Branding Series - Establishing Brand Identity

What will make your brand memorable? Brand Identity. In this blog, I will go over why developing brand identity is important and the different elements to creating a memorable brand identity.

You might only see a character in a film but,  behind the scenes this character’s hair color, speech patterns, wardrobe, etc is chosen specifically to make you feel a certain way about a character as well as leave you with a specific memory.  In some movies, there is often a villain and a hero, the stylistic choices and tone is chosen to make it very clear to you who is who.  Imagine your brand as a character in a film and now YOU get to develop the essence. Some questions that start to come in mind are: What feeling do I want my Brand to leave? Do I want to design my brand off of my personality or a made up character/idea? What do I want my brand to stand for? What colors, fonts, and images would I use to express my brand? What do I want my brand to stand for? Is there anything similar to my brand that people would be confused by? 

So…what is the vibe? Energy? Essence of a brand? Well you can think of it this way, think of your brand as a perfume that lingers in your head with a memory. Some fragrances are bright, cirtusy, and floral and some are heavy, woody and spicy. The brand energy can be inspired by a personal brand or a product type, niche, cultural movement, mission, etc. There are many things that can spark developing your brand’s personality. If you are lost, try to find brands that are similar to what you want to create and analyze why you like them. From there you can take certain elements into you brand. 

Personal Brand or Niche Brand? Sometimes designers like to create their own brand based on their own personality. If your brand essence is you, you will want to determine what things you like and how your customer will relate to those elements as well as how to incorporate the elements into your brand and products. For example, if you are a travel blogger your audience likely enjoys travel as well.  You will likely want to develop a line that is related to travel, and items needed for travel. Some items might be a passport holder and travel wallet. Personal brands can be very successful if you have an audience built in already who look to you for advice, information, style, etc. However, there are some downsides to having a personal brand. Having a personal brand could possibly mean the inability to sell your brand in the future. For example, Kylie Cosmetics could never be fully sold to another company because Kylie is such a part of the branding of the business, without her involvement there would be lack of audience. 

This is where a niche brand identity comes in, a niche brand is centered around a mission or aesthetic rather than only you personally. You can of course navigate your audience to your brand but a niche brand is also capable of standing on its own. The benefit of this is if you decide down the line you would like to sell the brand. You can sell the brand because you are not the face and epicenter with the brand when it comes to a niche brand. 

Both a personal brand and niche brand do need a mission, vision, or aesthetic to make the brand memorable.  What can help you determine that? Start to think about the reasons why you would want to purchase the products you want to sell. Is it over a common interest in travel, a mission of eco-friendliness, a value of elegance and natural fabrics, etc.? There should be a couple of reasons why you would want to purchase pieces from your own brand. Establishing this will give your brand a mission and key pillars to stand on. 

Once you've established the foundation of your identity, it is time to add accessories, if you will. Deciding on a name, color scheme, fonts, logo, and brand imagery, is a way for you to convey the brand's essence and message. For example, a brand Very popular in the 2000s, Juicy Couture used Cloister Black Std Regular, Old English and Monotype Old English Text typefaces. They also used a crown, and Scottish dogs in their logo, hang tags, and packaging. The brand was known for having a youthful, fun spirit by incorporating bright colors into the design. They were known for their signature J zipper pulls, velour tracksuits, handbags and perfume. Their target market ranged from 12-30. Had Juicy Couture chosen a different font, logo, color scheme, and essence, the brand would not look anything like what we know it as today. 

While these choices might seem simple, it is worth taking the time to think about where you truly want your brand to go and how do you convey that to your customer.

Not sure how to go about establishing your Brand Identity? The V.Mora team can help you develop a voice and message through our Brand Identity Package. For inquiries please contact: vmorainquiry@vmora.com

Do you know  your brand identity, not sure how to produce? V.Mora can help you take your brand voice and turn it into products. We will help each step of the way to design, develop patterns, and connect with the right vendors for your project through our Production Development and Management service. Please contact us if you are in need of the Production Development and Management Services below:

• Sourcing 

• Technical sketches 

• Pattern Making

• Prototype making 

• Sample Making

• Fittings 

• Digitizing and Grading

• Marker Making

• Manufacturing

Please contact us at: vmorainquiry@vmora.com