How to Look a Million Bucks: An entrepreneurs guide to creating a kick-ass brand identity.

How to looka million bucks.

An entrepreneurs guide to creating a kick-ass brand identity by Aaron Fifield

Hey, you’re awesome!

Thanks for viewing our guide. I hope you find this valuable on

your journey to world domination.

I’ll bump into you again at the end. See you shortly.

Follow @aaronfifield

3How To Look A Million Bucks

Perceived emotional

company image as a whole.

Visual aspects that form part

of the overall brand.

Identifies a business in its

simplest form via the use of a

mark or icon.

Words you need to know.There are only three words you need to know to make the most

of this guide. Here is a brief summary to bring you up to speed.

Brand. Identity. Logo.

Contents

Facing the tough questions pg08

Preparing to get creative pg16

Crafting the perfect logo design pg22

Creating an impact with the identity pg37

Bringing your identity to life pg55

Where to from here pg63


Look a million bucks – what for?

Okay, not literally! But as the saying goes, when you ‘feel a million bucks’

you’re in excellent health and spirits. Well the same applies to your brand;

when you’re identity is in tip top shape you give off the vibe of being an

excellent company that can be trusted.


Trustworthy

Credible

Established

Recognisable

Consistent

Bad Brand IdentityBrilliant Brand IdentityPerceived as:

Reality is perception.Another reason life’s better when you look a million bucks...


Before we get started...

It’s worth noting many ‘brand wizards’ like to overcomplicate and flood the topic of

branding with unnecessary technical jargon. While we certainly understand it, our

goal is not to knock your socks off with an extravagant vocabulary, but to be relatable

and help you create an exceptional brand your customers will love. Lets go!

Facing the tough QUESTIONS

First things first.


Pinpoint who you are and why ears should prick up.

What is the niche market you specialise in?

It’s better to do one thing really well, than a dozen things poorly.

What are the most popular services or products

your company offers?

What are your company values?

Efficient, reliable, integrity, excellence, teamwork etc.

How do you want to be perceived?

Exclusive, friendly, creative, delicious, affordable etc.

Are there certain emotions you need to trigger?

Joy, desire, happiness, relief, surprise, excitement etc.

What is the single most important problem your

company solves?

Small businesses can effectively compete with large companies

by targeting a niche market.


Profile your perfect customer.

If you could clone just one customer over and

over again, who would that be?

Are they male or female?

What’s the age of this person?

What demographic do they fall into?

Does this person fit a certain stereotype?

What’s their income bracket?

Where do they live?

Where do they hang out?

What websites and blogs do they visit?


Stick out like a sore thumb.

Difference survives and excels in competitive

markets.

What can you offer customers that your

competitors can’t?

Is there something that makes your company

truly unique?

What’s your point of difference?

Cheaper, faster, more experienced, track record of outstanding

results, more of a variety, local experts etc.

Steer clear of being another ‘me too’ business.

Avoid points your competitors could potentially

promote as well.

To create a brand that stands out we need to find a design solution that hasn’t been used by any of

your competitors.


Drill down and identify your closest competitors.

Whether you like to admit it or not, they’re out

there and they’re hungry for your customers.

To get crystal clear on your competitors, you

must dig deeper than a Google search...

Monitor social networks, attend trade shows,

visit conferences and go to networking events

to see whose really making waves and leading

the way in your field.

Get the inside gossip from your suppliers – all

you have to do is ask.

Who are the key players and influencers in

your industry?

Make a note of your 3 closest local competitors

& top 3 inter/national competitors.


Sure, not all of these questions will be in-line with your company and

the direction you are headed in and that’s okay.

The important thing to remember is; the more you can narrow down

on identifying who you are, how you’re unique, whose your ideal

customer and who your closest competitors are – the easier things

will be from here on in.

Preparing to get CREATIVE

The warm up.


dribbble.combehance.net

brandingserved.com designspiration.netawwwards.com

After answering the tough questions, the next point of call is to find that

visual inspiration. Browse the websites responsible for inspiring some of

the worlds most amazing brands. Save anything you like the look of, it

will come in handy for the next step.

Explore the endless possibilities.

How To Look A Million Bucks

While the creative wheels are in motion...

Create a mood board using.. Pintrest. A collection

of textures, images and text related to your company

helps to create a theme for your brand direction.

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

By this stage you’ve probably seen a few things that take your fancy. Right?

Now is a great point to get a brand designer on board to work their magic and transform your ideas into a crystal

clear identity.


