What Is a Brand?

Professor Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, said that human babies are born half baked.

We have such a big brain that if we developed a little more and stayed in the womb, like other mammals, until all of our body systems were fully developed, pregnancy would take two years and there would be no way for a woman to give birth.

While other animals like horses and zebras learn how to walk within a few hours, humans usually need several years to fill in the gaps, start communicating verbally and learn how to walk.

This created a situation where human babies completely depend on their parents because they are so helpless. This also caused humans to develop much deeper social connections with their family and friends in order to create support systems to protect and help raise their children.

This could probably explain why our brain loves routine so much and why it is so important for us to be part of a community or a certain group. The survival of the human species depends on it.

If our brain is in a routine, automatic mode, it doesn't need to think or develop very much. We need a support system around us to help us grow, develop and raise our children.

That's why we try to classify and group everything into categories. Our brain can't, and doesn't really want to, deal with huge amounts of information and remember every single detail. So we create groups and tribes and we "brand" them.

Whether it's an online business or a physical store, we need to be branded in the right way in order to create a community that becomes part of our target audience's life.

We want them to feel connected to us, almost as if they are going to miss something if they are not there.

"People like us do things like this."

Seth Godin

So, what is a brand?

A brand is the overall feeling and emotional connection a consumer gets from a company, product, service or a specific person.

A good brand makes us recognize it easily, remember it and usually makes us feel like we are part of some kind of community or tribe, whether by owning the product, using the service or even following a person.

These emotional connections can be created through many different communication tools, from radio and podcasts to business cards, through the design of our website and every other "touchpoint" with a potential customer.

We can even create this feeling through a specific smell in a physical store, like Laline, music, or even by wearing shirts with a specific logo on them, while the logo slowly enters our customer's subconscious.

We need to enter the world of colors, visuals and feelings of our target audience.

There are 7 main elements that every successful brand has, which we are going to discuss, and which are highly effective at creating these emotional connections with our target audience.

Professional brands usually have what is called a "Brand Book" or Guidelines, where these seven main elements are explained in detail and used to guide the designer.

It includes the colors that can be used when promoting their products or services, specific rules for fonts and typography style, rules about the minimum size of the logo and how it can be used, all the way down to the spacing between the logo and the edges of the page it appears on.

Inspiration

The first thing we need to do before we start building our brand is to get inspired.

This is called a "Mood Board."

Basically, it is a collection of images that are related to or create the atmosphere of our brand.

It could be a picture of a specific texture or a scene from a movie, as long as it represents or somehow communicates the style of the brand.

It could even represent our background, ethnicity or the cultural background of the business through Eastern shapes, for example, textures and elements like Chinese lanterns and dragons, if the business is related to the East.

If our business is related to craftsmanship, for example, we would add pictures of our creative tools, our working environment and images of our specific style, whether it is vintage, illustrated or modern with saturated colors.

It is very interesting to look for a specific style or feeling that we would like people to get when they encounter our brand.

Of course, we can use Google Images or Pinterest, but we must not forget to physically leave the house and visit places to get more inspiration.

Over the years, I have realized that one of the most effective ways to get inspiration is to disconnect from the computer and see if we can find a place related to our business that can inspire us.

For example, if we are writing a horror book, maybe we should go to a scary escape room or watch a horror movie at the cinema.

We can never know what might trigger something in our brain that could give us an idea that will affect our brand, our business and eventually our entire life.

If the specific brand we are working on needs to communicate luxury, we should look at luxury brands or go to a fancy restaurant, for example.

If we want to get a feeling of the past and a vintage style, we should look for something connected to those feelings, like an American diner from the 1960s. There are actually quite a few of them.

Of course, this is very individual and everyone gets inspired differently. Our world of associations is very different from one person to another, but that's exactly the beauty of it!

Logo

Symbols have been part of our lives since the first caveman started drawing on cave walls.

The first forms of communication were created through symbols.

Throughout history, different types of symbols have created different associations.

A logo is simply another symbol with one main purpose: to enter the subconscious of our target audience and stay there for as long as possible.

A logo doesn't have to be a super beautiful masterpiece or the most aesthetic thing ever.

Obviously, a logo needs to be original and unique, but it also needs to be easy to understand and as memorable as possible.

It can even be a very simple symbol that represents several associations, like Apple with its simple apple logo.

It represents simplicity, but there are also many conspiracy theories around it. Some people say it is the bitten apple from the Bible, while others connect it to the apple that fell on Newton when he discovered gravity, based on Apple's original logo.

It represents the revolution Newton made in the world of physics when he discovered gravity.

