Common mistakes in branding today

Nor is there manual or widely accepted process to get there. And in our world of constant change and increasing expediency, it’s not uncommon to skip a few steps. A solid brand can and should grow over time, especially in consideration of the evolving landscape around us. However a few key tools will set your organization up for long term success and prevent your team from stumbling off the starting block.

Mistake #1. Not considering accessibility

I cannot tell you how many brand guidelines I have received from clients at the start of a website project, only to have to start a brand project. At a minimum, ensure your agency provides color additions or variants that allow small and large text to be legible on screen across different backgrounds. Also consider contrast requirements, iconography direction and language choices that consider different audience types.

Mistake #2. Shortchanging the strategy

We need to get to market, quickly. However, you might get there and miss your audience anyway, sailing away on a better defined and more trustworthy ship. Spend time with your brand development partner up front reviewing your business strategy and discuss how that will translate into your future brand. What do your key audiences care about? What can your business stand for that no one else can? Create a clear, concise brand platform that all future creative work will be based upon and vetted against to ensure your purpose does not get lost.

Mistake #3. Focusing too much on the logo

Please don’t tell the other designers, but the logo is not your most important asset. Do not spend so much time on this item that you do not spend enough time assessing and expanding the broader brand system. For some, the logo will be a small 100 pixel reminder, and that is it. The rest of the brand system comprises the majority of the experience your audiences will have. The word choice, tone, images, icons, diagrams, colors, animations and so on. Spend time creating a rich system that sets your organization apart and authentically expresses what your brand stands for.

Mistake #4. Not road testing

Encourage your brand partner to create some sample applications that demonstrate how a potential brand expression might appear in the real world. Taking the time to mock up a basic digital ad or van wrap is a simple way to assess if a system is extensive enough or spot any missing elements. This will also provide much needed compositional direction for future composers of your brand.

A brand project does not need to be a long, arduous process. Just confirm that your toolkit covers the essentials with enough detail that your future brand application work does not uncover too many additional questions that might slowly but surely diminish the original intent of your brand.