please summarize the follow transcript

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript
# Full Course - Branding from Scratch
# https://www.youtube.com/watch/QuQVpNuRmd4

00:00:00.060 what if you could sit down with someone
00:00:01.920 who's been running a design Agency for
00:00:04.019 eight years and they would tell you
00:00:05.460 every single secret about how they run
00:00:07.379 their business most creative projects
00:00:09.240 have the same five stages but I want to
00:00:12.120 go behind the scenes and show you
00:00:13.799 everything that actually goes into
00:00:15.839 making a design agency run smoothly
00:00:20.400 before we actually start I just wanted
00:00:22.080 to talk about why I think it's such a
00:00:23.880 good idea to have a really clear design
00:00:26.039 process
00:00:27.119 first off you can templatize all your
00:00:29.340 work so it makes everything faster and
00:00:31.800 easier you also start becoming really
00:00:33.660 good at spawning questions that often
00:00:35.520 come up and you can start to prevent
00:00:37.440 those things from becoming an issue you
00:00:39.540 also become a lot more confident and
00:00:41.280 calmer and I think this is especially
00:00:43.320 important if you have imposter syndrome
00:00:45.600 or sometimes don't feel so confident
00:00:47.219 about your design process because if you
00:00:49.620 have a clear process to follow then that
00:00:52.320 little voice that is inside of your head
00:00:54.059 can be a little bit more quiet because
00:00:56.219 you've seen that it works before
00:00:58.140 you can also charge a more accurate
00:01:00.000 price because you can start to see how
00:01:02.160 long a project will actually take
00:01:03.719 because you can plan better you can take
00:01:05.820 on more work which means you will make
00:01:07.619 more money and lastly you can also save
00:01:09.659 a lot of money because you avoid scope
00:01:11.520 creep and that is something that can be
00:01:13.680 a really big part of running a design
00:01:15.479 business scope creep is just any time
00:01:17.580 when you have to do more work than you
00:01:19.619 actually plan for but you can't charge
00:01:21.479 for it so let's get into part one
00:01:23.520 everything that actually happens before
00:01:25.500 you start the project the very first
00:01:27.540 step is the initial conversation and
00:01:29.880 this is just to make sure that you and
00:01:31.500 your client are a good fit for each
00:01:33.060 other you want to make sure that you ask
00:01:34.619 about things like timelines budgets and
00:01:37.259 if they're looking for a specific style
00:01:38.759 because this can really help determine
00:01:41.220 if you will be the right fit for them in
00:01:43.259 the same way you also want to make sure
00:01:44.640 you ask questions to show if they're a
00:01:46.500 good fit for you so for me for example I
00:01:49.380 really care about my clients working
00:01:51.060 seriously on their sustainability goals
00:01:53.340 and that they're not trying to do any
00:01:55.200 green washing this call is usually quite
00:01:57.479 quick like 1 20 to 30 minutes and I like
00:02:00.180 to prepare some questions that I'm going
00:02:01.619 to ask beforehand for a lot of the
00:02:03.659 projects these questions are the same
00:02:05.280 and you start to get in the groove of
00:02:06.840 which questions to ask but if they have
00:02:09.239 a specific requirement like maybe they
00:02:11.640 really want illustrations or maybe they
00:02:13.980 have an app that they want the brand to
00:02:15.599 be integrated into then I might have
00:02:17.520 some specific questions as well the goal
00:02:20.040 here is to gather as much information as
00:02:21.840 we can that will be useful when we
00:02:23.760 create the proposal so that we can
00:02:25.620 really tailor that proposal and make it
00:02:27.599 a really really convincing and good fit
00:02:29.520 for our clients here are some typical
00:02:31.379 things that I like to ask what does your
00:02:33.360 business do and who is your target
00:02:35.280 audience what is your current brand
00:02:37.140 right now look like and are there parts
00:02:39.239 that you maybe like or don't like that
00:02:41.220 you would like to change I also want to
00:02:42.959 ask if they have a timeline and budget
00:02:44.640 and if they don't I'd like to suggest
00:02:46.920 roughly what it would look like so maybe
00:02:49.560 I can have a range of prices for let's
00:02:52.080 say the budget or say okay well it
00:02:54.540 typically takes six to eight weeks to do
00:02:56.220 a branding project just so that we can
00:02:58.019 you know that we're a good fit and
00:02:59.940 you're not spending lots of time
00:03:01.200 creating a proposal for a client that
00:03:03.239 just can't afford you or is looking for
00:03:04.860 something different if you notice that
00:03:06.959 the price is too high for them what you
00:03:09.000 can do is either you can say okay well
00:03:10.980 we're not a good fit or you can see if
00:03:13.379 you can talk to them about changing the
00:03:15.120 scope of the projects maybe they've
00:03:17.159 asked for lots of social media templates
00:03:19.260 and you could actually just remove that
00:03:21.180 and do that at a later stage and just
00:03:22.800 focus on the core branding for example I
00:03:25.080 also like to mention my general process
00:03:27.060 so the different stages we're going to
00:03:28.560 go through because this makes sure that
00:03:30.659 my client is aware of what's expected
00:03:33.120 from them what they can expect from me
00:03:35.280 and it makes it much easier for them if
00:03:37.680 they need to prepare any files or let's
00:03:40.200 say check for testimonials or their
00:03:42.420 website traffic to see if there's
00:03:43.980 anything I need to create the brand and
00:03:45.840 do my research the very last thing I
00:03:48.060 like to ask in this meeting is if I
00:03:49.860 missed something so sometimes client
00:03:52.560 might bring up something super
00:03:53.940 interesting that you just never knew to
00:03:55.860 ask and this is super helpful when we're
00:03:57.840 getting that proposal and sometimes they
00:04:00.420 just say no you covered everything and
00:04:02.580 in that case I think it is kind of a way
00:04:04.799 for your client to feel like okay this
00:04:07.319 designer has really asked me everything
00:04:09.360 they really do know what they're doing
00:04:11.159 so either way you have a really good
00:04:13.319 benefit from just asking that simple
00:04:14.939 question did I miss something at the end
00:04:17.220 of the call I always give a date when
00:04:19.560 I'm going to send the proposal so they
00:04:21.060 know exactly what to expect and it might
00:04:23.580 sound something like this thank you so
00:04:25.560 much for your call today I'm really
00:04:27.300 excited to get started I'm gonna put
00:04:28.919 together a proposal and send that over
00:04:30.540 to you on Tuesday it's going to have the
00:04:33.180 timeline the project budget and some
00:04:35.400 examples of my work does that sound okay
00:04:37.380 so that can be how you can put it to
00:04:39.540 your client for example so now that we
00:04:41.460 have all this key information and we
00:04:42.900 know that the client is a good fit it's
00:04:44.520 time to create the proposal I have a
00:04:46.500 template for this and that makes it so
00:04:48.300 much easier and quicker to just focus on
00:04:50.040 the sections that I need to customize
00:04:51.600 for this specific client and I don't
00:04:53.820 have to focus on sections like about us
00:04:56.520 or talking about for example formatting
