Branding your business

Why are some brands better than others?
What makes Apple or Tesla more successful than their competitors?

It all begins with purpose.
Successful brands are clear about what they stand for and organize their entire business around it.

Start with purpose.

I think a great brand purpose is something that is inspiring for everybody, is really true to what your business is all about and it’s also something open enough that it can grow with you in the future.

I think it’s something that needs to inspire people, not just in your company today, but also be long thinking.
So think about the kind of broader social impact you want to have in the future.

Your purpose is your reason for getting out of bed in the morning.
It’s the impact you want to have on the world.

Apple exists to challenge the status quo to think differently.
Tesla exists to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.

So tell us why does your brand exist.
Once you’re clear on what you stand for, think about your brand values.
Values will guide your culture by saying: “this is how we do things around here”.

These should be distinct and actionable.

At Canva, we have six guiding values including: “Be a good human” and “Make complex things
simple”.

Now, it’s your turn.

Why does your brand exist and what values will guide you there?

So. You’ve just come up with the next big thing.
Of course, you want to get it out there as quickly as possible.

But not so fast. Before you start building your brand, you have to know who you’re building it for.
You’ve got to find your tribe.

So I think before you start building your brand, it’s incredibly important to understand who you’re talking to, what they need, what their unmet needs are, what their pain points are. And by doing that you can build a brand that’s really going to be valuable for them.

I think a great brand has so much value for people and by making it perfectly designed for them, you’re going to have so much more impact.

You just can’t please everyone.
If you try to, you end up with a brand that’s watered-down without focus.
So narrow it down. Find your niche and you’ll find your tribe.

A good place to start is demographics, like age, gender and location.
Then narrow it down again. Talk to the right people, not just the easiest, like not just your mom.

Get to know them, understand their problems and desires, what makes them tick.
Share their real-world experiences.

Airbnb’s founders flew from San Fran to New York, to stay in people’s apartments for months, gaining valuable insights about
their customers.

The more focused you are on your tribe, the more they will value your brand.

In return, they’ll choose it over others, pay a premium for it and spread the word.

Think about your best friend what connects you to them.
Are they cheeky and mischievous, or serious and practical.

We tend to be drawn to people who are like us.
The same goes for brands.

Add some personality.

So, I think personality is probably one of the most important things about branding.
It’s the element of the brand that helps people identify with you, it helps them decide whether they like you or whether they don’t like you, whether you’re funny or whether you’re interesting, whether they want to hang out with you and engage with what you’re saying and what you’re selling.

We often talk about personality being the great unsung hero of branding, and the great thing about personality is that it’s free that you can be as different and as interesting as you like.

Think about your brand like it’s a person.
What adjectives would you use to describe it?

Try this, plot where your brand sits on a spectrum between playful and serious, youthful and mature, mass and elite.
Once you’ve warmed up, dive in and explore brand archetypes based on decades of research, by Carl Jung.
These represent our 12 primitive desires and unique personality types.

They were made for humans, but adopted by brands.
Patagonia is an explorer. Nike is a hero. And Canva, you guessed, is a creator.

It’s a crowded world out there. A unique personality will help your brand stand out and be remembered.

By now, you have an inspiring purpose and a unique personality.
You’re off to a great start. Now it’s time to give your baby a name.

You want your name to be meaningful, future-proof and available. All at the same time.
We’ve got a few tips to help.

Give it a name.

It’s very important to think divergently in going directions that aren’t expected.
So if you can get a group of people together, each people, each person takes the brief, goes off on their own, develops long lists and comes back with, you know, they’re number one or number two options for them to discuss.

That actually helps to open up the naming creatively and you’ll discover possibilities and directions that you
probably wouldn’t have thought of on your own, or in a group even.

Let’s explore the three name buckets.

Bucket one: descriptive names.
These describe exactly what you do or who you are – like Whole Foods.

Bucket two: emotive names.
These describe a feeling or an experience –  like Amazon.

Bucket three: invented names.
Here’s where you can make up new weird and wonderful words like Google.

So many options to explore, so grab some post-its and brainstorm names for each bucket.
Once you have a list of possibilities, you can put each one to the test.

Is it simple to say and easy to remember?
Does it fit your purpose and personality?
Does it translate to monkey in Mandarin?
And is it already taken by a competitor?

You want a name that you can own, trademark and include in a web address.

Much like naming your first child, it’ll take some trial and error but enjoy the process.

Let’s take a walk back in time to the ancient Egyptians.
They created hieroglyphics, a system of storytelling that used symbols instead of words.

Modern day logos serve a similar purpose.
They are symbols that tell a greater story for your brand.

