communicated, and approved. Knowing this, all elements of the brand identity system should have a framework that stands for meaning and logic (11 digits, n/d).

Authenticity

Authenticity is not possible without an organization having clarity about its market, positioning, value proposition, and competitive difference (Baber, 2008). Authenticity refers to self-knowledge and making decisions that are congruent with that self-knowledge. Brand expression must be appropriate to the organization's unique mission, history, culture, values, and personality. 

Differentiation

Brands need to demonstrate this difference and make it easy for customers to understand what makes them so. A really good brand leaves a big gap.

Sustainability 

Sustainability is the ability to have longevity in an environment in constant flux and characterized by future permutations that no one can predict (Baber, 2008). Sustainability is achieved through a commitment to the equity of a central idea over time.

Coherence

Coherence is the quality that ensures that all the pieces hold together in a way that feels ideal to the customer. It is a baseline that is designed to build trust, foster loyalty, and delight the customer. A brand identity system is unified visually and structurally. It builds on cohesive brand architecture and utilizes specially designed colors, typeface families, and formats. The identity system advances immediate recognition of the company and supports brand attributes across various media.

Flexibility

Brands that are open to change need to have flexible brand identity systems in place. Because of that, it's necessary for them to quickly seize new opportunities in the marketplace. The brand identity toolbox encourages creativity within parameters that always keep the brand immediately recognizable. Certainly, a carefully designed balance between control and creativity makes it possible to adhere to identity standards.

Commitment

Organizations need to ensure all people engaged with the brand have complete motivation and dedication in order for it to succeed (Baber, 2008). Building, protecting, and enhancing the brand requires desire and a disciplined approach to ensure its integrity and relevance.

Value

Measurable results need to be created that promote and sustain the brand (Baber, 2008). Creating value is the biggest goal of most organizations.

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TASKS

For the first task, we were assigned to form a group of 3 and deconstruct our chosen brand. My groupmates consist of me, Farah, and Henry. In class, we decided to choose Spotify as the brand to be analyzed.

Based on the framework that was provided in the MIB, we then divided the task and did the research on our chosen part.

Fig. 3.1: Task 1 Framework on MIB

Below is our final group research about Spotify:

Fig. 3.2: Final Group Research

As a follow-up to the research that we've done, we're then tasked to do a presentation slide of it individually. To proceed, I look for a suitable typeface and found one that Spotify uses, which is the Circular Std Typeface.
Download link: https://font.gooova.com/fonts/14294/circular-std-font-family.html

As for the color palette, I found one from Behance.

Fig. 3.3: Spotify Color Palette (Source: Behance)

Then finally I made the slide based on the research we've done with a "Spotify style" and applicate the colors and font to it.

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FEEDBACK

Week 1:
Specific Feedback
Nice choice of brand

Week 4:
General Feedback
Able to populate the categories accurately and good understanding of each of the given frameworks. However, there's still room for improvement in the potential of graphic communication in the brand communication strategy, and more examples should be included to demonstrate how the brand communicates graphicly.

Specific Feedback
Well design slides and a good understanding of how the framework will be presented.     However, there's room for improvement in paraphrasing the research, and could have included examples of the brand communication strategy to demonstrate the opportunity for graphic design. Lastly, there's some slight error in the final framework's heading that could be fixed.

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REFLECTION

Experience

Doing detailed research about a brand is something I've done before. Thus, I had quite an easy time breaking the brand, as Spotify is also a well-known brand that makes it easier to get information online. As for the slides, I had a fun time making it.

Observation

Findings

I found that online platforms make it easier for us to do research about a certain brand or topic.

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FURTHER READING