00:04:59.100 or designing the proposal so having a
00:05:01.380 template is a really good idea to make
00:05:03.660 life a little bit easier for you I've
00:05:05.220 actually created a template that's
00:05:06.600 completely for free that you can
00:05:07.860 download as well so I'll make sure to
00:05:09.540 add that down in the description I
00:05:11.460 thought it might be helpful if I walk
00:05:12.780 you through my actual proposal template
00:05:15.060 in an example so that you can see the
00:05:17.220 sections that I include and why I choose
00:05:19.320 to include them the first section is a
00:05:21.780 simple cover page with a client name and
00:05:24.180 what the project is and an index page
00:05:26.699 and this is just to make sure that I'm
00:05:28.380 giving my clients an overview of exactly
00:05:30.660 what they can expect to see in this
00:05:32.160 proposal here is also a great
00:05:33.960 opportunity to put any limitations like
00:05:36.120 you could put something that this
00:05:37.620 proposal is only valid for 30 days for
00:05:39.780 example to make sure that your client
00:05:41.520 doesn't come back like two years later
00:05:43.139 and is asking for the price that you
00:05:44.820 charged two years ago if you want your
00:05:46.919 pricing or some of your other details to
00:05:49.199 be private you can also make sure that
00:05:51.360 you add something like this proposal is
00:05:53.820 confidential so please don't share it
00:05:55.979 with other companies next up is the
00:05:58.199 section that I usually put the most time
00:05:59.940 into and this is the brief section here
00:06:02.639 I have have two sections within it so I
00:06:05.820 have basically what they're looking for
00:06:07.620 and then I have my Approach and this is
00:06:10.259 just a way to show that I have listened
00:06:12.240 I know exactly what they're looking for
00:06:14.100 and I'm giving a little bit of expertise
00:06:16.080 here since we haven't been paid yet and
00:06:18.120 we don't know if the project is going to
00:06:19.440 go forward I don't want to suggest any
00:06:21.120 actual design decisions but let's say I
00:06:23.400 know that I'm working with a startup
00:06:24.840 that is going to have VC funding then I
00:06:27.240 might say something like we want to make
00:06:28.800 sure that the brand is going to work
00:06:30.120 equally for customers investors and
00:06:33.240 partners for example this just shows
00:06:35.220 that you're adding a little bit of
00:06:36.900 expertise to the project and you are
00:06:39.360 customizing this proposal for them
00:06:40.979 you're not just sending something that
00:06:42.300 is very generic next up is work samples
00:06:45.120 and this is basically hand-picked
00:06:46.979 projects that I have worked on that I
00:06:49.319 think would be really relevant to them
00:06:51.060 so if you've worked with the same
00:06:53.100 industry let's say a lot maybe you work
00:06:55.020 with Realtors a lot then you could put
00:06:57.240 other projects that you've done for
00:06:58.560 realtors to show I know the space and
00:07:00.900 look at all this amazing work that I've
00:07:02.639 done for for these companies but maybe
00:07:05.160 this is a new Niche where you haven't
00:07:06.660 done anything or maybe you're really new
00:07:08.699 to design and you don't actually have
00:07:10.199 something in the same industry that's
00:07:12.180 totally fine what I usually do then is I
00:07:14.759 add something where the deliverables are
00:07:16.979 very similar and I use the description
00:07:19.139 of the project like the challenge and
00:07:21.360 the solution to bring out things that
00:07:23.699 are helpful to them so maybe this client
00:07:26.039 is looking for a design of social media
00:07:27.960 templates or proposals and you've done
00:07:30.060 that for another client and then you can
00:07:31.740 say this is how we approach social media
00:07:34.020 templates for this other company this
00:07:36.300 shows that you have experience and that
00:07:38.340 you really think about the projects that
00:07:40.259 you design you're not just putting
00:07:41.580 something beautiful out there but
00:07:43.139 there's a strategy behind it next up I
00:07:45.720 dive into the project scope and if there
00:07:48.000 are multiple parts to the project like
00:07:49.680 let's say a brand and we're also looking
00:07:51.599 for a web design then I like to have one
00:07:54.120 page for each the more details that you
00:07:56.699 get here the less problems you will have
00:07:59.039 in a project basically you want to get
00:08:01.259 really nitty-gritty here and I'll saying
00:08:03.419 exactly what's included and what's not
00:08:05.280 included this will help you build a
00:08:07.259 great relationship with your client
00:08:08.460 because you won't have any
00:08:09.419 misunderstandings or confusing moments
00:08:11.639 in the project you also avoid a lot of
00:08:14.039 scope creep because everything is just
00:08:16.020 really outlined for example if I'm doing
00:08:18.180 branding I might make a list of items
00:08:20.580 are included that are deliverables like
00:08:22.500 logo design colors photography style
00:08:24.780 illustration or icon design but I also
00:08:27.599 like to include things that are a little
00:08:29.699 bit less about a deliverable and more of
00:08:31.500 a feature so for example I organize all
00:08:34.500 of the different files for both print
00:08:36.059 and digital use in different folders and
00:08:39.059 I share that with a client so that they
00:08:41.399 have everything on the cloud and
00:08:42.839 everything is easy to find and clearly
00:08:44.520 organized so that's something that I
00:08:46.020 could bring up as well I can't stress
00:08:48.000 enough how important it is that you're
00:08:49.920 really really clear on this page let's
00:08:51.839 say you're designing templates how many
00:08:53.820 templates for what platforms if you're
00:08:56.279 offering revisions how many rounds of
00:08:58.140 revisions because this page is really
00:09:00.120 going to help you as you move through
00:09:01.380 the project next up we have the the
00:09:03.240 project timeline and I like to do a
00:09:05.160 couple different things here I know some
00:09:07.080 people really like to put the actual
00:09:08.580 dates because it makes it a lot easier
00:09:10.200 to plan but what I've noticed is that
00:09:12.420 there are so many factors that can
00:09:13.980 impact the start of the project so your
00:09:16.680 client might be delaying an answer or
00:09:19.500 saying yes or maybe they're switching
00:09:21.120 people around at the company and it just
00:09:22.740 takes longer to get started so what I
00:09:25.200 like to do is to put how long each stage
00:09:27.180 of the design process is going to take
00:09:28.800 for each stage I'd like to explain what
00:09:31.380 the stage is why we do it what they can
00:09:34.080 expect from us and what we're expecting
00:09:35.880 from them so if we need anything at a
00:09:38.279 certain time I like to put that here
00:09:39.839 letting your client know all these
00:09:41.519 things up front means that it's much
00:09:43.320 easier for them to prepare anything that
00:09:45.060 they need to do and it's much more
00:09:46.920 likely that the project is actually
00:09:48.480 keeping to the timeline that you are
00:09:50.100 planning out last up is the project
00:09:52.140 budget and I always like to offer a
00:09:54.060 couple options here if we're just
00:09:55.860 offering One Price we're basically
00:09:57.480 competing against all the other
00:09:58.860 designers but if we're offering multiple
00:10:01.320 options we're kind of competing
