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Tutorial Creating a brand identity

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Creating a
brand identity

So, youve formed a new company and need

an identity. Deep Creative shows you how to
create one from concept to final artwork
hen starting any company, your brand is of vital importance. Think of the
worlds leading brands such as Nike or Apple you dont even have to
see any words with the logo to know what the company is. While you
may be way off achieving this kind of global status, you should still
envisage a logo that is recognisable, simple and reects your company values. In this
tutorial, Deep Creative shows you how to create an exciting original corporate identity,
basing the nal logo on a well-informed, well-scrutinised process of experimentation
and consultation.
The following tutorial will also be useful if youre designing a logo for a client. You
must, for instance, know your clients needs, and the market they are competing in.
You must also know your target demographic.
Its important to make sure the branding visually reects the brand values it
represents stick to these values and excite the target demographic with your mark.
Finally, you must make your brand look the same everywhere in every size on every
format. Its a tricky job, but after this tutorial, youll be heading in the right direction.

Expertise provided by Dominic James of Deep Creative. Deep Creative has recently
celebrated its seventh anniversary and continues to provide brand solutions for companies
all over the world. Contact Dom on [e] [email protected] or [w] www.deep.co.uk.

Tutorial Creating a brand identity

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Tutorial Creating a brand identity

Part 1: Briefing and inspiration

The first step in logo design is about coming up with ideas

The first thing to do is think about what you

want out of your logo. You must be confident
that you understand whats required. Make clear
notes, ask lots of questions and type them up to
present to your creative team (if you have one)
while its all fresh in your mind.

Heres our list of must-haves: key words, brand

values, brand history and knowledge, brand
goals, target market demographic, social responsibility
implications, longevity of brand image (that is, is
this logo to last more, or less, than five years?).

Do your research. Although you have tight

deadlines, allocating quality time for a
well-informed and broad range of research is
fundamental to the success of the new brand in its
marketplace. Its important to know this market
visually, to be able to approach the project tactfully.

The internet is the most convenient and

obvious method of research now. Visit
competitors websites and use Google to search any
subject around your brand. Find strong and
sometimes unusual links that can equip you with
powerful, unique tools when it comes to generating
new ideas.

Collate brochures, folders, industry magazines;

visit exhibitions, shops; take pictures of your
target consumers to understand their values, habits
and level of communication. Create a profile that
will help design the right feel for the brand.

Take notes and sketch ideas, word plays,

shapes, colours any visual ideas that the
research initially triggers. Collate textures, colours,
objects, and any other visuals that could be shared
with peers, seniors and the client. These are the
beginnings of your brand profile.

Gather all of the material together for review.

Create mood boards, stick your ideas up on the
walls, constantly analysing new concepts. This stage
should be active in order to generate creative, original
successful solutions.

Review with your team. You should now have

ideas of colours, textures, themes and word
plays which start to create a feel. How appropriate
to the brand is that feel? Get early feedback from
others. Listen and take action on their instincts.
Collate and concentrate on the strongest ideas.

Experiment with some of the ideas youve had.

Explore new methods anything that creates
unpredictable results. Look for inspiration everywhere
and anywhere.

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Spend time looking through typefaces, logo

fonts and letterforms which may fulfil your
requirements. There are many fonts for many
purposes. Try websites, books and font utilities to
source these.

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Certain typographic elements, shapes, images,

patterns and colours will start to work. Building
ideas in Illustrator with the Pen tools will help refine
and make your marks more physically editable.

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Combining these simple ideas with the mood

boards, the client can get a feel for the
directions that you have created for them. There
may be more than ten ideas at this stage that are all
varied, experimental and sophisticated.

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Part 2: Generating marks

Start to play around with logo ideas in Illustrator
Perfect curves
Its essential to check any curves
youve used are smooth. Turn your
view to outline in Illustrator.
Select the Pen tool (P), press the
Ctrl/Cmnd key and click on the
point you want to adjust. Change
your Pen tool to the Convert
Anchor Point tool by holding
down the Alt key and dragging
out the handles. This gives you a
smooth curve with handles that
are of an even length.

Begin to generate logos from the feedback.

You should now know the direction you need
to go in to satisfy your needs and achieve creative
results. Take these ideas further. Start to create
black logos in Illustrator. Keep them to a userfriendly size.

