What makes a trusted brand?

 The stronger your brand, the higher your profits will be. A highly trusted brand is a strong brand. The role of the design team is to create branding that will convey trust. A consumers buying decision is motivated by a feeling of trust that they have for a specific brand. This appeal to the consumer is known as brand equity. A brand that is known for quality, integrity, innovation and if it delivers on its promise, it is a highly trusted brand.

Duns Play Fest 2022

 I recently designed the 'at a glance' poster for Duns Play Fest. The festival is on from the 29th April to 7th May. There are several events taking place during this time and some events are for children. I am also creating a programme, signs and individual posters for this event.

Does your company have a Brand Strategy?

 If you want your business to have a competitive advantage you need to have a clearly defined brand strategy. The business objectives of your company should be clearly defined in a brand vision. Your vision statement should be a goal that your company aims to work towards. It should be a long term ambition. Google's vision is "to provide access to the world’s information in one click". Your company vision must be simple and clear. Your vision is just one part of a brand strategy. Branding is not just about a company logo or colour palette, but it comes from a unified coherent business objective that resonates throughout the company and be what the company or organisation stands for. 

If you require some branding advice about your company, click on the side link for Watson Consultancy which will take you to my website where you can get in touch and we can engage in some discussion about your brand.

Brand is more than the domain of the marketing department.

 In his book The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier says "A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service or company". In essence a brand is decided by the customer. A company or organisation can try to influence how their brand is received, but essentially a brand is like a reputation.

In the book Brands and Branding, Rita Clifton says "Brands - whether product, service, retail or corporate, consumer or business-to-business - are demonstrably the most important and sustainable asset any organisation has". Brand is more than just marketing, it is the single uniform idea that must be the driving force behind the corporate strategy. The main business objective of a company is very closely linked to the marketing objective, but it is more than just about aesthetics, it is reflected in everything a company does, says and makes. If a company keeps its brand promise at the heart of everything it does, it will do business better.

Does your company really need a logo design?

 If you are just at the very start of setting up a company, you may not need a logo right at the beginning. If you are having some marketing materials done, like flyers, posters, social media posts etc, there is the argument that it may be better spending the money on something else that is more important for your new business venture. You could just use your business name at the top of any marketing collateral. If however, you have been trading for a while and you don't have a logo, then perhaps now is the time to employ a designer like me to design you a logo. If you would like to get in touch, you can click on the link at the side of this page and it will take you to my Watson Consultancy design website. There you can see samples of my work and get in touch.

Is the First Direct branding losing its bold simplicity?

 Since the bank First Direct started using a fingerprint-like image to accompany its logotype, I think it has lost some of its bold simplicity. Does this weaken their brand? Probably not. First Direct are always top of any survey for good customer service in the banking sector. As they have no branches and are only online, through an app or by telephone, then maybe they can focus more on providing a very good service. As a brand, I think First Direct is very strong. 

For many years their branding and imagery used within their printed and online materials has been very simple and clear. 

Thinking Without Borders - New Flyer

 This week I designed this flyer for Thinking Without Borders. It is for a free Zoom event taking place on the 7th of April 2022 to discuss Scotland's involvement in slavery. The client was very pleased with the design.