00:10:02.700 immigrants ourselves so I think that's
00:10:04.440 super helpful let's say for example that
00:10:06.899 your client is really interested in
00:10:08.160 branding but maybe they're a little bit
00:10:10.260 Unsure how much they want to spend for
00:10:11.940 their budget they have a range but
00:10:13.860 they're interested in seeing what you
00:10:15.300 can offer in that case you could do
00:10:17.339 three different packages so the first
00:10:19.560 package could be let's say logo design
00:10:21.360 and visual language the second option
00:10:23.279 you could add brand strategy and maybe
00:10:25.620 the third one you keep everything you
00:10:27.420 did for the first two packages but you
00:10:29.399 also add let's say templates or website
00:10:31.560 design for example
00:10:33.000 that way your client can see okay
00:10:35.100 actually you know what strategy sounds
00:10:36.959 like a really good idea let's go for the
00:10:39.000 middle option for example once the
00:10:40.800 proposal is ready I always make sure to
00:10:43.019 spell check it and read it through to
00:10:44.700 make sure everything sounds really good
00:10:46.019 then I export it and I send it to my
00:10:49.019 client as a PDF one of four things can
00:10:51.300 happen either they can say no they can
00:10:54.300 push back on price they can ghost you
00:10:56.399 and not answer or they can say yes so
00:10:58.920 let's have a think about what we can do
00:11:00.180 in each of those four scenarios if they
00:11:02.880 say no that's totally fine you can say
00:11:04.800 okay great we're not a good fit thank
00:11:06.899 you so much for considering working with
00:11:08.459 me if you ever want to work together in
00:11:10.079 the future please just let me know if
00:11:12.240 they push back on price you can either
00:11:13.740 just say no those are my prices or you
00:11:16.680 can see if you can change the scope but
00:11:18.600 please don't lower your prices I know it
00:11:20.820 can be really tempting when you're just
00:11:22.019 starting out but it's never a good idea
00:11:24.180 for you let's say you start working with
00:11:26.220 a client and they start expecting those
00:11:27.720 low prices means you can't focus on
00:11:30.180 marketing and getting those real dream
00:11:31.860 clients but also for the design industry
00:11:34.440 as a whole if we all start kind of
00:11:36.600 undercutting each other it makes it
00:11:38.760 really difficult for everyone if they
00:11:40.620 ghost you meaning that they don't answer
00:11:42.120 for let's say a couple weeks then what I
00:11:44.880 like to do is I'd like to follow up once
00:11:46.860 or twice and just check in let me see if
00:11:49.680 they had any questions about the
00:11:50.880 proposal and if they still haven't
00:11:52.620 answered you that's totally fine I would
00:11:54.540 say leave it at that and then maybe they
00:11:56.940 come back in the future if they say yes
00:11:58.980 that's great then we're ready to move on
00:12:00.779 to the next stage which is invoice
00:12:02.100 missing and design contracts for the
00:12:04.620 invoicing I won't say much more than the
00:12:06.959 fact that I think you should charge at
00:12:09.180 least 50 up front this means that the
00:12:11.640 client shows that they're invested and
00:12:13.320 you also have a bit of money that you
00:12:14.820 can use while you work on the project so
00:12:17.220 it's like a runway for yourself every
00:12:19.500 country has really different rules
00:12:21.060 around accounting so I don't want to
00:12:22.800 give any advice that isn't accurate for
00:12:24.360 you but in my case I use an accounting
00:12:26.640 software because it's easy and I have a
00:12:29.279 numbered series of invoices and I can
00:12:31.260 always go back and find the invoice for
00:12:33.120 my clients for the design contracts or
00:12:35.579 design agreements my version is
00:12:37.860 basically a customized and shortened
00:12:39.600 version of the IGA contract template so
00:12:42.660 I'll make sure to link that down in the
00:12:44.279 description if you want to go check out
00:12:45.600 the whole one but I thought I would talk
00:12:47.279 you through the sections I've chosen to
00:12:48.839 include and how I've modified them just
00:12:51.240 to make sure that you have an idea of
00:12:52.980 something that is great to get started
00:12:54.480 with again I'm not a lawyer so I don't
00:12:57.300 want to give you legal advice but these
00:12:59.220 are basically a really good foundation
00:13:00.660 that have helped me through my eight
00:13:02.700 nine years of working as a designer this
00:13:05.160 design contract is something that I
00:13:06.480 created in Adobe InDesign and when I
00:13:08.519 have a new client all I do is command F
00:13:11.040 and I find the client name and then I
00:13:13.079 just replace that with my new client
00:13:14.459 name so basically that way it's super
00:13:16.860 easy to update the contract and then I
00:13:19.200 just have to export it and have them
00:13:20.940 sign it so the very first section is
00:13:23.339 just an intro saying what the client
00:13:24.959 name is our legal name the date and the
00:13:27.779 scope of the project so maybe it's
00:13:29.760 branding or branding and website design
00:13:31.680 for example just to give an outline of
00:13:33.779 what the project is and this is also
00:13:35.700 good in case you have multiple projects
00:13:37.380 with the same client next up we have a
00:13:39.540 section called work this section is all
00:13:41.459 about saying that we are the ones who
00:13:43.260 are producing the work it's original
00:13:44.700 free of plagiarism and then we won't
00:13:47.160 Outsource the work to someone without
00:13:48.720 telling our clients so this is just a
00:13:51.000 protective class to show that we are
00:13:53.160 taking responsibility for the work one
00:13:56.220 key addition that we made ourselves in
00:13:58.019 this area was to make sure that we
00:14:00.120 mentioned that if something big changes
00:14:02.220 in the company that we're working with
00:14:03.779 let's say they changed their company
00:14:05.459 name halfway through the project or they
00:14:08.040 change their target audience for example
00:14:09.720 we will have to revisit the scope and
00:14:12.120 renegotiate the budget and we did this
00:14:14.339 because we had a couple projects where
00:14:16.079 the client actually did change the
00:14:17.639 company name halfway through a branding
00:14:19.440 project and that makes it really
00:14:21.120 difficult so of course we have to redo a
00:14:23.459 lot of work the tone of the brand could
00:14:25.079 be different the actual logo will need
00:14:27.060 to be different and it felt a little bit
00:14:29.519 awkward to renegotiate the price because
00:14:31.380 we didn't have anything in our contract
00:14:33.000 that said that we couldn't just include
00:14:34.920 it in the original so we added this just
00:14:37.260 to make sure that we feel comfortable
00:14:39.300 and that everyone's on the same page
00:14:40.860 next up we have a section called
00:14:42.480 confidentiality and this is basically
00:14:44.639 stating that we understand that we are
00:14:47.220 taking part of information that the
00:14:49.079 client is sharing that they might not
00:14:51.240 want competitors to know about things
00:14:53.339 like their production process their
00:14:55.019 marketing strategy for example so we are
00:14:57.779 promising that we will not share this
00:14:59.459 information with someone who is not part
00:15:01.199 of this project next up is a really
00:15:03.300 quick section called compensation and