Choosing the right designer for the job.

Find a designer with a shmick website and a

brand that catches your attention.

A designer who doesn’t take pride in their own appearance sure

isn’t going to take pride in yours, keep moving.

How does their portfolio look, pretty crash hot?

If they have a tight showcase of previous projects and you like

their style, that’s one tick in your favour.

Not all designers are the same, some

specialise and others generalise.

When it comes to branding you’re typically best to go with a

specialist seeing as they solely create identities all day, everyday.

Where on earth would you like your

designer to be?

With the internet the way it is, it’s possible for you to join forces

with a designer anywhere in the world. Although in saying that,

many prefer to stick with local designers who are familiar with

the market you’re competing in.

Prices can vary greatly from company to

company, so it’s important to...

Find a designer who can work within your budget. But,

remember what the good man Sailor Jerry once taught us,

‘Good work ain’t cheap and cheap work ain’t good’. Use your

judgement to find a happy medium.

Crafting The Perfect LOGO DESIGN

What’s involved.


What makes the perfect logo?

Ah, great question! As you would already know this is an

important step to get right, considering a logo is with you for the

long haul. There are roughly 5 boxes every logo should tick, so

lets make it count.


Simple + Memorable

Time and again, it is the simple logos that prove to be most

memorable. Soundcloud is an all round perfect example of this.


Clever + Appealing

It’s safe to say MailChimp have hit the nail on the head when it

comes to clever logo design. I mean c’mon, who could get mad at

a face like that?


Relevant + Convincing

What better way to convince someone of your speedy express

service than with a forward moving arrow. Don’t see it? Look at

the negative space between the E and the X.


Scalable + Versatile

The recent overhaul of Telstra’s brand identity is nothing short of noteworthy for

scalability and versatility. Notice how the logo is still incredibly effective even when

scaled down to the size of a mini sim card. And the array of colours on their palette

gets a whopping big tick for versatility.


Full Colour + Mono

The City of Melbourne logo is another beautifully versatile logo that

showcases how an icon can appear in both full colour and mono while

remaining loyal to the brand.


Lets break it down even further.

There are two more key factors that contribute to the success of a logo

you should be aware of. Firstly there is fonts, this is a big one and equally

important is a colour scheme. Creating the perfect logo is about getting

the combination just right between all factors.


Get your fonts in check.

This is by no means a hard

and fast rule, but two fonts

is generally the limit for

creating a logo, anymore and

it begins to look too busy.

If using a single font – then

even better.

For a real eye opener on how fonts alone

can change the face of your company,

visit: typographyserved.com

Browse thousands of typefaces on the

worlds number one marketplace for fonts,

visit: myfonts.com

What style of font is best

going to compliment your

brand? The three common

styles being; serif, sans serif

and custom fonts.

Examples on the next page.

When experimenting

with logo fonts it is wise

to consider how they will

impact headlines and body

type across your website,

stationary and marketing

material etc.


Serif Sans Serif Custom

Times New RomanAmerican Typewriter

Bellevue

Geometric Slabserif

Sentinel

Helvetica

Avant Grade Gothic

Klavika Basic Proxima Nova

PhantOm

Serifs are the small lines tailing from the

edges of letters and symbols.

Sans serif is a typeface that does not

have the small projecting features at the

end of strokes.

These fonts are in a league of their own,

coming in all sorts of weird, wacky and

wonderful shapes.

KANYE SAYS IT BEST

chrispiascik.com


Mixing the colour palette.

With a spectrum of unlimited colours, shades and hues available, how do

we know what select few are best for your brand? Unfortunately there is

no right answer, however here is some food for thought...


Yellow PurpleThe brightest and most energizing of warm

colours, yellow is happy, warm, stimulating and

expansive.

Purple represents nobility, abundance and

dignity, but can also stand for creativity and

imagination.

Red GreenThe hottest and the most dynamic colour, red is

activating, stimulating, passionate, exciting, and

powerful.

The cool secondary colour is calming,

balancing and rejuvenating. Green represents

stability and inspires possibility.

Pink BlackPink is commonly perceived as a romantic and

nurturing colour. Often associated with feminine

products and services.

Black represents power, elegance and

modernity, but can also characterise

mysteriousness and appear exclusive.

Orange BlueBlue represents dependability, trustworthiness

and security. It can also characterize calm and

spirituality.

Not as overwhelming as red, orange is a

balanced colour that is vibrant and energetic

while being friendly and inviting.

