Importance of Company Logos and Branding: an interview with BrandBoss Creative
When major industries consolidate and buy each other out, they aren’t only buying a product or the ingredients in it — they’re paying for the brand’s value. Building brand recognition in your industry takes years and a single slip-up can leave customers with a negative memory of your name.
JTech has paired with local creative Jordan Lacenski, owner of BrandBoss Creative, to bring you the very best branding expertise. We interviewed her about how your business can achieve the very best brand recognition so you can stand out amongst your competitors.
JTech: Why is branding important for your business?
Jordan: Your brand is your identity. It's who you are, what you do, how you do it, and WHY. Consumers are inundated with advertising every day, from the labels on their favorite wine to a $5 million dollar Super Bowl commercial.
Strong branding should be memorable, it should create trust and communicate your value. A strong brand attracts and inspires the right employees, and most importantly, a strong brand draws in new customers. Once you create a brand that clearly communicates who you are, what you stand for, you have to be consistent. You have to create rules, guidelines for your digital presence, your print collateral, your copy, your staff, your customer service. Each time you design and print a brochure, or even your business cards, you should come back to your brand foundation.
Jordan: Your brand is your identity. It's who you are, what you do, how you do it, and WHY. Consumers are inundated with advertising every day, from the labels on their favorite wine to a $5 million dollar Super Bowl commercial.
Strong branding should be memorable, it should create trust and communicate your value. A strong brand attracts and inspires the right employees, and most importantly, a strong brand draws in new customers. Once you create a brand that clearly communicates who you are, what you stand for, you have to be consistent. You have to create rules, guidelines for your digital presence, your print collateral, your copy, your staff, your customer service. Each time you design and print a brochure, or even your business cards, you should come back to your brand foundation.
JTech: How does the establishment of a logo fit into branding?
Jordan: Logo design should come after an in-depth exploration process. Yes, that's right, you should have homework. A deep dive into who you are, even if you think you already know, should take place before one pixel touches the page. We recommend a creative brief workshop or session. Look at your current state and how you are perceived, and explore the following points:
Once you collect all of this data, refine it and move to the fun part — creating. Your logo is one of the single most important steps to your brand, so do it right the first time. The logo is just a start, the tagline, mission statement, voice and tone also communicate your brand and your values. These should all work together. Look at logos you like, look at those you don't. Define what you like and don't like about them and why. This is a great way to narrow down your taste and to train yourself to communicate the important details to whoever is doing the designing.
Jordan: Logo design should come after an in-depth exploration process. Yes, that's right, you should have homework. A deep dive into who you are, even if you think you already know, should take place before one pixel touches the page. We recommend a creative brief workshop or session. Look at your current state and how you are perceived, and explore the following points:
- Is your mission current and applicable?
- Look into your history, culture, and goals for the future:
- How do you compare to your competitors?
Once you collect all of this data, refine it and move to the fun part — creating. Your logo is one of the single most important steps to your brand, so do it right the first time. The logo is just a start, the tagline, mission statement, voice and tone also communicate your brand and your values. These should all work together. Look at logos you like, look at those you don't. Define what you like and don't like about them and why. This is a great way to narrow down your taste and to train yourself to communicate the important details to whoever is doing the designing.
JTech: Do you encourage clients to allow you to build a logo from scratch, or will you work with an existing one, if they have it?
Jordan: It all depends on the client. We do everything custom, but if the initial logo has strong bones and is true to the client's goals and ideals for their identity, we will oftentimes rework it. We find that people come to us after they had a logo designed by a friend of family member, or off of one of those template websites. When they go to embroider it on hats, or brand packaging, they realize it's all wrong. We design emotive, functional logos. Our packages include all of the files necessary to brand everything you do with your logo. Versions including full color, all white, all black, and horizontal or stacked if necessary, are all included in our final deliverable.
JTech: When building a brand vs. a logo, are they separate processes, or do you see them as a single entity?
Jordan: Your logo should be an expression of your brand. The homework always comes first. Your logo will inspire designers you work with in the future to create consistent collateral. Before we deliver a logo, we ask if the client is interested in a brand kit, which includes a tagline, mission statement, fonts that complement the text in the logo, and the hex codes for their primary and secondary brand colors. These pieces all work together for a clear, consistent message.
