The Importance of Branding: Article

But never really focused on building a brand image. It was more like, you know, bits and pieces and various different areas of fashion communication and I found out that I loved all of that. And after uni I began to wonder, what do I choose now? It seemed like I wanted to find a job that involved graphic design, but also concept development, art direction, photography prints. So basically everything that I was studying. And after a few months of searching for the job that best suited me, that’s in Italy, because I studied in Rome, I’m from Italy, from South of Italy. Then I received an email from my former teacher of art direction at uni asking if I was interested in an internship opportunity in London, where his branding studio is. So I had my interview. I got the job and moved to London and that’s where I found my passion and my passion for and interest in branding.

I remember during my internship, I was working crazy hours. And not only because the studio was busy, but because I wanted to. I wanted to absorb and learn as much as I could from that environment . I wanted to test different ways of crafting and expressing concepts, was really interesting. So that’s how, that was my first encounter with branding.

Muaz

Oh, amazing. So it sounds like quite a journey from that internship in branding to opening your own, to in effect opening up your own agency. So what did that journey involve? 

Debora 

So the thing is that the magic around branding is that it challenges you to push the design element forward. That’s what I loved, no. And translating these brand pillars into graphic design, visual images and whatever, whatever else the brand needs to push the visual identity and communicate better. And that’s why I loved it, because it included everything. I was looking for it. So since that internship I never stopped working in branding.

And after some years of freelancing, because after my internship, I had my first clients as a freelance. I decided to build this creative space, which is my own consultancy that is called Heima Design and with Heima, I offer branding services, graphic design, digital development, but also consulting for young entrepreneurs and small businesses that have great ideas, but want to figure out how to achieve certain goals within their business. So how this, this journey happened, it happened quite, quite naturally if I, if I may say. Because after my internship, I did my first job as a freelance. I wasn’t really looking for it. It happened by meeting people, connecting with people. That is something that really, really helped me to find, still now to find, to find projects, to work with brands and, to learn because that’s also the beauty of it, of connecting with, with others, also with other groups that are not in your comfort area.

Muaz 

Absolutely. So building a network was quite important in not only in the early stages, but now? 

Debora 

It is, it is definitely, it was really important for me at the beginning because it helped me to figure out what I wanted. I knew I wanted to work in branding, but of course, you know working, connecting with other people, you find jobs and you also find other points of views. You find other professionals, other creatives that’re working in the same fields or slightly different fields. And that is a process of growth also, to speak with others and listen to other stories and see whether this connection can bring projects, collaborations and growth in any sense.

So that’s definitely something that played an important role in my career. The, not being, you know, afraid of reaching out to people. They’re people like you, and there’s no reason why we should be stopped by anything. In connecting to companies that we want to connect with to show our work, to tell them that where we exist, we in our work exist.

Muaz

So you mentioned that you’ve worked with like a range of different brands, entrepreneurs. So. When you work with a particular brand what is, what is your creative process? So how do you take the idea that the brand comes to you with, or the idea that a company comes to you with and basically run with it and go from, from that idea and take it to fruition, to the final product that you deliver?

Debora

Yeah. So none of my branding projects start if I don’t have a good knowledge of the brand and the people that make the brand. It is really important in the creative process, as well as an understanding of the purpose. Why do their brand exist and what do they want it to mean for the people they serve?

I tend to stress this very much. As I believe in the fundamental part in this, it’s a real, real important part of the process. Building brands, having no clue about their purpose, it’s like designing blind, you know, with no sense of direction. And it can end up being some beautiful abstract art, but not a brand.

So. That’s definitely something really, really important, as a first phase of the creative process. And that’s whether you talk to a private client or working in-house for, for a brand. There was always something to learn and that you must learn before designing. And at this point after this first phase there is research, which is also really important. And research in the most wide sense. Research of similar brands that exist to see what’s working for them, what’s not working for them. And, here comes what I really love doing, which is what we know as a mood board. I tend to propose two or three different brand directions of how the visual identity could feel like and that really helps the client as well to visualize the personality, whether we go for a vibrant, modern look or, or something else. 

And once we have this understanding, which also helps you and the client, as I said, visualizing and not going again blind on the project… What I do with sketching ideas in a brainstorming kind of way, writing down the brand pillars, the values and key elements that represent the projects . I turn them into other related words and feelings, into colors , into possible shapes. And that is all the beginning of the visual process. That’s where I start to visualize stuff. And then I decide to test the concept that feels more right and prepare a visual presentation of it for my client. That’s where, of course everything becomes digital and I transfer what I need, what I sketched on my laptop  and work on it with illustrator, with Photoshop, InDesign, really depends on the, on the project that’s to be done. At this stage also I would already have an idea of the production costs. If any of that is required, for example, in printing. Sometimes I work within a team, sometimes I brief other designers to work with me,  sometimes I work individually. That really depends on the projects and budgets of the client. 

Muaz 

So in your mind or in your experience, what makes a successful brand, there were elements of cohesiveness that you mentioned. So having a good understanding of their story, having an understanding of their purpose . If you were to describe that, what, what would your description be of a successful brand? 

