Original subtitles

Welcome to the third and last video about

branding.

Your visual brand is how your brand is

expressed in things people can see.

For the purposes of this video, we're talking

about your logo, website, and other marketing materials.

So finally, you're at the point where you're

working on your logo.

Why did it take us so long to

get here?

Why couldn't you just do something cool with

your initials or something and put it on

your website?

All the work we've done up to this

point will inform more than just your logo.

But if you had jumped into your logo

at the beginning without doing any soul-searching

about your brand, you probably would have come

up with something generic or a misfit with

your goals.

This process is designed to arrive at a

brand that sticks, one that lasts, and that

you don't have to redesign in a year.

Different designers have different processes for their logo

and visual brand design, but this is the

one I recommend.

First, your designer presents your logo in black

and white only.

Then, they demonstrate your chosen logo direction with

a few branded examples.

After that, they showcase more branded examples.

And lastly, they create a brand guide that

helps you keep consistent going forward.

The first thing your designer should present to

you in terms of logo concepts is three

to five promising directions in black and white.

Why black and white?

Because a strong logo should work without color,

and designing them in color from the get

-go could inadvertently sway your opinion if you

particularly like or dislike a given color.

And why not show just one logo option

instead of three to five?

This rarely works.

Usually, it ends up with both you and

the designer being unhappy with the results.

Your logo is an important thing that you

want to use for years.

So having just one option isn't giving it

the attention it deserves or needs.

If you're working with a good designer, you're

going to have one or two directions that

you like from the black and white concepts.

Your designer should then do some limited brand

exploration of your chosen direction, demonstrating the logo

on a few simple items, such as a

business card, price sheet, or even a t

-shirt.

This should be in color, and I recommend

asking to see the brand exploration in two

different color palettes.

This shows the logo in use, which is

a lot easier to assess than it just

sitting there on its own.

It also gives the designer a chance to

incorporate elements of your larger visual brand, which

includes form, color, and typography.

So it's not really important what examples they

use to demonstrate the brand.

You may never print that t-shirt.

It's just a way of showing how the

visual brand works.

Before you commit to a logo and move

on to the next step, ensure you have

a clear understanding of the following.

How many instances of the logo are there?

How will it look in a vertical space,

a horizontal space, or a small square space

like a social media avatar?

Once you've gone through a couple rounds of

revisions in the limited brand exploration, you're ready

to do the full brand exploration.

There isn't much of a difference between the

two, except now you have more clarity on

your visual brand, and you can take care

of your full list of requirements from the

beginning of the process, which can include an

Instagram ad, maybe a demonstration of your homepage

hero.

By the end of this, your final brand

elements such as logo, color, and typography should

be established, and you should be ready to

move on to your brand guide.

Ensure your designer provides all versions of your

logo to you in a variety of color

spaces and file formats.

The last step is your brand guide.

Your brand guide is a collection of all

your previous work in one place.

It acts as a reminder as to how

to use your brand, and it can help

you catch yourself when you veer off course.

It should include both elements from your brand

strategy and from your visual brand.

Here's a checklist of items I suggest you

include.

Everything from your brand strategy, which includes your

purpose, positioning, values, personality, and tagline if you

have one.

For your visual brand, keep it simple.

You're probably not a multinational corporation that needs

to control your brand across many team members,

so you probably just need something that demonstrates

the different versions of your logo, shows your

colors and fonts, and any other graphic elements,

and includes items from the brand exploration phases.

Do this, and you will have a brand

guide that is probably better than 99%

of other photographers out there.

Every time you're about to work on a

new item, like a client proposal or a

blog post or an ad, do a quick

review of your brand guide.

It will help you keep a consistent, strong

message that communicates in a more targeted way.

That's all from me.

Thanks for watching, and good luck.