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Hiilite | Marketing, SEO, Branding, Web & Graphic Design A logo and stylescape displaying a unique brand and design created by Hiilite

How We Create Brands- ABC Medicinals Hiilite

Have you ever wondered how eye catching brands are created?

If you work in design or marketing, this is likely a question that you focus on daily. When our team is branding, we are constantly asking ourselves… “How can we create a collection of images, content and designs that perfectly encapsulate the emotions and energy of this client’s product, service, team etc. If you are more of an technical designer or binary brainstormer, this concept might seem a little abstract at first. Luckily, there is a process that you can follow along with, which outlines each step that you should consider when constructing a brand from the ground up.

Step 1: Explore CORE

Hiilite | Marketing, SEO, Branding, Web & Graphic Design A magazine displaying the CORE strategy that allows designers to create brands and logos
CORE is a process that  helps dictate and guide the direction of any brand you are working on. This of CORE as the foundation to your “Design House”- if you don’t build your home on a solid foundation your results will fall flat every time. We always utilize the CORE process before any design work is completed. Strategy should always come first. Always. Always. Always. Once you have clarity of the underlying themes, emotions and goals, you can then begin your designs.
Are you interested in implementing the same process as our team uses? You can download the CORE document HERE. With this product, you will have Jose and Chris walking you through ever step of the process, demonstrating the most efficient way to facilitate a conversation around UX with a client.
Design Knowledge:
‘”UX” is used to communicate the idea of “user experience”. UX generally encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interactions with a brand, it’s services and/or products.

Step 2: Partner with a Badass Designer to Create a Logo

Hiilite | Marketing, SEO, Branding, Web & Graphic Design A collection of logo designs taken from Instagram for the purpose of branding

Once you understand the essence of the client or company you are working with, it’s time to put pen to paper. Even though we have an amazing team of designers at Hiilite, we believe there is always value in looking outside your own walls. By partnering with an outside contractor, you can introduce a different style to your project and your team’s mental portfolio. In this particular design example with ABC Medicinals we partnered with Adam Breckons from the UK to develop this simple, kickass logo.

Check out Adam’s work HERE.

Step 3: Develop Logo Applications

Hiilite | Marketing, SEO, Branding, Web & Graphic Design An example of branding, applied to real items
Once you have a logo that knocks your socks off, you need to create an “design atmosphere” for that logo that displays how it might be displayed in physical form and other media. Ask yourself:
“How might this logo be applied to clothing?”
“What colours, products, people would gravitate or compliment this brand?”
“What is the general feeling or emotion you are trying to emulate?”

When creating logo applications, mock-ups are extremely useful to help your user properly envision your proposed brand and logo in real life situations. You have put a lot of effort and thought into your CORE process and logo design, so do justice to your work and convince your client they are making the right choice with a series of applications that brings your work to life. We love to use MockupWorld if we are not developing our own, in-house mock-ups. MockupWorld has a plethora of free, high quality mocks that will impress everyone you share your design with. Need some stock images to go with your mock-ups? Adobe Stock has it’s place for very specific stock image requirements but recently we have been in love with the quality and feel of the images from Unsplash (don’t forget to give the photographer credit when possible!)

Design Knowledge: 
Mock-ups are essentially static displays of how the visuals of the final product could potentially appear. Need an example? Let’s say you are designing a logo for an iPhone app. A mock-up could potentially display the latest iPhone with a blank screen which you could fill in to proudly display your new logo and branding.

Step 4: Craft a Story

By this point, hopefully the brand, logo and applications you have created tell an amazing visual story. In order to properly convey all the themes, ideas, and emotions you called upon to create your designs, you need to create a literal story to walk your users through their new brand experience. This story should be created with the “user profiles” of the brand in mind.

When you are creating your brand story, you want to walk the reader through the entire brand interaction once it is accepted by your client. Why are the client profiles drawn to the brand in question? Why do they decide to support the business and purchase their product or service? What emotions, themes and values play into the story and what new found success does your branding bring? A story that eloquently walks through all these questions will give life to your designs and bring a smile to your client’s face every time.

Hiilite | Marketing, SEO, Branding, Web & Graphic Design A man telling a story relating to a branding and logo process
Design Knowledge: 
A User profile is a collection of ideas, interests, wants and styles that theoretically represent an ideal customer that would be a main supporter of the brand in question.

Are you interested in learning more about the story we created for ABC Medicinals, or our branding process in general? Reach out to our Content Strategist, Alex VandeLaar, and he will share our full story we read to the client during our brand reveal.

Alex’s contact information: [email protected] 

Have you created an amazing brand using our process? We would love to hear from you! Send us your kick ass work and we will share it with the world!

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