00:15:05.579 this just says that they need to pay the
00:15:07.139 fee that we've agreed upon in the
00:15:08.699 project proposal and also that we are
00:15:11.940 our own company and we will take care of
00:15:13.980 our own taxes so some people they choose
00:15:16.920 to have it where the company that hires
00:15:19.440 you will pay the taxes so that's
00:15:21.420 something that you'll want to outline
00:15:22.560 depending on how your company is set up
00:15:24.779 and your country's roles
00:15:26.699 next up is a section called client
00:15:28.560 approval and it is actually super
00:15:30.959 important so basically this is saying
00:15:33.360 that once the client has approved the
00:15:35.160 project then they are responsible for
00:15:37.440 anything that happens in production
00:15:38.880 processes or anything else after that
00:15:41.279 point
00:15:42.060 and the reason we've added this is
00:15:43.740 because a lot of our clients they go on
00:15:45.720 to use The Branding and the design
00:15:47.100 assets that we've done for let's say
00:15:49.260 exhibition materials or packaging design
00:15:51.839 we don't have any insight into what
00:15:53.940 actually happens in those printing
00:15:55.380 processes unless we've been brought into
00:15:57.000 that project and even then all we have
00:15:59.639 is the communication with the printer
00:16:01.079 we're not there for on the ground you
00:16:03.480 know to see what is happening with the
00:16:05.220 printing process and the proofing so we
00:16:07.320 don't want to be liable if anything goes
00:16:09.300 wrong in that production process so we
00:16:11.639 basically just state that in case
00:16:13.500 there's any post-production and they
00:16:15.600 have approved the project from us then
00:16:17.880 that's the end of our responsibility
00:16:19.980 this is especially important if you're
00:16:22.320 designing things like packaging so we
00:16:24.060 always include this if we're doing
00:16:25.139 packaging design because it's really
00:16:28.199 expensive actually to print a large
00:16:29.940 batch of packaging and let's say you
00:16:32.820 have missed something like maybe there
00:16:34.560 was something that was a spelling
00:16:36.000 mistake or there's something else that
00:16:37.740 you've gone through it time and time
00:16:39.360 again and your client has looked at it
00:16:40.920 but something was missed then you want
00:16:43.740 that protection of your client has
00:16:45.720 approved it then your responsibility is
00:16:48.240 done because you don't want to be liable
00:16:50.279 for something that is happening in that
00:16:52.980 production process which makes that
00:16:54.480 packaging unusable of course we always
00:16:56.699 want to be super thorough and we want to
00:16:58.800 have that great relationship with our
00:17:00.120 clients but we can't control everything
00:17:01.980 so I always feel more comfortable having
00:17:04.319 this clause in next up is cancellation
00:17:06.480 and this is just saying that both the
00:17:09.540 client and us could cancel the project
00:17:11.520 at any point for any reason and this is
00:17:14.220 just so that if someone gets ill if
00:17:16.260 something happens let's say the client
00:17:17.819 can't pay the whole project they can
00:17:19.919 translate part way through but we will
00:17:22.380 let them know how far the project has
00:17:24.299 gone and what fees that they owe us for
00:17:26.459 that work up to that point the last
00:17:28.439 section is ownership and this is just
00:17:30.120 stating that because they only pay part
00:17:32.520 of the project fee up front we own the
00:17:35.340 rights to the designs until they've paid
00:17:37.320 in full and once they've paid in full
00:17:39.299 they own the rights to the designs since
00:17:42.179 we're doing branding we want the company
00:17:43.679 to own the rights to their own brand but
00:17:45.720 this can be a little bit different if
00:17:47.100 let's say you're an illustrator and you
00:17:48.539 want to do licensing for example so that
00:17:51.000 might need a little bit of a different
00:17:52.320 type of contract to sign the contract I
00:17:54.960 want to make it super easy for everyone
00:17:56.460 to do it we don't have to meet in person
00:17:58.320 most of the clients that we work with
00:18:00.299 are actually abroad so I want to make it
00:18:02.520 easy to sign digitally so what we do is
00:18:04.980 we actually export it as a PDF and then
00:18:07.559 we use a tool called signable a digital
00:18:09.840 tool it's all sponsored I just really
00:18:11.700 like their product and basically what
00:18:13.559 you can do is you can send this out
00:18:15.179 where you sign it and the client signs
00:18:17.520 it all you have to do is add the
00:18:19.200 different fields for the signatures and
00:18:21.059 the dates and then once it's signed and
00:18:23.160 approved you will have the different
00:18:24.780 time steps of when what happened and so
00:18:27.299 it's a digital track record of how the
00:18:29.820 design contract was signed so that you
00:18:31.500 have that in case you need to for
00:18:33.000 example go to small claims court if your
00:18:34.740 client isn't paying the last step before
00:18:36.480 we actually start working on the project
00:18:38.100 which is really really important is to
00:18:40.260 set up a client portal so don't skimp on
00:18:42.600 this we personally use Trello for this
00:18:44.700 and I set up one column for each stage
00:18:47.039 of the design process and then I use
00:18:48.600 different cards to organize different
00:18:50.160 steps so I upload the invoice receipt
00:18:53.580 and I upload the invoice I upload the
00:18:55.860 signed contracts I upload the proposal
00:18:58.080 for example to this section that is for
00:19:00.299 the first stage which is called before
00:19:01.500 we start this way my client always has
00:19:03.960 access here and we can have those
00:19:06.059 conversations throughout the project it
00:19:08.220 doesn't have to get messy with some
00:19:09.720 things happening over email something's
00:19:11.520 happening over phone and if your client
00:19:13.500 is emailing or calling you throughout
00:19:15.360 the project I always just like to add a
00:19:17.460 note that we had that conversation in
00:19:19.679 Trello so what we came up with and
00:19:22.260 anything that is good to know in the
00:19:24.000 project is then staying in the same hub
00:19:27.559 so now that your client has paid to sign
00:19:30.539 the contract and they're on board with
00:19:32.400 the project we want to make sure that we
00:19:34.320 can learn as much as we possibly can
00:19:36.179 about their business and goals and
00:19:38.039 vision before we start designing so that
00:19:40.620 what we create will be really targeted
00:19:42.360 and will help them create a really
00:19:43.740 effective brand this will be the first
00:19:46.039 longer type of connection that their
00:19:48.360 client has with you so we want to make
00:19:50.700 sure that we do a little bit of research
00:19:52.440 ahead of time so what I like to do is to
00:19:55.500 read the client's website or make sure
00:19:57.539 that any material that they have like a
00:19:59.580 social media profile or a website we're
00:20:01.799 checking and learning about their
00:20:03.179 business and I also like to have a quick
00:20:05.160 look at some competitors that I could
00:20:07.080 find this means that you're a lot more
00:20:08.940 familiar with the industry that your
00:20:10.799 client is in and you can ask a lot more
00:20:13.080 targeted questions so it shows that you
00:20:15.780 really invested in this brand and you
00:20:17.340 want to make sure that you're doing a