Design your logo.

The logo will always be one of the most important parts of your brand.
It clarifies and codifies everything you stand for, everything you want to be and everything you want to communicate.

It’s about connecting with your audience immediately, clearly and confidently.
And I think the danger in creating an identity which is over-complex, is that you can alienate a lot of people.

So my advice would always be to err on the side of clarity and simplicity.
And you can use other parts of your branding experience to communicate other facets of who you are and what you want to say.

A logo is made up of two parts: the symbol and the word mark.

Apple’s logo is a symbol. eBay’s logo is a word mark.
Fedex’s logo is both.  A word mark with a symbol hidden within.

Your logo should tell the story of your brand in the simplest possible way.
In Greek mythology, Nike is the winged goddess of victory. The famous Nike logo is a simplified wing.

It represents motion and speed. The word swoosh is the sound you hear as Michael Jordan speeds towards slam dunk.

When designing your logo, the font shapes and colors you choose will work together to communicate your brand’s promise.

So get sketching. Aim for a solution that is simple, unique and timeless.
If our ancestors could do it, so can you.

Different fonts evoke different emotions.
So when it comes to finding the right font for your brand, you want to make sure it fits your personality.

After all, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it.

Finding the right font.

Finding the right typeface comes back to understanding what you want to communicate, who you are and why you’re communicating in this way.

You can be big and loud and proud and brash, but if you are a minimal mid-century furniture company, that probably won’t feel right for you.

Typography is the opportunity to connect the dots between who you are and how you articulate that out into the world.

So, I think, think of it as another opportunity, like the logo and the, identity and the color system, to express a little bit of your personality, which will come to life through the language, but also through the typeface choice you make.

Typography sends a message to your tribe, about what they can expect from you, so choose a font that reflects your brand’s personality.

If you’re a wedding photographer, you might want a script font, which feels romantic.
If you’re a financial firm, you might want a serif font to convey reliability.

Once you have a logo font, you’ll need a complementary headline and body copy font to use consistently across all of your designs.

Consider how you format your type, too. All caps can feel authoritarian. Sentence case can feel more friendly.

IKEA chose all caps to submit their position as a powerhouse, while Amazon feels more fun and approachable.

Find the right font for your brand and give your words the personality they deserve.

A consistent brand voice will help you connect with your customers and stand out from your competitors.

Think of your brand as a living, breathing, person.
What kind of conversation will you have with them?

That’s the brand voice you want to nail.

Mind your tone.

So, when we’re building tone-of-voice for a brand, we often look to popular figures in culture.

If you think about the sort of qualities that you want your brand to embody, whether it’s warm, whether it’s funny, whether it’s bold, whatever they are, try to find someone who you know, it could be an actor, it could be a politician, it could be anyone who captures those those qualities, and then just go and listen to the way they talk. If they write, go and read the things that they’ve written, look at the terms of phrase that they use, look at the words that they use.

And then, trying to mimic that for your own brand can be a good starting point.

Brand voice is how your personality is expressed through language.
Remember those adjectives you’ve used to describe your personality.
You want these to come across in your voice, too.

Is your brand professional and to the point, or sassy and tongue-in-cheek?

Now, what’s the difference between voice and tone.

Think of it this way.

You have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes depending on the context.

You have one tone, when you’re calling your mum and another when you’re meeting your boss.

My top tip?

Always read what you’ve written aloud to test whether it’s something someone would actually say. Because it’s not just about what you say. It’s how you say it.

When it comes to branding, not all colors are created equal.
If you pay attention, you’ll notice some pretty interesting patterns.

Like, why are so many banks blue?
And why are so many health products green?
What’s going on here?

Connect with color.

Semiotics plays a huge part in color.
You know, we can all name the color of what a digger might be – it’s gonna be yellow.
Because it’s a bright warning color and it comes from nature.

So I think to find exactly what you need and what you want to be, it’s about thinking about what you want to communicate.

Do I want to be trusted?
Do I want to be edgy?
Do I want to be minimal and respected and quiet and actually make people think about who we are?

Your color should come from your motivation and go where you’re trying to take your identity.

Color has a really big impact on your brand.
That’s because different colors carry different associations for all of us.

What feelings do you want your brand to evoke?

Blue conveys a sense of safety and security. Making it the color of choice for finance and insurance.

Red conveys excitement and apparently stimulates hunger, which is why it’s used by so many
fast food brands.

You don’t want to be the same hue as everyone else either.
So try plotting out all of your competitors’ logos on a color wheel and see where they cluster.

Find a spot on a spectrum that’s unique to you and you’ll be well on your way to a vibrant future.