It's Art

I've been in the field of design for about 18 years now. There’s only one thing that I’ve been doing longer besides the obvious stuff like breathing, eating, sleeping, etc.

In all of those years I’ve dealt with a lot of brands and brand guidelines. As a designer I felt like they were unnecessary and hampered my creative style... I was too cool for guidelines! My art needed to flow randomly creating as it went along, spewing forth creative juices like a spit-take at the comedy club. Those things are restrictive!!

Now, as a Creative Director I not only see the value of brand guidelines, I help to create them (with the use of the audience and what they like in relationship to our corporate values). They are meant to build a consistency of look and feel, to communicate trust and value, and all of the other things a corporation, mission, or want to communicate. The brand guidelines are the rule book for play of any kind of interaction with the marketplace. Follow them or die!

The truth is somewhere in the middle. There has to be a balance. You do have to understand your audience and what will communicate your particular message the best but you also have to understand that the brand guidelines are not a rule book—they are not law—they are guidelines. Not every question can be answered in such a document. On the other side, there are some things that are virtually absolute and should be followed—logo treatments for example, fonts, colors, etc. Whatever components that your place values.

So what does that mean?

You have to learn as creatives to take what the business values and find your own creative space within that. It can be done, and more importantly, Should be done. It’s all a matter of building consistency within your marketplace, and consistency is a form of trust building. It may also mean that within your environment you have tighter or looser guidelines. Follow them, find the boundaries, and THEN get really creative by staying within those guidelines and Creating!

If you’re creative this shouldn’t be a problem.

So you think you need a logo huh?

Well the question is... do you? Every new business idea seems to start with a new flipping logo. Before there's even any real thought given to target audience, roll out strategies, heck... sometimes even before the product is properly conceived.

It's like the first thing that start-ups want...and it should probably be the last.

Sorry... I rant.

There are two different types of brands that I know of: Monolithic and Independent (this is straight out of Heinz's book on brand). I prefer Monolothic and Diverse but whatev.

The idea is, you either have AN organizational identity or you have MANY identities. I work for an organization associated with many other similar organizations. Each of those organizations has a unique, but related brand. They are related because we often talk about our relationships. They are unique because they often stand on their own for what they do and are supposed to accomplish—their ends if you will. (Not bitter ends by the by.)

Sometimes there are a lot of different logos and ways of communicating that are pushed on to those who support the work we are all trying to accomplish because we rely on each other to participate.

It can be very confusing and what's confusing to an audience isn't likely to be retained or supported for very long.

Furthermore, there are many different ways that each organization reaches their audience: newsletters, emails, DM, magazines, websites, social media, etc. Each of those organizations needs to have a strong brand identity in order to be differentiated and to clarify what it is that they participate in. By doing so they can create a more focused constituency. If they don't...well...it just doesn't work.

Imagine getting several pieces of mail, each with a different logo, each with a different message and style of writing, each attempting to get your participation. That's bad enough right? Now imagine if your organization had a new logo for every program or audience touch point it created? It'd be chaos.

In this situation a monolithic brand is the only real solution. You must solidify your brand messaging, art and campaigns in order to reduce the noise. In our case we still have noise... but there's less.

On the other hand, a company as diverse as Mitsubishi needs Diverse or independent branding. Largely because in reality, they are broken up into unique divisions, each with a unique end and a unique product. Imagine if they all used the same brand? You may be confused about it because the context of the product or solution would constantly be shifting. Mistubishi cars is a different animal from it's steel so having a different look could be work.

So ask yourself, "does what I want a logo for, sufficiently require one?" Or "is their another solution that may build my brand by strengthening what I already do?"