00:20:18.720 good job a really big part of the
00:20:20.340 discovery meeting is being able to ask
00:20:22.080 follow-up questions and really get to
00:20:24.240 the bottom of what a client means when
00:20:26.220 they say something
00:20:27.240 and this is why I really like to have a
00:20:29.940 meeting either digital one or in person
00:20:31.860 rather than sending let's say a
00:20:34.020 questionnaire with different questions
00:20:35.340 about their breath when we send a form
00:20:37.919 with questions we're not able to ask
00:20:40.200 what does this mean to you when you say
00:20:42.660 Feminine what does that mean and that
00:20:45.240 means that it's a lot harder for us when
00:20:46.919 we start designing to know which choices
00:20:48.720 we need to make so having a meeting
00:20:50.760 where you're having that one-to-one
00:20:52.679 connection is really really important I
00:20:55.320 have two kind of quick Pro tips that I
00:20:57.299 want to bring up before we get into the
00:20:58.799 actual meeting and this first one is
00:21:00.960 that after you have that initial Chit
00:21:02.760 Chat that always goes on at the
00:21:04.140 beginning of meeting suggests that
00:21:06.419 everyone turns off their camera
00:21:08.400 of course this is if you're having a
00:21:09.960 digital meeting because what I've
00:21:11.640 noticed is that let's say we have a one
00:21:13.500 and a half to two hour meeting when
00:21:15.780 we're just talking about all these
00:21:17.160 really fundamental questions about a
00:21:18.840 business if everyone's at the same time
00:21:20.940 thinking about like am I smiling enough
00:21:23.539 can you see my cat in the background
00:21:25.740 like if it comes really really
00:21:27.000 distracting so what we say is make sure
00:21:30.419 that you feel comfortable have that
00:21:32.520 conversation in the beginning and then
00:21:34.140 say okay we're going to turn off our
00:21:36.000 cameras now everyone's gonna feel
00:21:37.740 comfortable and we're just going to
00:21:38.880 focus on your business and your goals
00:21:41.340 and I found that that makes everyone a
00:21:43.500 lot more comfortable so that's one pro
00:21:45.179 tip the second one is to lead the
00:21:47.640 meeting by sharing your screen the whole
00:21:49.500 time so we're going to talk about what
00:21:51.960 goes into the setup of the meeting but I
00:21:55.140 think sharing your screen it means that
00:21:57.059 you can guide your clients through each
00:21:59.700 step or each section that you have
00:22:01.380 questions for and this way you're not
00:22:03.539 getting distracted by let's say your
00:22:05.159 clients starting to oh I'm just going to
00:22:06.900 show you this website from a competitor
00:22:08.340 thought was interesting which can get
00:22:11.039 quite derailing of the meeting if you
00:22:13.320 start having those tangents so leading
00:22:15.299 the meeting through sharing your screen
00:22:16.559 is a really smart choice to hold a
00:22:18.600 really solid Discovery meeting I think
00:22:20.159 you need four things the first one is a
00:22:22.260 really clear structure that your client
00:22:24.419 understands upfront and then they can
00:22:26.220 follow throughout the meeting this
00:22:27.780 doesn't only make it clear but it also
00:22:29.760 makes the meeting not feel as long
00:22:31.260 because I feel like these meetings tend
00:22:33.299 to take about two hours and that is
00:22:35.400 quite a long time if your client doesn't
00:22:36.960 know what's next the next up is an
00:22:39.360 engaging format so if we would just have
00:22:42.120 let's say a blank page in front of us as
00:22:44.820 we share our screen and we're typing
00:22:46.320 that can be quite boring to be honest so
00:22:49.860 what I like to do is I like to use tools
00:22:52.020 to set up let's say different competitor
00:22:54.539 Maps or to set up let's say a
00:22:57.059 collaborative aspect so I'm going to
00:22:58.799 talk about how to do that a little bit
00:23:00.120 later in this video but having an
00:23:01.919 engaging format where it feels
00:23:03.480 collaborative it feels like you're
00:23:05.460 having this exciting insights together
00:23:07.380 that's a really good thing to think
00:23:09.539 about when you're preparing for your
00:23:11.039 meeting and the last two things you need
00:23:12.840 are a smart way to record everything
00:23:14.580 that's being said and then for you to be
00:23:16.860 able to take all this information
00:23:18.200 compile it and send it to your client so
00:23:20.940 this can be done in lots of ways and I'm
00:23:23.400 going to cover those as well let's start
00:23:25.200 with the structure of the meetings and
00:23:26.820 what questions to ask and in what way to
00:23:28.799 ask them so we need a couple different
00:23:31.200 things in order to be able to create a
00:23:33.120 brand first off we need to know
00:23:34.620 everything about the business and the
00:23:36.480 current brand how is it performed are
00:23:39.059 there things that aren't working things
00:23:40.559 that are working how can we improve on
00:23:42.659 it all these things that will teach us
00:23:44.460 about the company and their Vision this
00:23:46.980 is relevant even if it's a new company
00:23:48.480 because they might still have ideas of
00:23:50.460 things that they think are important for
00:23:52.080 them we also really want to understand
00:23:53.580 the goal of the new brand so is it to
00:23:56.159 build more trust to reach a new audience
00:23:58.080 or maybe to fix something like retention
00:24:00.900 in the company for example and lastly we
00:24:03.299 want to understand everything from their
00:24:05.520 customers their competitors their offer
00:24:07.679 all of these different information
00:24:08.820 points that help us design a very
00:24:11.400 intentional brand so keeping all of this
00:24:13.440 in mind I like to use this structure for
00:24:15.659 my discovery meetings the very first
00:24:17.400 section is called background about your
00:24:19.320 company and here I like to give my
00:24:21.780 client quite a free reign to just talk
00:24:24.179 about why they started their company
00:24:25.799 what their vision is if they have like a
00:24:28.559 mission that really drives them kind of
00:24:30.480 their origin story and to get a little
00:24:32.520 bit more personal about why they care
00:24:34.500 about the business and all these
00:24:36.360 different things that help us get to
00:24:37.620 know the people but also the business
00:24:39.179 itself if they've already been running
00:24:41.100 the business for a while I also like to
00:24:42.900 ask about the current brand so trying to
00:24:45.360 get really specific with what is not
00:24:47.880 working why did you want to do a Rebrand
00:24:50.280 or maybe asking what are some things
00:24:52.740 that you actually really like about your
00:24:54.539 brand that you would like to keep maybe
00:24:56.400 they really like their logo but the rest
00:24:58.260 of the brand isn't working or maybe they
00:25:00.780 really really feel attached to a color
00:25:02.280 in the brand but the rest of it isn't
00:25:04.020 working because all these things are
00:25:06.000 super helpful when we start designing
00:25:07.679 because otherwise we might get really
00:25:09.960 far down the line and realize oh but it
00:25:12.120 doesn't have this color that they liked
00:25:13.500 and they never told us so asking about
00:25:15.659 all these things up front is super
00:25:16.980 helpful a new question that I added to
00:25:19.080 this section that has actually been so
00:25:20.880 helpful is to ask them to describe their