There are usually 5 main types of logos that are commonly used by some of the biggest corporations as well as the smallest boutique brands:

1. Emblem Logo

Mainly used to create a feeling of authority and formality.

Logos like Harvard, Starbucks, NFL and Harley Davidson.

2. Lettermark / Monogram Logo

Very commonly used in the technology industry, such as Pinterest, HP and IBM.

It often creates a sophisticated and futuristic feeling.

3. Wordmark / Typographic Logo

Like Coca Cola, Google and FedEx.

They keep the logo very simple, which makes it possible to use it in many places, including social media and signatures, because of its simplicity.

This type of logo is also very easy to remember because the brand name becomes the foundation of its visual language.

4. Symbol Logo

Like Apple, Nike and McDonald's.

They have meanings and associations, both consciously and subconsciously, just like symbols connected to religion, health, luck and so on.

5. Mascot Logo

Like Pringles, KFC and MailChimp.

They use a character that represents the atmosphere of the brand, whether it is a happy and welcoming chimpanzee, a smiling chef or an angry bull like the Chicago Bulls logo.

Whether it is an emblem logo, a wordmark or a mascot logo, they all create some kind of feeling connected to the business, product or service they represent.

For example, a pen for a writer, a brush for a designer or any other tool connected to our product or service can help us find what makes us different from others and incorporate it into the logo.

It could even be a specific type of glasses or a specific haircut.

We should not be afraid that we might need to fix or recreate it later.

Sometimes it is even a good idea to refresh and sharpen the logo every once in a while.

Every big company polishes its logo.

Google, for example, has refined its logo over the years to fit the design trends of each period.

Many of them even changed their logo completely, and sometimes even their name.

Apple was once called Macintosh Computers, Google started under the name Backrub, and Pepsi had a completely different logo in the past, almost to the point where it looked like a completely different brand.

In 2023, Pepsi returned to a design that was inspired by its look from the 1970s and 1980s.

Copywriting

Before we even decide which shapes and colors we are going to use for our logo, we first need to decide what our tone of voice is going to be.

What do we represent?

How serious is our brand?

Is it an educational brand, a humorous brand or a serious and formal one?

What are we going to say and how are we going to say it?

Brands like MailChimp use a lot of humor because their entire brand is about creating an email service that is easy to use and fun.

So they use simple, fun and sometimes funny language to make us feel light and entertained.

It's so easy to use that even a chimpanzee can operate it.

If our content is about serious subjects, we probably need to use a more formal approach.

No matter how excited we are about our product or service, we should always check our copy, the message we are trying to communicate, to make sure we don't sound like a salesperson.

Usually, when I want to check that I haven't gone too far with my message, I try to read it out loud to myself or ask someone close to me to read it.

It gives me a great perspective on how people might read it and what feeling they might get from it.

Will they feel entertained? Upset? Or will they feel like they are being forced to buy something?

Visuals

Another great way to create this connection with our target audience is through visuals.

Whether it's simple and funny illustrations like MailChimp or high quality close up photography like Apple, every visual represents a feeling.

Whether we are talking about high definition images for luxury products or funny cartoon characters, visuals have an incredible effect on our brand and on the way people perceive it.

For example, if we have a blog about music and musicians, the visuals we add to our blog will probably create an overall feeling of what type of music we are trying to communicate.

If they are black and white images, people might think that our blog is about vintage or retro music.

But if we had pictures of skulls and chains, users would probably assume that our blog is about hard rock or metal.

Techno and electronic music are usually characterized by psychedelic and colorful visuals of fairies and mushrooms.

We must make sure that the visuals we use match our brand and remain consistent across every article, social media post or business card.

Color

Color is one of the strongest emotional influencers.

Some colors create feelings of danger or high energy, like red and yellow, while others make us feel calm and think about nature, like green and brown.

When choosing a color for our brand, we need to be very precise about the feelings we want to create because the same color can be interpreted completely differently from one person to another and even more differently in different parts of the world.

In China, for example, red represents happiness and good luck.

The same colors work differently in different places.

The best color to use on Facebook is usually orange, which is completely different from the color that works best on LinkedIn, which is usually blue or light blue.

This doesn't mean that if we are planning a LinkedIn campaign, our entire brand needs to be blue.

But we need to choose a color palette that has at least a few colors that can work on the platform where we plan to market and communicate with our target audience.

If red is the color most associated with our business and we want to create energetic feelings, that's fine.

But when we want to advertise on LinkedIn or even publish an article, it wouldn't be a bad idea to add some blue filters to the images or add some blue or light blue graphic elements.

When choosing a color for our brand, we can't simply go with our favorite color and ignore the associations that come with it and the places where it will meet our target audience.

