Well-known global brands have been holding their positions at the very top of success for many decades. Each of them has its own secret of success, but the common feature of all these brands is consumer trust in the product.
The last few months were pivotal for the market and could not help but leave their mark on design and branding. A pandemic, self-isolation, an accelerated transition to digital, a growing trend towards conscious consumption and environmental friendliness – all this is reflected in new products and services. In this article you will find out how to build your brand, why do you need transparency and what is the role of a designer in your branding path.
Honesty is the best policy
You have probably already encountered this new trend – to disclose all information about a product, in a major tone, and not only about its composition (of course, environmentally friendly), but also about the happy people who make it, and all stages of production, starting with growing raw materials.
Why should brands become more transparent?
No brand is 100% sustainable, but 100% transparency can be achieved. Honesty in relations with our customers, openness and cooperation with colleagues – all this can become a great contribution to our sustainable future.
The more information customers receive about how their products are manufactured, the more they will value them and respect the brand behind them.
Transparency is the key to establishing a genuine connection with customers, as well as setting the bar for other brands. Every step of the supply chain must be transparent. This allows clients to gain insight into the various stages of the design process and arouse their curiosity and anticipation. It is important, to be honest about not only your successes but also the experiences of the fiasco.
When a company is effectively engaged in transparent communication, it invites customers to actively explore the value chain for products and services and also helps to better understand the impact of this chain on the environment. At the same time, honest sharing of results opens up opportunities for collaboration, invites brands to share knowledge with each other.
Environmental sensory
Environmental sensory – the perception of a product through knowledge of how it was created, from what raw materials, and about the whole process up to the final result, and not just through its consumption (and exaggeration of the role of the experience of this consumption).
The term was coined by Giulio Ceppi, an Italian architect who promotes bioarchitecture and supports the slow food movement.
In other words, when you know so much about a product that later becomes a part of your life, its value increases significantly. Significant experiences arise that do not turn into empty images for quick consumption. Such a thing will matter to you and, most likely, will not leave your wardrobe after several years.
Motivating brands to change
Sustainability has become one of the main themes shaping the fashion industry in 2020, according to the latest McKinsey report. Consumers and activists are clear about their position and demand from companies reliable information and concrete decisions regarding ethical and green production.
Manufacturers are forced to focus on the needs of their customers. And when the demand for transparency becomes a regular practice, brands have no choice but to pursue it.
Honest by – a great example
Founded by Bruno Peters, Honest By is exemplary when it comes to transparency. The Belgian company has a 100% transparency policy and exchanges information about its chain, from a supply of materials to distribution, as well as the prices of its products. In fact, it is the first company in the world to openly show the full value of its products. Everything is recorded down to detail, including the number of buttons on the shirt and the length of the thread. This allowed clients to make the most informed choice.
The company suspended its operations in October 2018. But this fact does not in the least diminish her outstanding contribution to understanding the importance of brand openness to customers.
Brand design and transparency
In modern conditions, when the buyer has the opportunity to choose a product from a dozen similar products, the manufacturer should not be “like everyone else”. It is necessary to be different from others, to attract attention, to form an emotional attachment. How to do it? Through professional brand design development.
What is a brand design and what tasks does it solve?
Brand design is the visual component of a brand. In fact, a system of elements that form a recognisable image and differentiate a company and its products. The list of the main components of a brand design includes a logo, corporate identity, packaging and labels, website design, space and navigation elements design.
As we noted above, a unique and transparent image allows you to stand out from the competition. But although this is one of the most important, it is still not the only task.
The brand design also helps to:
– increase the awareness of the product;
– impress the target audience;
– form a positive attitude towards the brand;
-build consumer loyalty to a particular brand of goods;
-successfully interact with clients;
– reduce advertising and promotion costs.
Note! Brand design is not pure art. In order for a beautiful picture to turn into a tool for business development, a set of preliminary studies is required. It affects the preferences of the target audience, the experience of competitors, brand features, product characteristics, etc. Without this knowledge, the design will not be tied to a specific company and its products, which means it will remain nothing more than a set of beautiful images.
Basic requirements for brand design
Each brand is different. For this reason, the development process is always personalised. Nevertheless, there are several general requirements that a high-quality, professionally created brand design meets. And above all this:
Recognizability. Elements of visual communication should be simple and easy to perceive, harmoniously combined with each other, not similar to the symbols of competitors.
Consistency. The correct design of the main brand attributes conveys information about belonging to a certain product group, price category, and other features of the product, in this case, transparency and honesty.
Attractiveness. A fun or creative idea behind a brand design adds value to a product, builds emotional attachment, and boosts sales.
Responsiveness. Branding elements should look equally good on all media. For example, a high-quality logo remains proportional and readable both on an A8 leaflet and on a street billboard. This also applies to other components of brand design.
Stages of brand design development
The brand creates a memorable image. An effective brand creates not only a visual identity but also a strong emotional attachment to a product or service. For a brand to become such, it is not enough to come up with corporate colours and a logo. In order to make a great brand design that will show your transparency and openness, a professional web design agency will go through a complex multi-step process. It includes the following steps:
Determination of character, personality, goals. How do you see your brand, who do you work for, what ideas and values do you want to convey to the target audience, what do you strive for, what is the main goal? Answers to these and other questions help determine the vector of development and form a basic idea of the company or product.
Study of the target audience, competitors and the situation in general. What do potential consumers prefer? How do competitors’ offers differ from yours? What are the general trends in the selected segment? To answer these questions, experts at branding agencies conduct extensive market research.
Formation of the visual concept of brand design. Based on information about the product, the company, the target audience, brand designers develop several conceptual solutions. Each of them has its own characteristics, while they all reflect the core values and character of the future brand. They must send a message that your brand is transparent and doesn’t hide anything.
Creation of corporate identity elements. After the presentation and agreement of the concept, the most creative stage of the work begins. Brand designers create unique fonts, colours, graphics, logos, and more. The final version is checked for originality and is developed for all media – packaging, website, printing, space design, etc.
Brand book development. This document is often mistakenly thought to be something of a formatting guide. To some extent, this is true, since the brand book describes in detail the identity and prevents the image from being blurred. But besides this, it contains other information, including about the philosophy and values of the brand, about the target audience, about the preferred communication channels, etc.
Conclusion
There is such a thing as the secret of the company, the zest, what distinguishes the brand from others. And the rest can be told. Even how much you earn. This will be seen by young entrepreneurs who, based on the experience of transparent companies, are trying to create their own business. Also, if you build marketing correctly if your design is on top, this can attract a huge number of customers. Honesty is the best policy.