Jordan: It all depends on the client. We do everything custom, but if the initial logo has strong bones and is true to the client's goals and ideals for their identity, we will oftentimes rework it. We find that people come to us after they had a logo designed by a friend of family member, or off of one of those template websites. When they go to embroider it on hats, or brand packaging, they realize it's all wrong. We design emotive, functional logos. Our packages include all of the files necessary to brand everything you do with your logo. Versions including full color, all white, all black, and horizontal or stacked if necessary, are all included in our final deliverable.
JTech: When building a brand vs. a logo, are they separate processes, or do you see them as a single entity?
Jordan: Your logo should be an expression of your brand. The homework always comes first. Your logo will inspire designers you work with in the future to create consistent collateral. Before we deliver a logo, we ask if the client is interested in a brand kit, which includes a tagline, mission statement, fonts that complement the text in the logo, and the hex codes for their primary and secondary brand colors. These pieces all work together for a clear, consistent message.
JTech: What does your creative process look like?
Jordan: We typically meet with the client and have them tell us their story. Some questions we find helpful to ask are:
We then walk through a creative brief process and give them an in-depth questionnaire where we get a better idea of exact adjectives they want their logo to communicate, what they want their business to stand for. We deliver 3-5 initial logo options, each communicating what we believe to be a strong representation for the business and we talk these over with the client to see their reactions to each. We think about what the logo's intended use will be, where will it be printed? Then we refine and deliver a second round of options. We repeat. Then we refine again. With the third proof of options, we hope to be extremely close. If one is chosen, we package it up and deliver.
Jordan: We typically meet with the client and have them tell us their story. Some questions we find helpful to ask are:
- Why did you start your business?
- What's special about it?
- What are you passionate about?
- Who is your target market?
We then walk through a creative brief process and give them an in-depth questionnaire where we get a better idea of exact adjectives they want their logo to communicate, what they want their business to stand for. We deliver 3-5 initial logo options, each communicating what we believe to be a strong representation for the business and we talk these over with the client to see their reactions to each. We think about what the logo's intended use will be, where will it be printed? Then we refine and deliver a second round of options. We repeat. Then we refine again. With the third proof of options, we hope to be extremely close. If one is chosen, we package it up and deliver.
JTech: When you’re working with a new business, what elements do you take into account?
Jordan: New businesses are typically focused on their service, their product, and they are coming to us because they don't thrive in marketing and we are often helping guide these individuals through the process. We educate them on the importance of creating a brand in the right order, so their largest investments, such as their website, are consistent with their intended story. We consult, we advise, we pull examples, and we look at the entire brand as a whole before we begin discussing a logo.
Thank you for your time, Jordan — we appreciate the depth of expertise that you and your team at BrandBoss offer us as partners.
Conclusion
Establishing a brand and logo for your new business, or a new approach to an existing business, is a process we start early on — before building your new website. The website is then driven by this branding and works to communicate that throughout so you are memorable to your customers and authoritative in your industry. We encourage you to contact us or BrandBoss directly if you are interested in working on your company’s branding.
Jordan: New businesses are typically focused on their service, their product, and they are coming to us because they don't thrive in marketing and we are often helping guide these individuals through the process. We educate them on the importance of creating a brand in the right order, so their largest investments, such as their website, are consistent with their intended story. We consult, we advise, we pull examples, and we look at the entire brand as a whole before we begin discussing a logo.
Thank you for your time, Jordan — we appreciate the depth of expertise that you and your team at BrandBoss offer us as partners.
Conclusion
Establishing a brand and logo for your new business, or a new approach to an existing business, is a process we start early on — before building your new website. The website is then driven by this branding and works to communicate that throughout so you are memorable to your customers and authoritative in your industry. We encourage you to contact us or BrandBoss directly if you are interested in working on your company’s branding.
About Mira Brody
Mira Brody is an editor, writer, and marketing expert with 12+ years of experience. She has worked as a local news reporter, a writer/editor, and as a leader in large-scale branding strategy. Mira worked at JTech as the staff writer and editor for internal and client projects from March 2015 to December 2019.
More articles by Mira: The Pastas of Programming | The Good, Bad and Ugly of Company Slogans | Note Taking Improves Workplace Skills