As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. For brands, that first impression often comes when the audience initially sees its logo. Without a strong visual brand representation, any following movement toward branding success can be doomed to be an uphill climb. So to help nail down a successful first impression, here are 7 tips to ensuring that your logo lives up to its place as the crown jewel of your brand’s image.
Continue ReadingLong Term vs. Short Term Benefits of Rebranding
If the current visual brand is holding a company back from reaching its full potential, introducing a new direction (and absorbing the initial financial cost that comes with it) may be well worth it. Regardless of the brand, consistency across the board is a vital component. Without it, much like the current state of highway signs, you may find yourself neither here nor there.
Continue ReadingCan New Visual Branding Strategies Make McDonald’s a “Modern, Progressive Burger Company”?
“Modern” and “progressive” may not be the first words you would associate with fast food titan McDonald’s, but company leadership is working to change that. Enter the latest packaging revamp, which will roll out during the course of 2016 and is intended to work hand-in-hand with restaurant design, digital marketing and other brand conduits to establish McDonald’s as “a modern, progressive burger company.”
Continue ReadingLogo Design and Emotion – Know What Colors Say About Your Brand
The emotional impacts of various colors drive home the point that visual branding strategies begin with looking back – how identifying who the brand is, what they represent, and/or what they want to become is the first step in determining a successful color component the brand.
Continue ReadingWhy Your Brand Needs a Versatile Logo
When working on a brand strategy to develop a new brand or refresh an old one is to create the crucial visual branding element – the logo. A brand’s logo is often its calling card, the first impression-maker with an audience and the centerpiece of its visual identity. Because of this, visual branding strategies have shifted to a place where logos must be adaptable to media and the placements to which it will live.
Continue ReadingAW Employee Spotlight: Where Do You Find Your Inspiration?
In this edition of the AW Spotlight, we wanted to get the insights of four of our amazing team members from our visual branding and verbal branding teams, finding out what gets their creative juices flowing, and asked them their thoughts on the question: Where do you find inspiration when starting your creative process?
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The Personalization of Branding
With the rise of our always-connected, social media-driven culture, consumers are choosing brands not just because of their prices or advertisements, but because those brands contain an aspect of their brand to which the consumer can connect – everything from a familiar logo or name to an emotional tie-in or, as is the case in this situation, the ability to “social media-ize” their purchase.
Continue ReadingKeep It Simple: Timeless Advice for Great Logo Design
Trusted. Reliable. Quality. Attributes that every company in the world would like to have consumers ascribe to their products and services. Or better yet, attributes that could be directly communicated to consumers via the company’s logo. But is it actually possible for a logo to convince the target audience of those things?
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A Colorful Response
“What’s your favorite color?” is a common question I get asked as a graphic designer. I usually respond with, “Well, what is the color being applied to?” Colors can make you feel a certain way. For instance, I like soft neutrals when it comes to painting my walls because it makes me feel calm, but bright red for a dress because I feel fun and exciting. When it comes to building a brand, choosing the right color is so important. I frequently urge clients to step away from the “I like” mentality, as color is subjective.
Continue ReadingAW Capabilities Month Visual Branding Week in Review
Welcome to Addison Whitney Capabilities Month! Throughout the month of March, we will be designating one week where we will be highlighting one of Addison Whitney’s capabilities – visual branding, verbal branding, market research and brand strategy – via brand salsa and our social media channels. This week, we focused on Visual Branding, which encompasses the […]
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