In today’s lecture, we were introduced to the brief for the 103 module. The aim of this project is for us to create a rebrand for Libraries NI, and for this week to start our research as well as choose our target demographic,5 name ideas,5 values and priorities for our rebrand. We also got introduced to the concept of tone and values in branding.
After receiving this brief today, I decided to further familiarise myself with the foundations of branding before I can apply it to my brief.
From this, I gathered that branding consists of many elements such as graphics, tone of voice, interiors, values, and so much more. All of this is carefully thought out with the goal of creating a memorable and unique identity and reputation for a company or person.
During my research, I began looking into a top business strategist and author of several business books, Roger Martin. Through this I found an article by him specifically focused on branding.
“Effective branding activity results in customers having full confidence that they will receive the benefits that that your system is designed to deliver and that you promise to customers. That is, they will come to assume without conscious thought that your offering will deliver satisfaction. If they aren’t confident, you don’t have a brand worth having. That is why branding is centrally about customer confidence.”
I think this quote made it easier for me to understand what I want to focus on during this brief.
During today’s lecture, we also got introduced to tone and values in branding; these are important as they change the brand’s identity in the public eye.
Brand Values:
Brand values are words, ideas and concepts that the designer sets to be associated with the brand; these make the overall brand image more cohesive if decided early on and make the public perceive the brand in a certain way.
Tone of voice guide:
Tone of voice refers to the way a brand communicates in text and audibly. This could apply to any touchpoints which include words such as employees, advertising or business cards, and the tone of voice could vary from frozen, formal, consultative, casual or intimate
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/brand-experience-ux/
As an example of casual tone of voice used by a brand, we were shown the containers produced by a brand called “Oatly’.
This packaging feels very fun and personal by joking around with the consumer by labelling the nutritional information the “boring side’ and stating “it’s like milk, but made for humans”.
I really liked this example as personally I really enjoy this kind of branding, I feel it often makes the brand stand out, especially in a usually not too interesting market such as dairy/dairy substitutes.