How this workshop started
The workshop began as a course that is being taught to other artists. This course is offered at nights through a professional development center for artists. You can signup for this course through Yo Darkroom, if your interested in a group session.
After talking with others they were interested in attending it as well. Although these folks were business owners, operators, and entrepreneurs. With their schedules they weren’t interested in taking a night class for a few weeks. It got me thinking that this maybe the easiest way to begin with new customers, or customers that are trying to rebuild their own brand.
The workshop has now been modified to 3 day intensive workshop. It is intended to teach and develop a cohesive brand. It gives you all the basic tools and understanding to properly build a strong brand.
It is now offered exclusively to a business. This allows directed focus on your business and building your brand instead of working with examples. With our custom workshop tools and the “Brand Building” workbook you can walk away with materials and answers to build your new brand.
A little about the “Brand Blueprint” workshop
We all live and breeth branding, since it’s in all we see and interact with on a daily basis. The odd thing is that most of us never realize this. The idea that we can represent who we really are and what that means to our customers is pivotal in the world of business. This is an art form unlike any other. It requires both design and business skills.
In this workshop I will take people through the eleven discrete areas that comprise the blueprint for any brand. The course will start with defining what is a brand and what’s the job of creating a brand. After this each section will take a look at a topic and how to create all the elements in harmony. It is a mix of hands on and creating an effective brand.
There are a number of different handouts that are presented during the class period as well as “Brand Building” workbook. These handouts serve two purposes. The first is to make the class period a more manageable time length. The second which is the fundamental reason is to make sure people have materials to take away with them and to use at a later date.
A little preview
What is Branding? At it’s simplest and it’s most complex it is more than a logo or name it’s the essence of a company, which is embodied in the products, employees, news, competition, and customers. Alright, well that’s a concise answer to a very broad topic, if a little wordy.
Branding is the culmination and way that everybody perceives you from every outlet. Remember this is an internal and external perception. Having heard many others take on “what is branding” I have come to a touchy feely response that has given me a visceral reaction. Branding is the promise and the need to believe.
The ability to successfully navigate the waters of branding uses a diverse set of skills; data analyst, designer, strategist and part business junkie.
Here’s where the esoteric work of branding comes into play. People think that you will have one tangible image when you complete this stage. While this can happen it is not the goal. The process of designing an identity at this stage is more about making decisions. These decisions will later coalesce into tangible results, i.e. logos, websites, business cards, print ads, and the like. These later pieces are called touchpoints.
This is where the heart of a brand is and how it is born. Beating back the common stereotype that a brand is a logo, it is a series of guildelines and ideas. These decisions are later expressed through the use of Themes, Names, Colors, Fonts, Images, Sounds, Videos, Environment, and Grids. I have found this the only effective way to create a cohesive identity.
The best way that I can describe this process is, you are building the personality of the company. Much like a person, a personality isn’t the clothes a person wears. A personality will later determine the type of clothes a person wears.
