the devil's in the details

So what you have to do is keep the brand fresh. Yup, that’s what we are trying to do when we create a brand, recognize that it needs more than a logo.

As you notice from this photo, I recently enjoyed a cuppa cappuccino at a delicious spot in San Diego called Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

While enjoying my cap, we purchased a bag of beans which I of course immediately graphically reviewed. This was not the first time purchasing their products but this time I noticed the side panel of the bag. At the bottom you can see a wave-like illustration. and then My eye was then drawn from the wave above it to the ‘sun’ created by the coffee bean and the rays. Even the weights of the lines are similar to the strokes of the wave illustration.

If you look carefully on the coffee cup, you will see the blue company logo with the bean on the side of the surfing van, this is their corporate logo, their initial element for their branding. Logos are not just a single designed product, they are made up of elements within themselves which can be ‘deconstructed ‘ (a topic for another post another post) to recreate a variation of the logo and you can see here that they have employed this aspect of good branding as well.

It’s all in the small touches; on the side of their bag where the imprinted graphic elements help the eye/mind recollect their branding and their particular niche (the surfing culture in San Diego), the interior placement of their name simply positioned along the top edge of the coffee cup in clean small black caps (what a pun), usage of the blue corporate colour outlined around the rim of the saucer, and you can also see the black logo placed on the traveler’s silver mugs allowing for simple quick branding recognition, … amongst other inventive elements throughout their shop not presented here, make this a very successful branding story.

When creating an initial brand there is a lot to consider but once you do the research and get yourself started with a direction, colours, etc., you should also consider the other possible elements of the brand which may need to be developed. This should to be done in unison with your client’s knowledge as they are needed to help you understand where their market is headed. You should discuss when these various elements of the branding could be ‘presented’ to the market. It is not always correct to introduce them all at the same time. Sometimes you want to stagnate their introductions to create newest and anticipation.

We as human being, love something new, therefore we as marketing experts need to be aware of this and use it appropriately.