Branding Identity Design

In order to create brands and communications that truly shine, that come to life in a way that that excites our clients and their audiences, we always start with a clear strategy and big idea proposition. The unifying platform behind the brand’s marketing endeavors. A unique, ‘ownable’ and compelling reason that people should choose our clients brands over the myriad of other options they have. And with the global nature of today’s marketplace, never has this been more important.

Developing big idea propositions is always a challenge, but its one we relish at The Allotment branding design agency. The reward of landing a proposition that is inherently authentic and right for the brand is deeply fulfilling. How do you know that it is exactly right? Because it answers the question ‘what role and what benefit will this brand have in my life?’ And because everyone can immediately see its potential. When it’s exactly right it strikes a chord – and ideas flow from it.

Branding Identity

From here we can develop meaningful brand identities that are grounded in substance yet truly inspirational. Our work is never simply eye candy. We employ brand design intelligently to create brands that stand out and stand for something. We look at all aspects – brand identity is so much more than the logo after all. It’s every touchpoint – every interaction anyone has with the brand. So we explore the whole mix. How the brand looks, feels and speaks. We develop the visual aspects such as logo, colour palette, iconography, imagery and illustration. We define the brand’s personality. We craft tone of voice and brand language. We define messaging hierarchies, develop elevator pitches and find the most compelling ways to express a brands offer, products and services through pithy, engaging copyscript. And we bring it together into one beautiful, unified, special and unique brand identity rooted in the strategic brand proposition. Our work for The Donkey Sanctuary epitomises this approach and the phenomenal results speak for themselves.

Identity Design

We wrap this up for our clients in clear, concise brand identity and design guidelines that explain how the each element of the brand works. This toolkit of parts describes the functional elements and their usage as well as the brand personality and strategy. This means that clients, their agencies and their partners are easily able to implement the brand and helps to ensure that it remains coherent wherever it comes to life. This is important for all brands, but especially vital where the brand architecture is complex, as it was for Bauer Media which has 43 individual local radio brands within its portfolio.

Identity is More than a Name

We also add value for our clients by helping to develop names for their company, products and services. It’s widely recognized in the brand design industry that its one of the toughest parts of a brand identity project. While coming up with names is not especially hard, that in itself is not enough. A name has to succeed on many levels. It needs to be appealing and memorable. It needs to signify a specific promise. It has to be legally protectable, often in more than one market, and many, many names are already taken. And naming is very emotive – just like naming a child, people are often very emotionally invested in it. Because people are invested in brands, it can go badly wrong. The Royal Mail experienced a customer backlash when it renamed as Consignia, for example. So naming a business, product or service it can provoke strong opinions from its stakeholders – and name often has to gain buy in from a broad stakeholder group. Our role is not only to create inspiring names that are grounded in a big idea proposition but to help navigate the journey to fruition.