How to Design a Brand Identity: Our Creative Process
Ever wondered how a brand goes from a few scribbled ideas to something people instantly recognise?
Spoiler: it involves a little more than picking a nice font and arguing over shades of blue.
The brand identity design process takes a business from initial research and creative exploration through to a complete visual identity, bringing together everything from logos and typography to colours, imagery and the finer details that make a brand recognisable.
At Giant Peach, our brand identity design process is all about turning what makes a business brilliant into something people can actually see, feel and remember. Here’s a peek behind the creative curtain.
1. Getting under the skin of your business
Before anyone falls head over heels with fonts, colours and fancy layouts, we need to get to know your business properly.
What’s at the heart of your business? Who are the people you’re trying to connect with? Why should they choose you? And what does the future look like?
That’s what our kick-off workshops are all about. Getting everyone around the table, asking the interesting questions and having a proper nose around the business to uncover what makes it special.
Because the best creative ideas come from understanding what your business actually needs, rather than simply choosing something that looks the bee’s knees.
2. The brand identity design process: let the creative chaos begin
With the groundwork sorted, it’s time to get creative.
We explore different visual directions, experimenting with moodboards, typography, colours, imagery and layouts to see what feels right.
And we don’t believe in playing it safe from the beginning.
We’d much rather present something a little wild and dial it back than produce three identical concepts that don’t get the juices flowing for anyone.
Not every idea has to be a winner. Sometimes the ones that get a definite thumbs down teach us more about the brand than the ones everyone politely nods along to.
3. Inspiration is everywhere. Originality takes a little more work.
You’ll find us looking for inspiration everywhere. Pinterest, Behance, books, packaging, architecture and occasionally something completely unrelated that gets the creative cogs turning.
But seeing something brilliant and making something brilliant are two very different things.
The idea isn’t to collect a load of nice references and stitch them together into a brand identity. And while we love keeping an eye on what’s happening in the creative world, we’d rather create something that feels genuinely yours than something that’s simply having its moment.
Because a brilliant brand identity shouldn’t have an expiry date. It should feel just as right for your business in a few years as it does today.
4. The little details make a big difference
Your logo might be the face of your brand, but there’s a whole lot of personality happening elsewhere.
In the typography, colours, imagery and those little creative touches that make your business feel like, well, your business.
A typeface with a bit of attitude might be exactly what you need. Or perhaps something quieter, like a subtle illustration that brings a little warmth without stealing the show.
Every element has its place, and not all of them need to be centre stage.
Put them together thoughtfully and you’ve got a consistent visual identity that people can spot across your website, packaging and social media, even when the logo’s nowhere to be seen.
5. Making sure it works beyond the presentation
A brand identity can look absolutely gorgeous on a presentation slide. Lovely colours, beautiful typography, everything sitting exactly where it should.
But what happens when you squeeze it onto a mobile screen? Or put it on a business card, an email signature or a piece of packaging?
That’s when you find out whether the design really works.
We develop and refine our creative concepts with the real world in mind, making sure the identity looks just as good in the smaller, less glamorous places as it does in the big, beautiful presentations.
And when we present our ideas, we’ll explain the thinking behind them. Why we’ve chosen that colour, what the typography says about the brand and how the whole thing connects with the people you’re trying to reach.
6. Knowing when to push things a little further
Sometimes the best creative ideas are the ones that raise a few eyebrows.
It’s easy to look at competitors, see what’s working and follow suit. But when everyone starts borrowing from the same playbook, things get a little samey.
Of course, standing out doesn’t mean throwing every colour, font and design trick at the wall to see what sticks.
Some brands need to make a racket. Others are better off quietly turning heads.
The clever bit is knowing the difference, and having the confidence to do something about it.
Good design does more than look good
The best brand identities don’t need to shout the loudest, follow every trend or have a hundred clever little tricks up their sleeve.
They just need to make people recognise your business, understand what makes it different and remember you when it matters.
And that’s what all our creative thinking comes back to. Finding the interesting things that make your business your business, and giving people a very good reason to notice.
Got a brilliant business hiding behind rather ordinary branding?
Maybe you’ve outgrown your original identity. Maybe your business has bags of personality, but you’d never know it from looking at the logo, colours and website.
Whatever the situation, we’d love to have a nose around, discover what makes you tick and see how we could bring a little more of that character into the creative.
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