Creating powerful global brands
It’s fascinating to see, that the most inspirational and ground breaking brands in the world are not created by strategists, moreover, strategists help the creative see the target, however it is the magic ingredient when a designer manages to create something special. Of course without a focused brand strategy what could look like good design can miss the target completely, so in reality the two work hand in hand, the strategy building the foundations and then knowledge, then taken on by the design team to create a brand that is exceptional in every way.
Something we always do is revert back to the strategy while working through the brand creation phase, this always us to keep double checking that we are sticking with the opportunity that the strategy has identified, however it also allows us to revisit the strategy to make sure we haven’t missed something that has been identified during the creative exploration phase.
Typically, we start out looking at the potential positionings that the strategy has identified, looking at colour, typography, visual approaches, as well as tone of voice, animation and stretch. When we say stretch we are looking at ways that the brand can go further than just a logo, but how it can perform in other ways. Take our own brand, the name Garden congers up lots of metaphors for growth, change, organic, places of enjoyment etc, and thinking about brands this way from the beginning allows you to feel if a brand can travel further than a traditional identity.
Janes
Garden rebrand Janes the global defence intelligence agency. Starting with brand audit and research, we defined a clear path through a brand strategy that saw Janes change their direction from being known as a publisher of military magazines and yearbooks, to a forward thinking intelligence agency specialising in delivering relevant, unbiased defence data.....
