As a graphic designer, I have a few experiences working on a new brand, from nothing to everything. Typically, we first understand the client’s needs and wants. We start creating the brand idea, brand personality. After setting the tone of the brand, then we start designing the brand identity. The whole design process primarily relies on our own experience and preference, what we think is suitable for the client, and what we want to tell the audience. I do feel something missing in the working process, and it is the reason why I will take this master course. After all eight lessons, I think I get a clear picture of branding.
First, in lesson one about communication, it is important for me to learn the communication model. We usually care about the message we want to say to people and seldom care about how the receiver decodes the message and noises that can affect both the encode and decode process. It has given me an understanding of what we should consider through the communication process, what we should do in graphics.
Lesson three is indeed a mind-blowing lesson for me to learn the foundation of branding. Other than what we do “Brand Idea” and “Brand personality” in our previous projects, there are a more complete essence and pyramid to makes the brand foundation more solid. I think it is not just a tool for us to design. It is also a great way to communicate with the client, giving a clear vision of the project and branding. Besides, knowledge of brand equity and customer-based brand equity really helps us bring out the brand’s essential element, focusing on visualizing it. The brand audit exercise can train me up on how we see other brands, and maybe we can get more ideas from other brands.
Another helpful lesson is social minding and text analysis. To be honest, we usually won’t have much time on doing a survey on branding projects. Using the text analysis skills, we can have a basic concept of what the customer thinks about a specific product or service to create a precise key message for the brand or advertising job.
Finally, the co-creation project gives me a good experience reflecting on what I learn from lessons to create my own projects from zero. It is a critical way to see where I am in the way of branding design.
After eight lessons in Research and Communication, It truly changes my way of seeing branding. I know I am still a baby in this field, but it makes me interested in developing my brand management skill, which may be my unique selling point as a graphic design.