Triggering emotions with colour.

HOW THE BIG BOYS

USE COLOUR


The ultimate sin!

When a designer creates a logo using Photoshop

they commit the ultimate sin. This is a massive

no, no! Logos should only ever be created using

Adobe Illustrator.

Files created in Photoshop are made up of pixels

(known as rasterised), whereas files created in

Illustrator are made up of paths (known as vector).

This is important to know because pixels cannot

be enlarged without losing quality, meaning you

are very limited where you can use your logo. The

reason paths and logos go together like peanut

butter and jelly is, paths are 100% scalable and

much sharper.


Creating an impact with THE IDENTITY

Reinforcements.


Along come the reinforcements.

With the logo taken care of it’s now time to set the overall theme for your

brand. This is how we enforce memorability and create consistency.

Without a theme there is mixed messages flying all over the place. Now

let’s narrow in on how we pave the way for a lasting identity...


Awesome supporting graphics.

Common examples of supporting graphics are things like

patterns, logo elements and sometimes even characters. These

not only enhance your image, but are easily associated with your

brand, as well as your logo when it is not present.


Cosmetic company, Uzuri effectively use patterns throughout their

brand, including stationary and packaging. Taking inspiration from optical

illusionary art, and the idea of makeup as a way of creating illusions.

Using patterns to support your identity.


Using enlarged elements of their logo, DayDreamer achieve a powerful

sense of brand and recognition. A versatile approach that works

effectively across all media.

Using logo elements to support your identity.


Every chocolate-lovers favourite, M&M’s have done a brilliant job using characters

to support and grow their brand. You could almost say the characters are now

more popular and recognisable than the actual logo itself. Wouldn’t you agree?

Using characters and personalities to support your identity.


On point imagery.

As we are aiming to have your brand look a million bucks,

consistency is what will make it or break it. This means defining

the style of everything, right down to the style of images. It’s

important images remain consistent whether they appear online,

in a brochure or even on a billboard.


Say your thousand words the right way...

It’s amazing how one photo can give off so many different vibes depending on

how it is styled. Here we have three colour variations of one photo, each creating

a very unique feel. It just goes to show how every factor of your identity can play

a role in sending the right message.


Inviting fonts and typography.

Without trying to sound like a broken record, fonts and

typography are another one of those ‘must-get-it-right’ points of

brand design. But seeing as we already touched on fonts for logo

design we will keep this brief.

This is the stage where we decide on a collection of inviting fonts

and styling options for headlines, sub-headlines, body text and

captions. Here are a few tips to take on board...


Great typography encourages people to

read all the cool things about your company.

Establish a hierarchy. Use uniform fonts or

styles for headlines, sub-headlines and body

text. Don’t mix and match.

Font pairing. To avoid a crisis of too many

fonts, it can be a good idea to use the

secondary font from your logo for headlines

and one font family for everything else.

Minimise clutter by ensuring everything is

spaced out neatly, including line-heights and

paragraphs. Make it easy on the eyes.

All fonts should be easy to read, but even

more so when it comes to the body font. When

fonts are hard to read they are uninviting and it

creates resistance between you and a prospect.

Handwritten fonts often work well to create a

personal touch, but don’t over-do it. Use in small

doses for things such as added confirmation for

a call to action.

All CAPS is bad, very bad. Just don’t do it,

seriously...


Consistent colour scheme.

Again, colour is a topic we touched on during the logo design

phase but it still requires a little extra attention here. Beyond the

logo it’s important to keep the emotional triggers of colour flowing

throughout your identity. Here’s a few pointers...


Did you know, colour increases brand recognition by 80%?

A tight colour scheme will have you on the

right track for a successful identity.

Utilise the colours from within your logo

whenever possible. You need to have a pretty

good reason to use additional colours.

When a logo uses a limited amount of

colours and more are required to create an

awesome identity – shades are your friend.

When a logo uses just one colour and shades

aren’t the answer, by all means introduce another

colour or two. But make sure those colours do not

change, stay consistent at all costs.

Large amounts of text should never be seen in

super bright colours, it simply won’t be read.

Keep the colour scheme of your identity in-line

with the colours of your logo as much as possible.

More than 90% of buying decisions are influenced by

visual factors.


Style Guide: Protect your brand.

A style guide is a set of standards to safeguard your identity

from heading off the beaten track. It is essentially the guidelines

spelling out what can and cannot be done with your logo, as well as

supporting graphics, imagery, fonts and colours.