In Illustrator, create outlines of any fonts that

youre using, and begin to make this a bespoke
typographic mark using the Pen tools. Tailor the
fonts weight and curves so that a balanced
individual strong mark is formed.

Use the rulers, guides and grid to create

accurate curves and balanced spacing. Also
use the Transform tool to work on the mark using
accurate dimensions.

Remain active. Be aggressive with the results.

Duplicate ideas, make them bolder/finer, apply
curves and extend ascenders. There are always ways
to change your mark, but use your instinct to leave
it when it reaches its strongest form (this may even
be the first edition).

Each logo should be comparable by the same

size and colour. They can then be judged on
there own strengths of form as a logo: spacing,
weight, tactfulness. The overall feel and originality
can be quickly assessed this way by your team
members and yourself.

Constantly print out these ideas, because this is

the best way to assess their physical success.
Look at them from a distance, stick them on the
wall, show them to people this logo has a purpose
which it should fulfil.

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Tutorial Creating a brand identity

Brand consistency
Maintaining brand consistency is
fundamental for the strength and
effectiveness of the brand. You
have given a client a unique
brand identity a strict set of
corporate guidelines that are
almost as important as the mark
itself. Use Illustrator to measure
out grids that show acceptable
spatial relationships and use of
the logo. Create PDF documents
from this that can be sent to
every user of the logo via email.

Group feedback enables you to critically

assess what you have created, and how its
communicating. Stick all the logos up on the wall
for everyone to see. Which ones stands out to the
eye? Which is most legible? Which is most exciting?
Memorable, individual, appropriate? Or is it back to
the drawing board?

For the three most successful marks, take these

on a stage further. They work, but how can
they represent a brand that is stronger/more
friendly/more professional?

Colour is as important as the mark in many

ways. Colour alone can represent a brand if
used in an original context. You should find this is
something that should be a natural progression
whatever inspired and dictated the form should also
inspire the colour.

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3

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Now collate these marks in Illustrator for a

printed presentation. Use a colour version, a
large version and the standard size in black (at
which it has been designed). Colours should be
considered too. Because this is still about form, you
may find colours that work in one mark that can
later be applied to other marks.

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Ideally, you should show these ideas to others

in your field and/or company. This is
something you and they will look at everyday,
possibly for years to come. How will they feel about
this in the morning? How will they perceive these
marks in their work surroundings?

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Think about how you can optomise colour

use. How do you now see the logo against
your competitors? Does it need to be bolder or
more refined? These are two questions you may
find relevant.

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Part 3: Robust logo

Perfect your logo and prepare it for use on different formats

Scrutinise your artwork. Thoroughly check any

curves and shapes that are used. There should
be no stray points, uneven edges or imperfect
curves. Use the preview (outline) in Illustrator to
inspect the edges in detail. This will also show up
any stray vectors.

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Any line strokes that youve used should be

converted to outlines so that this mark is
scalable. Any fonts should also be outlined so that
this logo can be universally exported.

Use Illustrator to combine shapes using the

Compound Paths command or the Pathfinder
tool, which enables you to merge paths and have
full control of one single area.

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Typographic
awareness
If youve discovered an intriguing
font in your research and would
like to nd out what it is to
reincarnate it for your branding,
you can scan it and fax/email it
to [w] www.fontshop.com. These
guys will search their enormous
databases and source it for you.
Finding the perfect typographic
solution is very important.

Print the logo as big as possible in black.

Your eye will easily pick up any weaknesses or
imperfections with this proofing technique.

Show this final version to anyone who is

fresh to this mark. Do they see any problems
that you cant?

Now create final colour versions. Create

CMYK, Pantone and web versions for its
many different uses.

It may be necessary to create a small version

(especially if fine strokes are used) which is as
legible as the designed format. A large version may
also be necessary. But make sure these are used to
make the logo look the same, because its very
important to retain a high level of consistency with
successful branding.

You might need a version thats just the

emblem and one thats just the typographical
element, for use on different formats.

Begin creating a corporate guide, with all of the

brands values incorporated. Strict guidelines
for colour and sizes should be set out here to retain
brand consistency.

Consider how much space the logo needs

around it to breathe. Set a distance around the
mark to maintain its identity so users cant
penetrate this space.

How should this logo be used on black? On

white? How is it used on imagery? Can it
be used over imagery? Ensure you have every
situation covered.

After all your hard work, theres only one

thing left to do: assess the finished identity
as successful! ca p

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