Having worked with a lot of new designers lately, we felt there is a need to write about few basic of identity development. This post is meant specifically for those who are starting a career in brand design. At HUT, we make it a point before any project to start with a series of questions. We feel this is the best way to deal with communication problems. So let’s begin.

Who is this brand?

A logo, basically, is the signature of a company. It is something that depicts the personality of the brand. So the first question to ask yourself is “who” is this brand? The answer to this can be got by talking to the brand owner. Understand their story as to why this company was started. Understand their values. Understand what sort of people work there. Once you get this information, write down the key qualities on a piece of paper. For instance, if it is an NGO for women’s welfare, You may write “Feminine”, “Empowerment” etc. If it is a Sports drink, you could write something in the lines of “Power”, “Energy”, “competitive” etc.

Who is the competition?

During our interaction with freshers, we found that most of them knew that it was important to benchmark and also to check out the logos of other competitors. But the problem lies in building something that is different from the competition and something that is true to the brand. Getting inspiration from existing logos is good, but it is important to move away from the inspiration and never try to replicate it.

Who is the target?

Most brand designers focus on the brand and the competition. The attempt is always to create something that sets us apart from our competition. But there is a third dimension. The Audience. We usually focus on the audience when it comes to marketing activities. But what about when we build our identity. Understanding who our audience is and what kind of brands they use will give us a better picture of what sort of logo to create. Let’s say, for instance, we are building a logo for a luxury hotel. By understanding what other luxury brands our target group prefers, we can develop a more acceptable logo.

These three questions will give you a much better understanding of how to go about building the logo. These questions will definitely lead to more questions. But always know when to stop. Too much information, in some cases, will prevent you from seeing the solution clearly.