What’s in a brand?

At FORGE, our approach to branding involves several steps, but on a high level it involves gathering as much information and research as possible about a company (mission, core values, competitors, industry, etc.), and crafting a way to communicate the core message successfully. Sounds simple right? But I’m surprised sometimes about how flippantly brands are created. I’m certainly guilty of this in the past, but often it seems the goal of a branding effort (from a designer’s perspective) is to make something that works visually and not enough thought is put into how the brand will be received by the consumer. Because really, that’s what a brand is ? as we say on the FORGE website, “It is a person?s perception of a product, service, company, organization or experience.” On occasion we communicate to our clients that the goal of working with us shouldn’t be to create a brandmark or website that they like, rather it should focus on their clients or consumer ? how will they receive it? If our client dislikes the color orange, but there is a strong case that it will positively impact the audience they are trying to reach, we’ll make a case for it.

We explain to our clients that brand’s communication components involve a brandmark (or logo) as the foundation, and a series of touchpoints. A touchpoint is any way that a potential consumer could interact with the brand, whether it be a business card, website, signage or brochure. We tend to take a holistic view when we discuss a project with a client. For example, if a client asks us to build them a new website and the current brandmark does not effectively communicate the desired message, a new website is not going to solve this problem and in most cases is a waste of resources. However, if a client has a beautifully crafted brandmark and successful touchpoints, but the product or service they offer is poor, the brand will still suffer. Our strength is seeing the bigger picture, developing a plan and delivering exceptional execution of the plan.

At FORGE, we strive to work with companies that offer exceptional products and services, because there are no limits to how the work we do can help to advance the brand.