#brand design roles

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

peak nimbus
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Hi Fátima, it's a really interesting question.
Personally I find brand design to be the opposite of product design from a philosophical perspective.
Product design is often there to remove friction, while brand design is there to add it.

So the first thing I would personally look for in a brand designer is flexibility of thought and expansiveness of thinking. A range of brands and audiences, cultural groups.

So if I see a portfolio of all symbol logos nicely in circle grids, I'm not so interested. But if I see some typographic, some weird collage, some high end luxury - then I know this designer can stretch.

To that point, I look for strong visual solutions that don't repeat. For example, I see a portfolio where a designer always uses a lightning bolt in their work for completely different brands. Subconsciously or otherwise, this is a crutch and shows lack of problem solving skills.

Repetitions can be commonly seen in : art direction styles, typographic choices and approaches (font selection, approach to hierarchy/layout, etc) or certain types of colour choices.

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Beyond this, it should be assumed that there are good logos and solutions to brand challenges, such as logo systems, brand guidelines (not templates - but ones truly written to handle the client's unique situation), and the demonstrated example that you can nurture a system you've already inherited in different contexts (from gala to billboard).

cunning carbon
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I agree with Joel, but would also like to add that this also heavily depends on what kind of company/industry you are looking to get into as well.

Brand design and management for a sports team (which is what I mostly do) is much different than say a tech company like Facebook. While it is all branding and there is general overlap, the mindset on them are quite a bit different.

Something else you want to consider is what you want so actually do in branding. Some companies require their branding designer to do motion graphics, create advertisements in Premier pro, make web ads, or just over all manage their logos, color schemes, etc.

peak nimbus
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With all design, process can be useful - ugly solutions can still come from beautiful process.
And, ultimately a brand designer must answer to the strategy presented. Some things are designed to look cheap and cheerful on purpose. So don't always assume what is "good" by design trends standards is appropriate for strategy. I'm sure you're familiar with that in product design, but it's also important in brand.

Another point of note is the technical execution in brand design is quite different than product. For example, font licenses, or managing colour and paper brightness in a print-heavy company.

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If you have experience in design systems in a digital space, brand toolkit systems are similar. However in addition to viewports or formats, emotional tone and range must also be considered.

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anyway, i can go on forever but best if you ask more questions at this point.

floral walrus
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This is really helpful, thank you both for responding thoughtfully.

floral walrus
floral walrus
# peak nimbus Hi Fátima, it's a really interesting question. Personally I find brand design to...

Pretty interesting to hear from your perspective about the repetitions in art direction styles, typographic choices, etc., I ended up going to my portfolio to see if I fall into this trap. 😅 (And I’m not really sure if I do as I don’t think I have had many opportunities to stretch) 
 But what if you've developed a certain style as a brand designer though? Do people look for someone with a particular style of art direction for example?

peak nimbus
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I think some people would, and that would be termed "niching down". However I think that works really if you're committed to like, being the #1 wedding logo designer in Toronto and committing to running a practice on that. I'm personally not convinced of the longterm viability of such approaches, having seen "hot award winning" designers die on the vine by marrying themselves to one style. So if you want to work with agencies, and even just mature as a designer, I would advocate for becoming broader before niching down.

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Don't niche down because you love the style, niche down because you love the industry you're focusing in on and that you can imagine yourself growing from that as a starting point. Style is fickle and cheaply replicated.

floral walrus
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Makes sense 👍 I asked the question because I have noticed a few designers that have niched down as you said.

peak nimbus
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Yeah. Niching is a viable strategy, but it also makes you focused on style in a certain way - you'll be making logos, and only people who want your look will hire you.
For me personally I have a feeling you'd get hired for the look of your thing, be asked to make another one, and not truly engage with the problems/challenges inherit in branding.

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it's like, illustration but with a different name. "this designer can design a logo in the style we want."
"Ok designer design the thing like you did here and here in this style"

vs
"this is the way our business is changing, what do we do and how do we answer our new strategy"

floral walrus
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I'm definitely more interested in engaging & solving the problems/challenges

peak nimbus
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that said - i think a lot of people advocate for niche approach because you can become and 'expert' in a few places/ranges, and just focus on craft.