We need to choose the color that is most strongly associated with our brand, but we also need to consider the environment of these "touchpoints" where our consumers will encounter our brand.

We also have to take into account the background and culture of our target audience, because the way we promote something to a Chinese person can be completely different from trying to promote the exact same thing to a cowboy from Texas in the American West.

Textures

Most big brands have some kind of "texture" across many of their products that connects the texture strongly to the brand.

Think about Gucci and Louis Vuitton with their famous logo patterns.

Apple incorporated polished metal into its brand so naturally that almost every time I see that kind of metal texture, I think of Apple.

Different textures have different associations and different purposes.

Dark polished wood is usually associated with luxury and elegance and is often used by boutique architects or lawyers.

Light raw wood, on the other hand, is associated with nature and works well for crafts such as carpentry, creating a feeling of something "behind the scenes."

Different cultures also have different textures.

The most common decorative texture in Greece is very different from the common decorative texture in China, for example.

When choosing a texture, we need to make sure our target audience doesn't get the wrong association.

Typography

By choosing the right font, we can improve or completely destroy the feeling of the concept we are trying to create.

Every letter is a complex composition that we can use to our advantage.

We can enlarge just one letter or one word and turn it into the foundation of our logo.

There are an endless number of different types of fonts for headlines, paragraphs, decorative text, serif fonts for printed text and sans serif fonts for digital text, which are more suitable for screens.

A serif is the little decorative stroke at the end of a letter.

In printed text, our eyes notice these small serifs and it can be easier for us to read because our eyes move from one serif to another, making it easier to follow the text.

But this works mainly with printed media.

It is much harder for us to read serif fonts in digital media because our eyes get tired much faster with this method of moving across the screen.

Every font has a personality and every font creates its own emotion.

Light handwritten fonts can create a luxurious feeling but also a sense of urgency.

Square block letters can feel futuristic and high tech, but they can also feel formal and powerful.

When choosing typography, we should try to think about the emotions we want to communicate and only then find the font that will help us communicate those emotions.

Sound

Branding is an emotional game.

One of the strongest tools for creating and controlling specific emotions is sound and music.

In software, sound is part of the brand all the way down to the sound of deleting a file on a computer, whether it is a Mac or Microsoft Windows.

Just like the startup sound of a Mac.

There is something about that sound that personally makes me feel a little bit like I am entering the gates of heaven.

Having the same startup sound on every Mac for so many years has made it so strongly associated with Apple that it has become an inseparable part of the Apple computer brand.

Anyone who has ever heard that sound will immediately know that someone nearby has just turned on an Apple computer.

Sound is a tool that can be used in many different ways to create emotions in our target audience and maintain them.

Advertising agencies don't just create musical jingles for radio, television, the internet and even shopping malls, with advertising music telling you about a sale in a specific store.

They also create full length songs that become hits as songs and not just as advertisements, like Noa Kirel for Renuar.

If we pay attention, there is a specific type of voice for every type of advertisement.

For example, if it is an audio advertisement for a sale in a fashion store, the person doing the advertisement will probably sound very excited and even charismatic, in order to make us feel like we are missing out on something exciting and worthwhile.

But if it is an advertisement for a boutique restaurant or a spa, they will probably sound much calmer and more romantic, in order to make us feel the atmosphere of the boutique restaurant or spa.

If we create audio content such as podcasts or videos, whether it is on YouTube, Facebook Live or even an online course, we need to pay attention to the music that opens the video, the background music and the sound during the video or podcast, as well as the music at the end of the episode.

It is a little harder to get this exactly right because music is very individual and everyone likes a different type of music.

But when we are looking for our avatar, we should get a general feeling of the atmosphere and taste of our industry.

Just like we can be pretty sure that most bikers usually like much more intense music, like hard rock and punk rock, while people who love fashion will usually like pop or electronic music.

This is one of the reasons clothing stores use much more up to date and popular music, sometimes together with DJs, to raise your adrenaline and blood pressure and make you feel like you are at a party.

Competitor Research

One of the most influential things when creating a brand is the competition.

We need to check our competitors and see how far we are from the market in our niche.

This is a template for my competitor research.

Feel free to download it, fill it in and check your position compared to the competitors in your market.

Name

John Doe Company

Website

johndoe.com

Slogan

Best Marketing Strategies

Facebook Page

800 Likes

Facebook Profile

5000 Friends

Instagram

4,500 Followers

YouTube

5K Subscriptions

Twitter / X

800 Followers

LinkedIn

1500 Connections

Other

10K Podcast Subscriptions

Good luck!

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to branding, and we could talk for hours about each and every one of these elements.