Importance of Branding with Branding Expert Brian Hoff

A great gem for you today; Lucidry managed to catch up with Brian Hoff of the popular branding and graphic design blog – Design Cubicle. We found time to talk about the branding, its importance, techniques, considerations and its importance to business owners. Lots of detail and tips in there – enjoy!

Hi Brian, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do and design cubicle?

Hi! I am a graphic designer from Philadelphia focusing on brand identity and web design; I speak, write and teach at a local college on various design-related topics. I’m also the writer of the blog, The Design Cubicle, which aims to help and inspire other designers, as well as those looking to hire design services.

Branding… a terrifying topic to those not from a design or marketing background; however for those looking to launch a business, product or service it is something they must look at.

Is branding just the design of a logo? Or is there more to it…

Logo design and branding are two completely different elements that tie in together. A logo is the identifying mark for the brand, while a brand is what the emotional response your company receives. The emotion behind what someone feels, sees, tastes, etc when they come across your brand. A memorable logo is just the beginning—yet an extremely important beginning —that sets the overall tone for your new or existing brand.

A memorable logo is just the beginning—yet an extremely important beginning —that sets the overall tone for your new or existing brand.Brian Hoff

I have had the unfortunate experience of meeting individuals who have embarked upon branding themselves with basic tools, clipart – you name it. Often despite my best attempts, points to convince them of how the process requires more than just 30minutes in Microsoft Publisher is not good enough – my words fall on deaf ears! As a professional, what are your key reasons for imploring people to take the time to hire someone such as yourself for their branding?

Actually, one of the main reasons for starting The Design Cubicle was to help educate not only designers, but clients as well. Helping others see the true value of good design. From a non-designers perspective: good, well thought-out, and executed design is subliminal. As a designer we look at design and appreciate it for what it’s worth — things such as its aesthetic properties , level of execution and what is is speaking. Those not-so-interested tend to overlook such an appreciation, even though subliminally they are remembering and interacting with it.

For example, imagine if the Mercedes logo was developed using clipart. For one, they would look like other companies out there, and two they would look cheap, thus devaluing their great product(s).

Explaining the concepts behind branding can often lead some to become in my opinion rather over the top and philosophical about the whole affair. As core principles – what do you feel are the key things a brand must do?

A brand identity must be unique, memorable and simple in form. It does not need to say exactly what the company does. If so, Apple would sell food produce and John Deere would be a group of hunters based on the marks of their logos.

Could you give us an insight into one of your favourite brands, and importantly why you have taken a liking to it…?

I’d hate to use the obvious here, Apple, but I’ve worked with the company for almost 4 years and saw first hand how they solidified their brand with their incredible retail environments.

They create hype and excitement around product launches, their buyers are their best salesmen, their actual salesmen go through intense trainer and are hand selected, the retail stores are places to buy, learn (through their One-to-One program) and solve problems (the Genius bar).

What better interaction is that? than one place to do it all. Memorable and pleasurable interaction creates unique and long-lasting brands.

Business that get feedback are the ones that use their brands effectively.Brian Hoff

When marketing themselves – how should businesses make sure they are using their brands effectively?

Feedback is the best way to know if your brand is successful. The reason why we’ve been hearing—increasingly more anyways—the terms “branding” and “personal branding” thrown around lately is because we live in a day and age, with tools like Twitter and Facebook, that make it easy to monitor what people are saying and how they are interacting and using our services and products.

Business that get feedback are the ones that use their brands effectively. Knowing what you excel and fail at will build a stronger, long-lasting brand.

Often business / individuals get attached to their brand, when a rebrand may be needed. If teams are looking to change and rebrand themselves, what considerations do you think they need to be aware of and when would you recommend a business to rebrand?

If you are a larger, more recognised brand at the time of a rebrand it can be quite dangerous. If a large audience is already familiar with the look/feel/remembrance of your product you can be at risk at loosing them because of brand recognition.

Take Tropicana for instance. In short, they rebranded their packaging of orange juice not too long ago. The outcome was that it looked like a generic, store-brand orange juice as people passed by in grocery stores. Not only did it decrease sales, but it also depreciated their strong brand presence because they went from a premium Orange Juice to a more generic Orange Juice based solely on appearance. Smart enough they reverted back to the original.

When rebranding you have to be smart and really analyse the areas that need to be rebranded. Sometimes even a slight change to a logos typeface to give it a more modern look is all your brand needs. Ask questions and get feedback. Your goal as a designer is to solve a problem, but you cannot do that without first having the details and knowing what the problem is. Ask as many questions as possible so you can set the overall tone and feel for the brand and its identity.

Your goal as a designer is to solve a problemBrian Hoff

If you had one or two tips or must-dos for those embarking on a branding project, what would they be?

Ask questions and get feedback. Your goal as a designer is to solve a problem, but you cannot do that without first having the details and knowing what the problem is. Ask as many questions as possible so you can set the overall tone and feel for the brand and its identity.

Thanks for taking the time to have a talk about branding today. For all those who now are inspired to go onto their branding projects, where can people find you online and get in touch with yourself?

The Design Cubicle — Graphic design and business blog

BrianHoff.net — my portfolio and personal blog

Twitter - @behoff

Facebook – facebook.com/TDCbehoff