What is the value of branding for an ecommerce business? Who cares about your logo or your color palette? Does it change the way your product tastes? How it fits? What it does? Clearly not.
But branding does matter. And it matters a lot. Because one of the hardest things about selling online is literally that it’s online. People can’t touch it, they can’t taste it, they can’t try out whatever you’re selling. And good branding helps to communicate your professionalism and your commitment to quality. Good branding builds emotional connections and—even to the most feelings-averse among us—we know that emotional connections are key to building customer relationships.
A brand is more than a logo—a brand is everything your customers and potential customers see or feel or hear that gives them information about your company. A brand is a vibe. For that reason, building a brand, whether it’s through visual identity like logos or patterns, or through honing your brand voice to an edge sharper than a Cutco infomercial, matters.
We have helped dozens of businesses develop or expand their brands, and spoiler alert: it isn’t just spitting out a kickass logo and saying “boom, done!”
Here’s how we work.
Branding projects typically run around 12 weeks. They start with a work session designed to articulate a core brand message, tone, and customer profile. During this session we ask a lot of questions (like, a whole lot) about who you want to be, how you want customers to perceive you, what sets you apart, your value proposition. This part is all about words and language–we don’t even talk about the visuals until this is all laid out.
Once we have that foundational positioning (aka, all the words and language), we can begin thinking about the ways all of that informs and influences your visual identity. We start with moodboards to get the (forgive us) vibes just right and then go from there: from moodboard to logo, from logo to color, from color to type, and finally from type to pattern. In the process, layer by layer, we construct what we like to call dynamic brand systems that have depth.
Why a system? Great question! The final result of a system is that it accounts for every unknown future need by providing our clients with design components that can be used together to make anything. Putting out a new line and need hangtags? Oh, you bet. How about a sandwich board? Got you covered. The point is, while design will never be done as long as you keep growing, with the right set of blocks you can build anything.
Looking for a quick and dirty logo? Look again, pal. This is the equivalent of one of those doofy restaurants where the chefs place chives with chopsticks to make them just so. (Ok—not quite so precious, but you get the idea.)
If you want branding that not only looks snazzy but also supports your growth and adapts to your needs, we’re your team. Let's build a brand that not only stands out but stands the test of time.
