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How to Start from the Bottom in Branding
How many scenarios can you think of where you actually wanted to start from the bottom? Here’s one: the branding process from start to finish. Over the years of my design career, I’ve grown to understand and appreciate this “bottom-up” approach; it’s a strategy that produces more meaningful brands and helps the visual design translate even more effectively. Here’s what it means to start from the bottom:
The Foundation
Graphic design is visual problem-solving / visual communication. Brand is really just perception — how others perceive a company, organization, or individual. We can’t control how people perceive things but we can help shape it. Insert graphic design here as a huge contributor to the visual expression of the brand. But the visual part takes shape when the other parts of the brand (perception) come together to help inform how things should look: that’s messaging, personality, culture, values, and experiences. All of these pieces work together to help shape a brand.
Maslow has a point
Familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? If you need a philosophy refresher, you’ll remember that famous pyramid with basic human needs (food, water, etc.) at the bottom, safety on the next tier, then love/belonging, then self-esteem, followed by self-actualization at the very top of…