00:25:23.820 dream office or dream shop so even if
00:25:26.640 they never actually plan on having an
00:25:28.440 office or a shop it's just a mental
00:25:30.720 exercise to think about like how do you
00:25:33.240 feel when you come in through the shop
00:25:34.860 are you greeted by someone is it like an
00:25:38.279 all AI experience how does it feel is it
00:25:41.640 like a wood floor is it lots of art
00:25:44.400 everywhere is it super bright or is it
00:25:46.559 like really colorful or what does it
00:25:49.380 feel like do you want it to be exciting
00:25:51.480 do you want to be calm all these
00:25:52.980 different things that people can start
00:25:54.720 to paint up a picture and you can start
00:25:56.580 to understand how that space would look
00:25:58.980 and feel and that gives you an idea of
00:26:01.020 the experience that they want to create
00:26:02.400 for their customers through their brand
00:26:04.140 next up I want to talk about their offer
00:26:06.480 so basically what they're selling and
00:26:08.820 this is for us to really understand what
00:26:10.740 the business does and understand how
00:26:13.140 they're different so let's say for
00:26:14.520 example they're selling backpacks are
00:26:16.500 those backpacks different from all the
00:26:18.720 school backpacks because these are
00:26:20.100 specifically done for hiking and they
00:26:22.080 have compartments specifically made for
00:26:23.820 camping gear for example all these
00:26:25.860 different things can help us understand
00:26:27.059 who this product is for and also how
00:26:29.520 they're different from competitors so
00:26:31.380 that we can lift out these things when
00:26:33.179 we create the brand a bonus question
00:26:34.860 that you can ask which can be really
00:26:36.419 helpful is to ask what do you want to be
00:26:38.520 known for sometimes there's like one
00:26:40.980 feature or one key benefit that they've
00:26:43.679 always felt really proud of and so
00:26:45.600 asking what they want to be known for it
00:26:47.760 could be something like a feature but it
00:26:49.500 could also be something like we're the
00:26:51.240 highest quality or we have the best
00:26:53.340 prices for example or we're the most
00:26:55.860 sustainable so asking what they want to
00:26:57.900 be known for can actually be quite
00:26:59.340 revealing the third section is all about
00:27:01.740 their customers and this is for me the
00:27:04.140 last section I do before we take a break
00:27:05.820 so I always let my clients know that
00:27:08.159 this is going to be a section we do now
00:27:10.020 and then after this we're going to take
00:27:11.580 a break so for the customers what I want
00:27:14.340 to find out is everything from
00:27:16.380 demographics to psychographics so
00:27:18.659 demographics is everything very basic
00:27:20.940 about a person like their age their
00:27:22.679 income or their location for example
00:27:24.539 while psychographics are much more
00:27:26.880 in-depth information about why someone
00:27:28.860 chooses to buy something like maybe they
00:27:31.260 really align with the mission of the
00:27:32.760 company or it makes them feel better
00:27:35.100 about themselves or it's a goal that
00:27:37.140 they have for example so we want to
00:27:39.179 understand all these different things
00:27:40.320 about their customers and because we're
00:27:42.840 going to be doing research after we have
00:27:44.820 the discovery meeting we also want to
00:27:46.799 have a really good foundation that we
00:27:48.419 can then start building on but one thing
00:27:50.760 that's really important here is to
00:27:52.200 verify how your client knows this
00:27:54.600 information sometimes clients are really
00:27:57.179 sure in their mind who their customer is
00:27:59.820 but they're going on feeling not on
00:28:01.919 facts so let's say they have surveys
00:28:04.620 website analytics if they have
00:28:06.900 information about their sales that's
00:28:09.059 super helpful information because you
00:28:10.740 know that's verified but if they're
00:28:13.380 saying well we meet a lot of people and
00:28:15.480 they seem to be this type of person
00:28:17.400 that's something you can say okay good
00:28:19.500 that's a great starting point we're
00:28:21.480 going to do some research and see how
00:28:23.580 that compares to other competitors for
00:28:25.860 example when it comes to how to ask
00:28:27.960 these questions I think you could do it
00:28:30.000 in two structures and you could also
00:28:31.559 combine them if you'd like so the first
00:28:33.779 one is to do straight personas so here
00:28:36.240 we start by asking all the basic
00:28:37.919 demographic information and then we can
00:28:40.020 go into things like what are their
00:28:41.580 interests who influences them to buy and
00:28:44.580 how does they want the brand to make
00:28:46.140 them feel all these questions that can
00:28:48.000 be really insightful or you can do more
00:28:50.159 of a buyer kind of user Journey so let's
00:28:53.880 say they have a problem they Google how
00:28:56.640 to solve it they find your website they
00:28:58.740 browse your products pick one so forth
00:29:01.200 and see which decisions that they make
00:29:03.179 at each step of the process there so
00:29:05.279 that can be quite insightful for
00:29:06.659 understanding the psychology behind
00:29:08.520 someone buying something a benefit of
00:29:10.679 using a buyer journey is that it will
00:29:12.840 actually reveal a lot of the brand touch
00:29:14.880 points to you so let's say that they
00:29:17.159 talk about their website their packaging
00:29:19.380 and their customer support then that's
00:29:22.020 something you know you need to think
00:29:23.340 about how is the brand going to work in
00:29:25.620 all of those different instances and
00:29:27.539 that means that when you're presenting
00:29:28.860 let's say mock-ups you can be hyper
00:29:30.659 specific and show here's what your brand
00:29:32.760 will look like on this packaging that we
00:29:34.440 talked about if your client has really
00:29:36.480 different types of audiences that they
00:29:38.460 sell to but they all fit into their
00:29:40.620 business you might want to urge them to
00:29:42.360 create a couple different personas and
00:29:45.120 here it might get a little bit tedious
00:29:46.919 let's say you have three personas and
00:29:48.539 quite a lot of questions for each you
00:29:50.580 might want to take a break in between a
00:29:52.200 couple just to make sure that people
00:29:53.700 don't feel like it's repeating and doing
00:29:55.620 all this work over and over again the
00:29:57.779 next section is competitors and
00:29:59.760 inspiring Brands and here I want to make
00:30:02.159 sure that I'm I'm asking both about
00:30:03.539 direct competitors and indirect
00:30:05.399 competitors so let's say I'm designing
00:30:07.440 for an ice cream brand a direct
00:30:09.120 competitor would be like other ice cream
00:30:11.039 brands but indirect competitors might be
00:30:13.320 other snacks like cookies or candies or
00:30:15.720 Froyo for example so I want to make sure
00:30:18.120 that we ask them about okay do you know
00:30:20.520 who your competitors are which feel like
00:30:23.220 indirect which feel like direct
00:30:24.600 competitors and you could also ask them
00:30:26.700 follow-up questions like which of these
00:30:28.559 would you say is the closest to your
00:30:31.020 audience which one of them do you really
00:30:33.059 like the brand of and is there something
00:30:34.620 we could use from these brands that you
00:30:36.899 would like to incorporate in your own
