Lateral thinking as a tool for everyday use
What is lateral thinking? Lateral thinking is looking for different solutions or alternatives for a problem, without thinking in the traditional way (linear thinking).
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Do not stick too much to what already exists: when rebranding or refreshing the brand, it is often difficult to imagine the brand with a different appearance because of the sentimental value it has, for example, changing a logo that was designed by the founder of the company.
We have had a great number of cases in which the new generations that are in charge of the business look for us to help them compete either in the national or international market. A very big mistake is not to get advice by experts; and to hold on to the idea of keeping the same logo, packaging or graphic line, because inevitably, the market evolves and so do consumers.
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Not being advised by experts and trusting people with less experience: branding is like a science and it is not based on trends but on the brand's personality. By trusting an inexperienced person, you will probably carry out the project based only on the graphic design and not on the branding itself.
In the long run, this can be detrimental to the brand when you want to print cards, change uniforms, make signs, etc. All this requires a big investment and it is even bigger if the work is done badly, because it would have to be changed and you will have to spend money again. That is why it is important to trust your branding to real experts.
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Do not confuse design with branding: branding covers many areas where design is an important part; but it is only one phase. Most people come to branding agencies looking for the creation of just a logo. This is a mistake, because a logo is not all that represents the brand. The brand has its personality, colors, points of contact with the client and many other things covered by branding that cannot be achieved with the logo alone.
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Do not trust the execution of your branding to inexperienced companies: many times a quality work is done in terms of concept, design, packaging, etc. Everything is standardized in a brand manual as it should be. However, when the time comes to execute it, the company resorts to the cheapest, whether printers, architects, digital agencies, etc.; this is the mistake because the strategy that was planned, the design that was made, will not be interpreted correctly and in the end the result is neither the desired nor the expected one.
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Not going through all the steps of branding: branding has a well defined process, first research and recollection of as much information as possible about what you want to do. The definition of a brand persona, design and creation of a brand book, are done, also the brand execution and the process begins again. A mistake that many companies make is to skip steps, for example they already have a defined logo and they want to use it as the base for their packaging, graphic line, etc. Sometimes the main problem is the logo so we have a faulty start. You cannot expect very good results if you do not go through the whole process.
If you want to know more about branding, visit www.pepper-design.net call us at (503) 21328888 or write us to our social networks.
