March 01, 2005
Logo : Branding :: Face : Personality
Okay, it's time for another tantrum. Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe I just got tired of reading the two-millionth site from a designer claiming to do branding... On second thought, it was the latter that caused me to start fuming. And the really sad thing is that I have a great deal of respect for this designer-in the craft of design. I don't think he really knows much about branding. Yet, there it is. Right at the end of his new company's name, "and branding.""And branding"? Excuse me? First and foremost, don't tack "and branding " on to the end of your company name as some amorphous value-add bit of conceit. Branding is the big "B." Not an also ran. And more importantly, don't tack it to the end of your name, because, in all honesty, I see a great deal of good design in your portfolio, but I see absolutely no examples of branding.
It's strange, he said to himself. I often wonder why more and more designers are brand experts, but fewer and fewer brand experts claim to be capable of design. In fact, if designers are, by nature, brand experts, what's the need for someone who focuses on branding? I, who thanks to the aforementioned hubris like to think I am always understanding more and more about branding, do not tack "and design" on the back of, well, me.
Now, I understand that in the early days of branding, it was exactly that: a rancher's "logo" burned into cattle's flesh. But, it's changed a bit since then. I rarely, if ever, heat a piece of metal and brutally scar my target market. Rarely.
Which brings me to the topic of today's rant. (I know, finally hunh?) "Logos," and by logos I'm using the common vernacular to encompass logotypes, trademarks, symbols, and such, and identity systems are only one portion of the branding concern. Much, in the same way, as your face conveys only conveys a small segment of something about your personality.
You don't rely on just your face to convey who you are as a person, nor should you. Anymore than you should expect a logo or identity system to convey everything about your brand. Your brand, or your company personality, is conveyed through logos, identity systems, voice, copy, positioning, vision, customer, product, public relations, Web usability, actions, interactions, and so on, and so on, yadda yadda yadda. I guess what I'm saying is that your brand permeates everything your business does. Much in the way your personality permeates everything you do.
Now, if you've got a big tattoo on your face, I'm going to know something about your personality, but not everything. You could be the nicest tattoo-face person in the world. You could be nicer than my grandma (which wouldn't be hard). But see, I wouldn't know your personality. I would only know what I thought about your personality based on the assumptions I would make about the tattoo on your face. I would also have to assess your age, how you held yourself, how you dressed, how you behaved, what kind of language you used, what kind of people surrounded you. And so on and so on. Long story short, a good identity and logo help, but they're not branding.
And that little analogy also highlights the second part of my bile-belching here: Brand isn't something you create; it is something the end-user creates. You are simply trying to influence it. And if you think someone creating a logo is going to "brand" a company, you've got more hubris packed into your head than I do. I mean, seriously.
Take for instance, Nike (or Adidas or Puma or Pony or whatever). Set aside all of your emotional reactions and pre-conceived notions of Nike for a second. You have no visceral reaction to Nike. At all. Okay? Ready? A swoosh. What is that? What emotion does that evoke? What personality does that convey? Exactly. You get my point. Branding is not symbology. It's that visceral reaction I asked you to forget.
Okay, that's enough. I'm just talking in circles now. But I hope I got you thinking. And either seriously questioning or running screaming from any designer who claims to be a branding expert. Designers can help you down your path of branding, but by and large they can't do "branding" for you.
Suffice it to say, I think the whole "designer as brand expert" thing set me off this time, because I feel like this guy should know better. I think it's because I respect his design. Never met him. But I had a deep respect for his chops. Now, that's been sullied. Know what that is? That negative response? It's branding. It's a negative effect, but it's branding nonetheless. He lost credibility in my book. I formed an opinion based on the company name he chose.
Maybe he does know something about branding, after all. And maybe he's trying to eliminate me because I'm not his target market. I would be a pain in the butt client. Savvy.
Do I even know what I'm talking about? Sometimes, I wonder. Let me know. And please, return.
Logo : Branding :: Face : Personality
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