00:30:38.159 for example the last and maybe most
00:30:40.440 important section from our design Works
00:30:42.600 perspective is how might we questions so
00:30:46.260 if you're familiar with design Sprints
00:30:48.360 they usually start off with how might be
00:30:50.820 questions and these are questions that
00:30:53.340 are basically going to be the goal of
00:30:55.260 The Branding project so instead of just
00:30:57.779 having this kind of more vague
00:30:59.580 definition of we want to create a nice
00:31:01.380 brand or an effective friend we want to
00:31:03.779 get really specific for this one client
00:31:05.760 so for example how can we create a brand
00:31:08.340 that tells our story better or how can
00:31:11.279 we create a brand that is targeting this
00:31:13.500 new audience better so having these
00:31:15.779 really specific questions will basically
00:31:17.820 mean that when we show Concepts or when
00:31:19.980 we show anything we can point back and
00:31:22.080 say this is why we created this concept
00:31:24.179 because it's solving the how might we
00:31:26.399 question you can have quite a few I
00:31:29.039 think the more you have of course the
00:31:30.659 more different targets you're trying to
00:31:32.039 hit so I always like to encourage us to
00:31:34.500 have between one and maybe five or six
00:31:36.899 just so it doesn't get too scattered but
00:31:39.720 it's no problem to have more than one
00:31:41.460 because it still gives you an idea of
00:31:43.320 the things that matter to your clients
00:31:45.059 so now that we know the actual sections
00:31:47.399 that we're going to include in our
00:31:48.360 Discovery we want to get back to those
00:31:50.220 other things that matter which is to
00:31:52.620 have a really clear and engaging way to
00:31:54.960 run the meeting and an easy way for you
00:31:57.059 to record and then share this
00:31:58.500 information with your clients and I
00:32:00.419 think this is where really helpful
00:32:01.799 digital tools come in there are so many
00:32:04.260 great tools that can help you
00:32:05.700 collaborate in a visual way when you're
00:32:07.919 having a remote meeting but you can use
00:32:09.960 them when you're having a meeting in
00:32:11.340 person as well and just let's say have
00:32:13.080 your computer out or if there's a TV
00:32:15.419 that you can have your computer
00:32:16.799 connected to that's also a really great
00:32:18.720 way of doing it I use an app called Auto
00:32:21.000 brief because it is actually
00:32:22.500 specifically created for discover
00:32:24.120 meetings and creating joint briefs and
00:32:26.640 I'm able to set up different sections
00:32:28.320 that my client can get a clear overview
00:32:30.419 of the different sections we're going to
00:32:31.860 cover and then I can type and fill in
00:32:34.140 these sections as we go through the
00:32:36.000 discovery meeting so for example when I
00:32:38.640 talked about competitors before I showed
00:32:40.559 you this competitor map where we have
00:32:42.840 the direct competitors as the kind of a
00:32:44.940 circle and then we have the more
00:32:47.100 indirect competitors further and further
00:32:48.840 away from the middle and having these
00:32:50.880 kind of visual cues that can feel a lot
00:32:53.340 more collaborative it makes the meeting
00:32:55.200 run a lot more smoothly in my experience
00:32:57.240 there's also lots of great tools like
00:32:59.100 Envision or Miro for example that let
00:33:01.860 you do more of like a drag and drop or
00:33:04.140 different people can write things
00:33:05.340 simultaneously you can do more of like a
00:33:08.520 design Sprint format where let's say
00:33:10.320 everyone takes two minutes in silence to
00:33:13.080 write how might we questions and you can
00:33:14.820 all put them up on the board which tools
00:33:16.679 you choose are mostly up to your own
00:33:18.960 preferences and the way that you like to
00:33:21.179 work so do you want it to feel super
00:33:22.740 collaborative and visual or do you want
00:33:24.480 it to feel like a very structured
00:33:25.679 document
00:33:26.700 it really is up to you so maybe test out
00:33:29.399 a couple and run like a little trial run
00:33:31.140 like a tech run with one of your friends
00:33:32.760 and see which one you prefer if you want
00:33:34.919 to stick with the tools you have and
00:33:36.299 especially if budget is a concern that
00:33:37.980 you don't want to pay for anything you
00:33:40.019 can also create really nice presentation
00:33:42.059 setups with questions and areas to fill
00:33:44.340 in in the say keynote or PowerPoint for
00:33:46.919 example I did that for the first five
00:33:49.080 years of my business and it worked great
00:33:51.000 it was just a little bit more work
00:33:52.200 setting it up in the first place but I
00:33:54.059 created a template for that and then I
00:33:56.039 could just fill it in for each new
00:33:57.480 meeting once you have the discovery
00:33:59.279 document all prepared make sure that you
00:34:01.260 add it to the client portal that we
00:34:02.820 created last time this means that both
00:34:04.799 you and the client can always find it
00:34:06.480 super quickly
00:34:09.199 to make it a little bit easier to follow
00:34:11.520 along I thought we would design this for
00:34:13.560 a fictional brand so I decided that
00:34:15.899 we're going to create this for an urban
00:34:17.460 Garden called rootful their goal is to
00:34:20.460 have a space for people who live in a
00:34:22.139 city to come and meet and build a
00:34:24.780 community to have a way for them to eat
00:34:27.480 more locally produced vegetables but
00:34:29.760 also to learn about our food production
00:34:31.560 and how to be more sustainable overall
00:34:33.599 we're actually as a family right now
00:34:35.460 trying to grow all of our own vegetables
00:34:37.320 ourselves so this would be a really fun
00:34:39.359 exercise for me as well and a way to
00:34:41.219 learn a little bit more about Urban
00:34:42.780 Gardens last time in the discovery
00:34:45.119 meeting we talked to our clients about
00:34:46.679 their customers their vision and other
00:34:49.139 brands that they feel inspired by today
00:34:51.300 our job is to look at Trends and
00:34:53.219 opportunities in this market and see
00:34:55.739 what we can use when we create the brand
00:34:57.359 ourselves the first step is to conduct
00:34:59.339 the brand research and I like to break
00:35:01.260 this up into a couple different steps
00:35:03.000 first I like to look into similar
00:35:05.099 companies both competitors that my
00:35:07.140 clients have mentioned but also
00:35:09.119 companies that I think could be of
00:35:10.740 competitor that maybe they missed first
00:35:13.140 I visit their website and I look for a
00:35:15.240 few different things I like to see how
00:35:17.460 they use design to convey information
00:35:19.079 like for example what Photography they
00:35:21.480 use how they use layout and colors and
00:35:24.180 maybe if they use illustrations or
00:35:25.619 infographics for example
00:35:27.599 I also look at their logo and I take
00:35:30.540 screenshots of everything and I add them
00:35:32.400 to milanote so I have a place to collect
00:35:34.680 all of my research you can also use the
00:35:37.140 Milano extension to grab the images
00:35:39.359 directly and put them into a board the
00:35:41.700 next thing I look for on the website is
00:35:43.440 messaging how do they pitch their
00:35:45.420 business how is the tone is it friendly
00:35:47.940 and casual or formal and to the point
00:35:50.160 for example this tells us both what
00:35:52.619 information that they think their
