How do you define your brand in a few key words?
When it comes to setting up a brand, where do you start?
For us, the first step is to define the businesses key words. These are no more than 5 words that represent what the brand stands for, its beliefs and values. These key words give us frame work to create the brand around. Design can be subjective and sometimes we can all be guilty of following trends, but by building an aesthetic on the values of the brand it will be authentic and timeless.
These 5 words are almost like your elevator pitch, they instantly explain to a new user what your vibe is.
Here are some examples of key words of our favourite brands:
Cadbury Chocolate: Fun, cheerful, cheeky, loud and young
Apple: Sophisticated, educated, quiet, solutions oriented, technology
Tea Two: Natural, worldly, delicious, sophisticated, quality
St. Clement Creative: Professional, friendly, unique, quality, custom made
During the design process we can ask ourselves, does the design represent these key words rather than do we like it? It keeps the project accountable for the values of the brand.
Does the design represent these key words rather than do we like it?
How do we define these key words? We dive deep to discover what emotions we want the brand to evoke.
Step 1.
In the words of Simon Sinek - start with your why. It’s not what you do, it’s not how you do it but its why you run your business that matters.
Let’s use Cadbury as an example here.
What: They make chocolate and confectionary
How: By mixing chocolate in a factory and delivering it around the world
Why: To make everyone feel happy.
Many businesses out there create products for delivery but it’s the WHY that defines their differences. In this case we would highlight the words Everyone and Happy as potential key words.
Step 2: Personality quiz
We have come up with a few key questions to help evoke a brands key words and brands personality. These include:
Who is the target audience?
What are the core values of the brand? The ‘why’ the business is trying to sell the what?
How is this brand different from others? What is the USP (Unique selling proposition)?
What are the personality traits of the brand? If the brand was your best friend how would you describe them?
How was the brand created? Does it hold any stories between the owner and the brand?
Does the brand have any tag lines or supporting copy that will sit with the logo?
What is the price point of the products/ services you offer?
Step 3:
From the above questionnaire highlight key words that come up within the answers. You can highlight as many as you can here.
For instance: If the brand was your best friend how would you describe them? She is funny but educated, loyal and very thoughtful.
Step 4: Refine, refine, refine.
Our goal is to have no more than 5 keywords. Sometimes it’s easy to list conflicting traits. For instance it’s impossible to represent a brand as both happy and serious, or luxurious and cheap. The more specific you are on these, the more opportunity you have to connect with users in a deeper way. If you sit on the fence with your traits it will be harder down the line to explain to customers why you are the right fit for the job.
Write down traits that are similar in context and really think about as a brand where do you sit on this scale. Will this trait be divisive, inclusive or polarising? Will that trait attract the people you’re service is aimed to? Or exclude them?
Also don’t be scared to mix it up a bit here. Think of your brand as a complex character from a wonderful film. Maybe they are elegant and expensive but also funny. We have put together the following list below of some key words to help you out.
What next?
These key words are the basis of your brand. Every decision should come back to addressing and reflecting these words. This keeps the brand accountable rather than susceptible to trends and tastes.
For instance if one of your key words is happy are your colours reflective of this? Maybe they are bright and warm like oranges, peaches and yellows.
When working with a client this is our first step, then we can ensure the fonts, colours, imagery and tone is all reflective of the big picture.
Need a hand refining your brand? Get in touch today