Designing Brand Identity

Basics Part 1 presents the fundamental concepts needed to kick-start the branding process and creates a shared vocabulary for the entire team. Brand Basics 2 Brand 4 Branding 6 Brand identity 8 Brand strategy 10 Why invest 12 Stakeholders 14 Organizational culture 16 Brand experience 18 Brand architecture 20 Visual identity 22 Messaging and voice 24 Brand governance Brand ideals 26 Overview 28 Vision 30 Meaning 32 Authenticity 34 Coherence 36 Flexibility 38 Commitment 40 Value 42 Differentiation 44 Longevity Brand Elements 46 Names 48 Brandmarks 50 Wordmarks 52 Letterform marks 54 Pictorial marks 56 Abstract marks 58 Emblems 60 Dynamic marks 62 Taglines 64 Characters Brand dynamics 66 Overview 68 Social justice 70 Sustainability 72 Global and local 74 Artificial intelligence 76 Big data analytics 78 Social media 80 Digital interfaces 82 Mobile apps 84 Evidence-based marketing 86 Private labeling 88 Brand licensing 90 Certification 92 Crisis communications 94 Personal branding Before and after 96 Overview 98 Brandmark redesign 102 Packaging redesign 104 Renaming Process Part 2 presents a universal process regardless of the project's scope and nature. This section answers the question "Why does it take so long?" Process basics 108 Overview 110 Managing the process 112 Brand initiatives 114 Measuring success 116 Collaboration 118 Decision making 120 Intellectual property 122 Design management Phase 1 Conducting research 124 Overview 126 Defining the problem 128 Market research 130 Usability testing 132 Marketing audit 134 Competitive audit 136 Verbal audit 138 Findings report Phase 2 Clarifying strategy 140 Overview 142 Narrowing the focus 144 Positioning 146 Brand brief 148 Naming Phase 3 Designing identity 150 Overview 152 Identity system design 154 Look and feel 156 Color 158 Typography 160 Iconography 162 Sound 164 Other senses 166 Trial applications 168 Presentation Phase 4 Creating touchpoints 170 Overview 172 Content strategy 174 Website 176 Collateral 178

Alina Wheeler is a branding consultant who engages enterprises in a dynamic process to build their brands and embrace best practices. Wheeler inspires the whole branding team to seize every opportunity to design compelling customer experiences at every touchpoint. Her best-selling book, Designing Brand Identity, published in 11 languages, was the first book to deconstruct the branding process into a universal, five-phase methodology. She is a past Board member of AIGA and a member of the advisory council for The Dictionary of Brand. She speaks frequently to executives, practitioners, and students around the world. She is also the co-author of Brand Atlas: Branding Intelligence Made Visible.

Rob Meyerson is principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy and identity firm. His specialties include naming, brand strategy, brand architecture, and messaging, and past clients include Adobe, John Deere, Disney, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Prior to Heirloom, Rob's previous roles included head of brand architecture and naming at HP, director of verbal identity at Interbrand in San Francisco, and director of strategy at FutureBrand, Southeast Asia. Rob is the author of Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service and has published articles about brand strategy and naming in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, The Guardian, TechCrunch, and Entrepreneur.