Frequently asked questions

Branding

Question: How does branding provide a competitive advantage?

Answer: Branding provides a competitive advantage by consistently communicating a clear message to your target audience about the benefits you offer, your core values and why you are different or better than your competitors. This builds credibility, trust, brand awareness, recognition and customer loyalty.

Question: Why are brand guidelines important?

Answer: Brand guidelines are important because they integrate your brand identity into the way your business communicates with employees, clients and suppliers at every touchpoint. Consistently building and maintaining the integrity of your brand and projecting the right brand message.

Without them, inconsistencies and mixed messages will dilute your brand identity and damage your brand reputation.

Question: What are the most common branding challenges?

Answer: Within every branding challenge, there is an opportunity to learn and adapt. To identify what your branding needs to start doing, stop doing, continue doing or improve upon.

Common branding challenges are:

  • Keeping pace with market trends and customers’ needs
  • Maintaining a cohesive and consistent brand message
  • Integrating branding into every communication touchpoint in your business
  • Ensuring that business growth is in alignment with your branding
  • Keeping your brand relevant in dynamic markets where consumer behaviour is changing
  • Pressure to invest resources in short-term tactics rather than in long-term strategic branding

Question: What are branding touchpoints?

Answer: Branding touchpoints are the communication points where customers come into contact with your brand (pre-purchase, post-purchase and after-sale). People form perceptions about your brand based on their experience at these touchpoints.

For example – website, social media, blog, video, email, telephone, letter, brochure, business card, leaflet, proposal, networking, presentation, point of sale, vehicle, signage, customer service.

Branding touchpoints are also the communication points where your employees and suppliers come into contact with your brand.

For example – recruitment, HR, finance, internal communications, staff conference, signage, stationery, office environment.

The ‘seven points of contact marketing’ rule states that people need to be exposed to branding touchpoints seven times before they will be ready to purchase from you, so it is important that your touchpoints are working for and not against you.

Graphic Design

Question: Why is graphic design important for any business?

Answer: Graphic design is important for any business because it communicates your brand message with immediate impact that cuts through communication barriers and leaves a lasting impression in the minds of your target customers. This is reinforced every time they come into contact with your business.

Question: How does graphic design solve problems?

Answer: Good graphic design is all about creative problem-solving. Taking a visual, experiential or communication problem and turning it into a tailored design solution that meets the needs of the target audience, conveys the right brand message, makes a good impression and inspires the desired outcome/action.

Question: What’s the difference between graphic design and web design?

Answer: While graphic design and web design share the same principles and techniques to communicate ideas visually, they are different because they have to adapt to the specifications of the medium that they will be published and consumed in.

Each medium comes with its own set of design considerations that designers must take into account before implementing their design ideas. What will work offline may not work online and vice-versa.

Question: What is the graphic design process?

Answer:

  1. Briefing – The graphic design process starts with the creative brief. A document completed by the client that defines the brand essence, objectives and scope of the creative design project. Where possible, it should also include insights gained from competitor analysis and target market research.
  2. Brainstorming – The designer generates ideas.
  3. Concepts – The designer gives the client a selection of design concept routes.
  4. Feedback – The client gives feedback and chooses a concept that the designer will refine and tweak into the final design.
  5. Approval – The client approves the final design.
  6. Production – The final design is developed into finished artwork that the designer supplies to the client in file formats covering all aspects of usage from print to web.