Topics

Visual Identity

The Fusion of Strategy and Design

February 3, 2020 —

The Fusion of Strategy and Design

The Best Branding Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts Since its founding in the 1950s, branding has largely been divided into two distinct disciplines: strategy and design. Strategy’s traditional role is to research, understand the competitive landscape, distill the meaning, and establish the market opportunity into a well-formed creative brief. At this point, designers typically take the brief and visually communicate against the strategic objectives. The handoff from strategy to design is not without its pitfalls. Oftentimes, key information gets lost. Strategists can work in intellectual...
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A Designer’s Guide to a Successful First Presentation

July 18, 2019 —

A Designer’s Guide to a Successful First Presentation

Presentation Is Everything The Emotive Brand design team had the pleasure of attending First Round San Francisco, a one-day showcase of original client presentations showing initial design explorations for logo, identity, and branding projects. Twelve different design studios presented on a variety of client projects – everything from a global healthcare non-profit to a menstrual cup company. The crowd was filled with eager designers – some from design studios, others from tech companies, and some freelancers. We’ve gathered a few key takeaways – a checklist of sorts – to make sure all the...
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The Super Tough Brands of Fragile Masculinity

May 14, 2019 —

The Super Tough Brands of Fragile Masculinity

Last week, the world was given two small wonders: War Paint, a hyper-aggressive makeup brand exclusively for men, and Liquid Death, canned water designed to look like beer. Two “wellness” brands aimed at men, cloaked in the visual language of skulls, tattoos, and violence. What can these two bizarre companies teach us about the role of gender in branding? And is breaking down male stigma in the wellness space simply a design problem? Branding … For Him! Let’s start with War Paint. Their 13-second ad features a heavily tattooed man using various products, flexing his pecs, and adorning...
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Design Trends for 2019

December 13, 2018 —

Design Trends for 2019

Friction Builds Character Friction is one of those words you see in Silicon Valley all the time. Specifically, in technology’s promise to remove it. A frictionless experience is instantly digestible, seamless, clean. The only problem is that in desperately trying to remove the friction from every experience, you can remove the experience altogether. A little friction, intrigue, or mystery is not always a bad thing – especially when it comes to design. As we look forward to 2019, we have talked about trends for employer branding and overcoming strategic challenges. Today, we turn our sights...
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Great Design Shifts Perception

December 6, 2018 —

Great Design Shifts Perception

One of my favorite quotes about identity comes from American architect, author, and designer, Buckminster Fuller. “Ninety-nine percent of you who are,” he says, “is invisible and untouchable.” No matter how much we think we understand, there is always something unseen and overlooked humming beneath the surface. Great design can function in a similar way. A logo or a car engine each has a tip-of-the-iceberg function that appears obvious. But behind every glyph and gear, there is an invisible force that has the power to fundamentally shift how we think about and move through the world. Great...
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How to Bring in a Branding Agency (And Still Thrive as a Creative Director)

April 3, 2018 —

How to Bring in a Branding Agency (And Still Thrive as a Creative Director)

Agency or Enemy? If you’re a Creative Director, chances are you’re some lovely mix of imagination, diplomacy, market knowledge, and damn good design sense. You bring focus to every project. You know how to communicate across disciplines and departments. After all, that’s why you were hired. So why in God’s name would you ever need to bring in an outside branding agency? And if by some cruel twist of fate you’re forced into this position, how do you avoid effectively hiring your replacement? If You’re Reading This Creative Brief, We’re Already Behind Schedule...
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Brand Identity. What’s Your Type?

December 19, 2017 —

Brand Identity. What’s Your Type?

Brand Identity, typography, typeface… it’s all part of your brand and its story A brand identity is critical to get right. A typeface helps shape the stories a brand tells. It sets the tone of a brand. Typography is in many ways the first impression and introduction to your audience. According to Sarah Hyndman, “Typography is like the clothes a person wears; it tells the world who they are and who they want to be.” Typography, in other words, is one of the most important aspects of your brand. A few things to consider when selecting a typeface for your brand: Align with brand...
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The Real Cost of Brand Transformation

September 26, 2022 —

The Real Cost of Brand Transformation

Oftentimes, branding is seen as just another expense. Another project that needs budgeting. Another to-do to check of the list. Additionally, a brand’s visual identity and its implementation are often seen the same way – but they shouldn’t be. Branding is only costly to a company if the company doesn’t fully tap into the brand’s value. Likewise, if you leave your brand’s visual identity to flounder in a presentation deck, it remains an untapped value. Understanding the value of your brand and what its visual identity means is key to shifting the conversation from a business cost to its...
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Want Better, Faster Design? Bring Your Creatives to Strategy Meetings

November 14, 2017 —

Want Better, Faster Design? Bring Your Creatives to Strategy Meetings

Emotive Brand Expert #4: Eve Maidenberg Continuing our Emotive Brand Experts series, we’re interviewing past and present Emotive Brand clients to discover what they do better than anybody else – and how that expertise can be used to embolden your brand today. In this post, we speak with Eve Maidenberg, the Creative Services Director at Stitch Fix. Before that, she was a VP of Marketing at Marqeta. *** Left Brain vs. Right Brain Strategists and creatives are the left and right brains of a branding agency. In every project, you need the right mix of sequencing and imagination, linear thinking...
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