What is a brand? And how does that help you?

What exactly do you do for a living? Everyone has heard this question at some point. If the answer is architect, barista, chef or something similar, everyone can of course imagine something, at least roughly. If I then answer with "designer", the whole thing looks a bit different. Fashion? Logos? Web design? My answer is usually "I design holistic brand experiences" and I can see directly from the look on the other person's face that it needs a bit more explanation. Design is still understandable. But brand? Brand design? Branding? That can quickly become confusing if you don't come from the industry yourself. So what exactly is a brand?

The easiest place to start is with what a brand is not. So what is a "brand" not about? A brand is not your logo. A brand is also not your product. A brand is also not your company. Now it's getting complicated? A brand is much more abstract. A brand is more of a feeling you evoke in your customers. It's what your customers say about you when you're not in the room. Your brand is what your customers associate with you. The emotions that you and your company trigger in them.

Now that we've clarified the term, we can move on to defining this feeling. What exactly do you want to trigger in your customers? What do you want them to think of when they interact with you or your company? And how exactly do we get them to have those associations with your company that you want to express?

The short answer: through your appearance. Your appearance as a person and as a company. What clothes does your company wear? How does it communicate? Who are you friends with? How does it behave in certain situations? Sure, this all seems very abstract now. But if you think about it a little deeper, you might realize how many similarities there are to other topics. Let's take a look at your design - your company's clothing.

What does your logo look like? What typeface do you communicate in? What colors are you using? How do your business cards, stationery and packaging feel? For example, what is the texture of the paper? Is it rough or smooth? What experience does your customer have when they go to your website or see your posts on social media? All of this influences the emotions you want to evoke in your customers.

We have established a process that supports you in all these steps. To build your authentic, emotional and lovable brand together with you.

In the first step, we take a closer look at your company's strategy. We research your competition, your target group and customers and define which positioning you want to take in the market. We look at your corporate values, your vision and mission, and your products and services. Based on a workshop and brand questionnaire, we develop a holistic concept that helps you to better understand your company, to convey the right message to your customers and that serves as the basis for your authentic design, i.e. the clothing of your company.

In the next step, we develop your corporate design. The basis for your new visual identity is the previously developed strategy. We develop a consistent corporate design system, i.e. design your logo, the word and figurative mark, your typographic world, the color and material concept, your visual language and define rules and layout principles. These help you to play out your design consistently across all touchpoints, so that the right emotions are aroused at every touchpoint of your customers with your company. The corporate design system is the foundation and forms the framework of your new visual identity.

Once the corporate design is in place, we take care of designing your new brand experience. Holistically and consistently across all touch points. Depending on your needs, this may include high-quality business cards, your new menus, packaging design, wine labels, refined stationery or your new website. Now it's on to creating the content, like photography and copy. And of course the printing of your print materials.