Soundcloud have created a fine example of what should be

displayed in a style guide. Here are a few pages to give you an idea...

For width smaller then ~80px use the side-by-side version instead of the stacked version.

SoundCloud is orange!We prefer the gradient version or the white version on an orange gradient background

In digital applications, don’t scale the logo; use only what you find here:

https://soundcloud.com/press

If you really can’t live without a special size, please ask Sarah:

[email protected]

SoundCloud Logo

SoundCloud Logo good use

A cloud needs air!At least 12.5% space in each direction around the logo.

Apply on monochrome and quiet areas. If you prepare a background, use only circles or rectangles.

min 125%100%

SoundCloud Logo bad use

Don’t modify our wordmark or add any other term

Use the gradient in the correct way

Don’t use on fuzzy background

Don’t turn, distort or recolor the logo

If you want to fail - scale

Please don’t build your own SoundCloud logo

SOUNDHOUND


Bringing your

IDENTITY TO LIFE

Post-groundwork.


Taking shape.

With the groundwork now in place it’s time to bring your

super-versatile identity to life, offline and online. We’re talking stationary,

marketing material, signage, websites, social media and more.

We thought what better way to carry us through this phase than to

simply show you a few examples of appealing identities already in

full swing. Check it out...

56How To Look A Million Bucks 56

Pencils

Letterhead

USB Sticks

CD Artwork

Business Cards

Website (Responsive)

Example 1 – Leichardt Group

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

2

3

4

5

66


Example 1 – (continued)

Report Cover

Vehicle Signage

With Compliment Slip

Advertising

7

78

8

9

9

10

10

How To Look A Million Bucks

Coffee Mug

Notepad

Business Card

Diary

Website (Responsive)

Example 2 - Hydroforce

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

5

5


When spreading your brand to the world wide web it is crucial to stay in-line with your

identity, both offline and online. Not only with your company website, but also when

branding your social media pages through display photos, cover photos and tabs etc.

This is what often separates the companies who look a million bucks and the

companies who don’t. It’s all about staying true to your brand and mastering the art of

consistency.

One company to master this extremely well is Baskin Robins. Flick through to see

how they have created an almost seamless transition between their website, Twitter

profile and Facebook page.

Joining the online world.


Example 3 - Baskin Robins

Company Website1 Facebook Fanpage3Twitter Profi le2

46% of people say a website’s design is the number one criterion discerning

the credibility of a company.


Where to from

FROM HERE

Growth resources.


Onwards and upwards.

Once you’ve established a kick-ass identity it’s time to get out there and be

found in front of your niche. How to do that exactly? Well that’s a story for

another day, but in the meantime you might like to peep some of our own

favourite growth resources to help you on your way.

Some of these sites we visit on a daily basis and have taught us massive

lessons about growing our own brand. Believe me, being on the front page

of Google isn’t everything. If you want to get creative and unleash the

entrepreneur spirit you will soon see there are plenty of other ways that are

just as effective, if not better. So with that being said...

Read. Listen. Watch.


Read plenty of quality blogs.

Quick Sprout Inc. Entrepreneur

The blog of content marketing beast

Neil Patel. Learn how to generate

BULK traffic!

The largest entrepreneurial network

in the world. Plenty of advice, tools

and services to help you grow.

Business ideas, trends, expert

advice and growth strategies for

small businesses.


Listen to inspiring podcasts.

Entrepreneur On Fire

Small Business, Big Marketing

Daily podcasts with entrepreneurs

from all parts of the world, at all

stages in life.

Australia’s no.#1 marketing show run

by industry veteran Tim Reid as he

speaks with other success stories.


Watch incredible videos.

Awesome for online startups, but

often similar strategies can be

applied to service companies too.

The home of incredible videos,

presuming you’re searching the

right topics... No cats!

Growth Hacker TV You Tube

Thank you for reading.


Great to see you again!

Well done making it all the way to the end. It shows you must

really care about your brand and I’m impressed.

I hope you now have a better understanding of not only how to

look a million bucks, but also how the creative side of a brand

identity comes together.

If you would like to know more about anything we touched on,

just shoot me an email at [email protected].

To your success,

Aaron Fifield – One Deep Design

Follow @aaronfifield

https://twitter.com/AaronFifield

Aaron Fifield

0403 566 743

[email protected]

To learn more visit: onedeepdesign.com.au

Creating exceptional brands for entrepreneurs.

http://onedeepdesign.com.au

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