Debora: 

I think it’s a, it’s a quite a mix of, of different things that are really important, I believe for a brand to be successful. And one of those that I really believe in is being honest. If a brand is being honest and it’s being honest with its purpose, following it and really, really showing to their, their targets and the world what they really are. That’s going to have a much more chance to last; compared to a brand that is really, really beautiful, has amazing visual identity, amazing visual graphics and communication, but it doesn’t feel honest to its target and its audience. I think that’s really an important value for a brand. And something else that I believe is also very important is having a vision. So if you’re building a brand a little bit, as I mentioned before, if you build a brand that doesn’t look far, that doesn’t look at the future, having a lot of other things in consideration, which is communities, is people and really serving that group of people. Also, it’s not, it’s not guaranteed that that brand is going to really make a difference.

And I think a beautiful thing of what brands are starting to do right now is really build meaningful products, meaningful projects. That’s really, really beautiful what we see, what we’re seeing now comparing to years, years ago. 

Muaz 

Do you have an example of a brand that does this really well? 

Debora 

Trying to think of a brand that is doing something like that really well right now. What I can mention actually which is something that we discussed also during our first call, which is a project I had the chance to work on and I really, really enjoyed working on it is, rebranding for Rimmel London. That was a really important moment to join the team and the company, because the company really shifted from being a nineties edgy and very, very bold and strong look and identity to giving a much more natural look and inviting girls to just leave the perfection and just be themselves. Also in terms of makeup and their look, so to really trust their personality and having this acceptance of themselves. 

Muaz 

So how do you think that Rimmel did this well? So are there particular steps? So like one was definitely the message, the message behind it, which was, which was really important. It became more inclusive. It looked at who its current customers were and what they were after. And, and it ran with that, which is amazing. But are there steps that you saw, which allowed them to effectively execute on that? 

Debora 

I think the most direct way for them to communicate that was through imageries. So building a kind of visual image that is completely different from what they had before. It’s more natural. It’s more fun in the most, again, natural, natural way. And when you see in photos and campaigns, social media imageries, and in videos, a certain kind of  image as a… as a person that might want to buy that product you, want to recognize yourself  in what you see in that advertising, in social media. And I think definitely what they did really, really well is to really shift images, the way that they communicate with, with images and videos as well. 

Muaz 

Oh, perfect. So if you were to give advice to someone that was starting out in branding. So if, if you could talk to yourself, when you were starting off as an intern, is there something you would have done differently to help you speed you along your way? So like what are key skills that are useful to people entering this industry? 

Debora 

Yeah, definitely. There are some things that, of course, looking back, you find out just after, after a few years of experience and I really appreciate to have this moment to share. This, these things and little tips and suggestions that can help someone else. So one of it can definitely be to find your way to approach the work . If you start thinking and creating as anybody else does, following trends, especially they will not be rewarding in the long run. And it will not create diversification that this world really needs to celebrate, now more than ever. And especially during this moment we’re living, diversifying your work will give you more, also more visibility if you’re looking for a job at the moment. That means find your own style that speaks for you.

And if most of your office work… if you’re in a job that doesn’t allow you at the moment to express yourself, then you’ve got to find your way to experiment. So again, reach out to people, collaborate on projects you love and if that means do some extra work hours or some free projects if you’re just starting out for a cause you believe in just, just do it, experiment and have fun in the process.  And also again, if you’d like to know what worked for me was, again, connecting  with the right people, getting in touch with the company. Never be shy to present your work and just be proud of your work, do something that you really, really love. 

Muaz 

Perfect. That all sounds like great advice. And funnily enough, that is something that would be useful regardless of the career you actually pursue. So with a lot of our advisory that we provide for a lot of the brands that we work with, we find that they’re sometimes too scared to experiment. And as a result, they end up looking like everyone else and yeah. And then there’s no way for them to stand out and for people to pick them over someone else. So it also works for brands, for people that work for brands. So you could have creative directors, art directors who are just so used to working in a particular way. And sometimes they don’t realize that they need to start thinking about the world differently because at some point, if you’re not standing out, people don’t have a reason to pick you over someone else.

So that is really good advice. And that is, that lines up with advice we often give to people as well when we’re working with them. That it is not in your best interest to be like everyone else. But there’s fear involved because once you stick your head out, you know, there’s a, there’s a chance people might not like what they see, but, but then… But you know, that’s part of the risk.  And if you don’t risk anything, you will, there’s no way to like, improve your skills if you’re not testing them all the time, if you’re not trying different things, if you’re not trying things that you’re not, not comfortable with. So I completely agree with that. 

Debora 

Yes, certainly.  Also what I see when I want to hire other graphic designers, brand designers,  to work with me on projects. There are some that are really, really talented. I see that. But I can also see some others that have maybe a little bit less experience, but I can see the passion that they put into their work, as in the journey of experimentation that brought some diversification to their work. You can recognize when something is really, really their own style and when something, something is looking as a copy of other million things that you saw. And I get it. I get it because when I started as well, I had my examples, you know, in, in graphic designs. People that are really, really appreciated and loved in terms of you know, creativity and what they were doing. So it was really following them and sometimes you can kind of crash into that moment of, okay, I’m creating something, but maybe it’s not as good as this person did because that person has a little bit more experience, is more famous, is better maybe in what he’s doing. That is not necessarily true. You gotta have your own, your own style because I also think that us as graphic designers we really choose this job. And there was a lot of passion around creating so there is no point in making something that is looking like someone else’s work. So let this passion speak for, for you and yeah, bring it out. Experiment.

You can find Debora online at:

• Website: www.heimaheima.com
• Email: welcome@heimaheima.com

You can listen to the whole interview podcast over on our podcast page or by clicking here at The Importance of Branding.