How to build a brand for free (part one)
Have you always wanted to create a top-notch brand identity—complete with name, logo, and tagline—but don’t have a clue how to get started? You could hire someone, but the best branding agencies will charge you thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars!
Finally, there is a solution. With my proprietary (patent pending) 10-step RandoBrand™ process, you can build your brand entirely for free! Interested? Of course you are. Let’s get started.
Step 1. Brand positioning core idea
Every element of your brand’s expression should be informed by a single, concise idea. To come up with your own idea (for free!), visit Cymbolism. On the left-hand side of the page, under “A. See the word,” you’ll…see a word. Remember that word and answer the question under “B. What color do you think of?” Now you should see a different word on the left.
Now, here it gets a little complicated. If your words are:
- Two nouns, your core idea is [NOUN1] & [NOUN2].
- An adjective and a noun, it’s [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN].
- Two adjectives, it’s [ADJECTIVE1] & [ADJECTIVE2]. Or, if possible, convert the first adjective to an adverb (e.g., “Vulnerable” to “Vulnerably”), and go with [ADVERB] [ADJECTIVE2]. Up to you.
Step 2. Primary color
Before leaving Cymbolism, answer the question again under “B. What color do you think of?” Now scroll down to the bottom and see how other people have answered. No matter what your answer was, try to figure out what the most common answer was for your second word. This is your brand’s primary color.
Step 3. Core values
Every brand needs core values. Your brand’s core values are Integrity, Respect, and Excellence. Obviously.
Step 4. Name
Naming firms will tell you this is a methodical process that takes a few months and often requires research, hundreds of name candidates, pre-screening for availability, and so on. Baloney. Just go to this website and click “Generate Name!” three times. Third time’s the charm. Highlight the name and copy it for use in the next step.
Step 5. Typeface
It’s important that your brand has a unique look, starting with a type treatment for the name. Go to MyFonts and roll over “Find Fonts” next to the MyFonts logo. Click on “Surprise Me.” This is your logotype. In the “Sample text” fill-in, paste your brand name from Step 4. Change the first letter to be lowercase. Hit enter. Change the color to your primary color (from Step 2) by using the small Color Picker next to “Fit to width.”
Save the image to your desktop and then paste it onto a blank PowerPoint slide (you’ll need PowerPoint 2007). Almost done.
Step 6. Logo (optional)
If your brand name feels like it needs a little visual embellishment—some don’t—create a logo. The easiest (and cheapest!) way to accomplish this is by choosing a random shape (Insert >> Shapes) in PowerPoint and inserting it next to your brand name. Not good at making decisions? Use your favorite number (less than 20) for the column and the month you were born for the row of the shape you use.
Double-click the shape to change its properties. Remove its outline and make its fill color complement your name. If you’re not good with colors, just make it the same color as your name, access the shape’s RGB values and switch any two values (R and B, for example).
The trendiest logos these days are 3-D, as proven by such brands as AT&T, Allstate, and Chevron. You of course want a trendy logo, so double-click your shape again and select “Shape Effects” (in the Format menu; again, this only works in PowerPoint 2007). Play around with 3-D rotation, Bevel, and Reflection until you see what you like. If you’re really getting into it you could even add another shape and combine them somehow. For fun, consider making the shapes slightly transparent. Don’t make it look silly, though. Remember that Excellence is one of your core values!
Step 7. Tagline
Go to Sloganizer.net and enter your brand name above the “Sloganize!” button. Click the button three times and take the best option out of those three. If possible, you may want to remove the brand name from the tagline (e.g., “NAME – today and tomorrow” becomes simply “today and tomorrow.”). Paste your tagline into the PowerPoint file beneath your brand name, in a smaller font. Make it the same color as the logo. All lowercase.
Step 8. Refine
Move things around a little until your logo lockup looks the way you want it to. Play with the positions of the elements with respect to each other, the size of everything, rotations, and so on. Refine as many times as you want—hey, it’s free!
Step 9. Post-rationalize.
You now have a core idea, core values, color palette, name, typeface, logo (optional), and tagline. Based on all of these components, decide what your company does, how it does it, what makes it different than its competitors, and why it matters to customers and other key audiences. If you need to go back and change anything, do so now.
Step 10. Evaluate the results.
Does your RandoBrand™ make any sense whatsoever? Have you created something that feels like it tells the story of your organization? Probably not. RandoBrands are just for fun, and don’t really have much of anything in common with brand strategy or corporate identity design. So, if you’re not 100% satisfied with what you’ve created, contact an expert, like one of the ones listed here or here.
For fun, here are two examples of the output of my 10-step RandoBrand process. Feel free to send me your best RandoBrands, and I’ll post them here.
Dabzoom: Sensible Passion
Voolium: Solid Library
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Great website, I will visit here more often.
Great Information!
Is this how The Gap made their new logo??? http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/companies/gap_logo/index.htm
Hi ? very good site you have created. I enjoyed reading this posting. I did want to write a remark to tell you that the design of this site is very aesthetically pleasing. I used to be a graphic designer, now I am a copy editor. I have always enjoyed working with computers and am trying to learn code in my spare time.
Rob, I’m thrilled that these new web-based automation tools have taken the messiness, drudgery and obtusity out of the branding and business-building process, for several very important reasons:
1) Collaboration is, well, hard — Why, just the other day, a partner at my firm emotionally exclaimed during a meeting, “Our employees don’t HAVE to think, they just have to LISTEN TO ME AND DO WHAT I TELL THEM!” When another partner suggested that this was rather Hitlerian, and that our people aren’t dogs, he shouted back, “IT’S MY COMPANY AND I’M HITLER, AND THEY ARE DOGS! THEY SHOULD COWER WHEN I WALK AROUND!”
2) Thinking is also, well, hard — I don’t want to harp on my current firm, but another senior partner’s ongoing language….uh….challenges are kept in a small notebook by his secretary, a running tally of just how….uh….challenging thinking about things is for some people. He recently asked her what U.S. states make up “New England”, how to spell the word, ‘taco”, and was insulted when several female employees complained that his overuse of words ending in “ck” have offended them and clients alike. So I think that the idea that certain cultural, geographic and language knowledge basics central for thinking are “in common”, or should be at certain levels, is nice but may in fact be wrong, confusing to people, or just too dang difficult.
3) Working is, well, to be perfectly honest, hard — In these crazy, it’s-all-about-me days with multiplying digital distractions, we all face a myriad of entertainment possibilities at the click of our interconnected fingers. Do we really have to ask all those questions, have all those meetings, and do all those ‘process maps” or “customer ethnographies”? The answer is: NO! Which frees up more time for me and my entertainment needs, and that means there’s one more happy, entertained person on the planet. Who, then, really needs branding?
This is a program that I’m certain meets the pressing needs of so many dull, entitled, and uncooperative Americans that it’s sure to take off in a big way. All I can say is “Voolium Dabzoom” to you!
[ Keep up the great work. Love and read your stuff always. Best, Paul ]
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This is hilarious. Makes a point about why dabzoom can sound like toilet-wipes and cotton candy at the same time.