00:35:54.060 customers care about but also how they
00:35:56.460 like to be spoken to if a lot of
00:35:58.560 competitors are using the same approach
00:36:00.359 we need to ask ourselves if it's because
00:36:02.640 it's really working or maybe because
00:36:04.980 people are a little bit worried to step
00:36:06.900 away from the norm so in some cases it
00:36:09.960 could be an industry where you can
00:36:11.339 disrupt and you can come up with a
00:36:13.079 completely different approach and that
00:36:14.940 can work great but in some Industries
00:36:17.040 let's say for example you're a lawyer
00:36:19.200 you might not want to have a super happy
00:36:21.420 fun go lucky tone or if you're an ice
00:36:24.359 cream shop you might not want to be
00:36:25.800 super duper serious so sometimes these
00:36:28.980 tones work because they are for a
00:36:31.140 specific industry with an audience who
00:36:33.119 is expecting something but try to look
00:36:35.040 into it and analyze if what competitors
00:36:37.680 are doing is the smart choice or
00:36:40.020 something that could be disrupted next
00:36:41.880 up I do the same thing on social media I
00:36:44.520 focus on the social media platforms that
00:36:46.560 my client has decided to use and also
00:36:48.900 that seems like the best fit for the
00:36:50.579 audience in the case of rootful I think
00:36:53.099 Tech talk and YouTube might be the best
00:36:55.020 platforms since we're trying to reach
00:36:56.820 people who want growing tips probably in
00:36:59.760 video formats and also who want quick
00:37:01.920 updates about what's actually happening
00:37:03.540 in this Urban Garden so they can come
00:37:05.280 visit and take part
00:37:06.900 now that we know a little bit more about
00:37:08.700 the competitors and we have these images
00:37:10.440 and screenshots to draw from I like to
00:37:12.960 start adding them to my report as I go
00:37:15.000 so I add in the images from the
00:37:17.099 different competitors and I make little
00:37:18.720 notes of takeaways and things we can
00:37:20.820 learn so for example things I think they
00:37:22.859 did really well or things I think could
00:37:24.780 be opportunities that we could use for
00:37:26.700 our own brand this report uses a
00:37:28.920 template that I've created so the
00:37:30.300 sections are always more or less the
00:37:31.800 same after the research meeting with my
00:37:34.079 client I send them this report and that
00:37:36.599 way they can always look back and see
00:37:38.400 what we came up with but it also works
00:37:40.740 as the foundation for the concepts that
00:37:42.960 we will Design next up is brands that
00:37:45.359 appeal to the same audience so they're
00:37:47.460 not in the same industry but they share
00:37:49.200 the same audience as the brand we're
00:37:50.880 designing for I do the exact same thing
00:37:53.040 of visiting their website and social
00:37:54.960 media and I write down things that I
00:37:57.839 observe for root for the audience is
00:38:00.119 Millennials who live in the city and
00:38:02.400 want a break from their busy day-to-day
00:38:04.200 lives it can either be someone who works
00:38:06.540 really long hours and want a hobby or a
00:38:09.300 place to visit that is really relaxing
00:38:11.460 or it could be families with young kids
00:38:13.619 for example that want a place for them
00:38:15.480 to play and spend time together maybe
00:38:17.280 with other parents as well so keeping
00:38:19.560 this in mind I think brands with a
00:38:21.420 similar audience might be things like
00:38:23.160 really kid-friendly cafes yoga places
00:38:26.640 libraries other places where these
00:38:28.980 people would spend their time that would
00:38:30.420 be more of what we call the third space
00:38:32.339 so not home or work but a third space
00:38:34.980 where people are willing to meet in
00:38:36.839 their free time next up we want to look
00:38:38.640 at Trends and design styles that are
00:38:40.920 happening in this industry and I would
00:38:43.440 say that this part of the research is
00:38:45.180 probably the least straightforward there
00:38:47.160 are lots of different ways to do this
00:38:48.480 and you have to spend some time trying
00:38:51.180 to find different answers digging around
00:38:53.160 a little bit following a couple
00:38:54.660 different paths and see what you come up
00:38:56.460 with think of it a bit like if you were
00:38:58.320 a journalist and you were following
00:38:59.880 different sources to see the whole
00:39:01.440 picture in the story so let's give it a
00:39:03.599 try on Google Scholar I might search for
00:39:06.119 Trends forever Urban farms for example
00:39:08.160 and see if we can find something okay so
00:39:10.440 here's a really interesting paper that
00:39:12.180 looks at what those living in cities
00:39:13.920 care about when they decide for or
00:39:16.320 against supporting an urban farm
00:39:17.940 scientific papers they can seem a little
00:39:20.220 bit intimidating but there's a couple
00:39:22.320 different things you can look out for to
00:39:23.820 make sure that you find a good
00:39:25.680 scientific study the first one is the
00:39:28.140 sample size so if you have very few
00:39:29.940 people or very few different
00:39:31.800 organizations to took part that means
00:39:34.260 that the sample size was really small
00:39:35.880 and it's harder to make any kind of
00:39:38.099 deductions from it so the more people
00:39:40.440 who participated the more data you have
00:39:42.900 to actually make conclusions from it can
00:39:45.240 also be a good idea to see when it was
00:39:47.099 published so you actually have different
00:39:49.380 filters in Google Scholar where you can
00:39:51.359 make sure that you're finding something
00:39:53.280 that is from the last couple years and
00:39:55.260 maybe not a study on Urban Farms from
00:39:57.240 the 80s for example because that might
00:39:59.220 not be as relevant right now start with
00:40:01.500 the abstract and see if there's any
00:40:03.060 information that might be interesting in
00:40:04.859 this particular study right away I can
00:40:06.720 see that we mentioned a couple different
00:40:08.339 reasons that people want to support
00:40:09.720 Urban Farms like having more food
00:40:12.000 security when we see stronger effects
00:40:14.220 from global warming and higher food
00:40:15.900 prices and this is super interesting and
00:40:18.420 something that we can point out when we
00:40:19.920 suggest designs and messaging for the
00:40:21.599 brand I want to learn a bit more so I'll
00:40:23.880 go down to the results and discussion
00:40:25.560 section this is where they talk about
00:40:27.540 what they found and what that means
00:40:29.640 first off we can see that a big part of
00:40:31.680 the audience is a similar age to our
00:40:33.359 customers so that's really good and we
00:40:35.520 can also see there are two factors that
00:40:37.560 are key for adopting Urban farms and
00:40:40.619 those are confidence and pleasantness it
00:40:43.680 might just be me but I want to
00:40:45.060 understand what those things mean
00:40:46.500 because I think they can have a lot of
00:40:48.000 different meanings so I'm just going to
00:40:49.859 click command F and write confidence to
00:40:52.500 read their definition because most
00:40:54.180 scientific papers always Define all of
00:40:56.640 the different terms that they use and
00:40:58.440 then I do the same for pleasantness it
00:41:00.660 seems like confidence is how confident
00:41:02.579 you feel that you can take part both
00:41:04.500 financially and from a Time perspective
00:41:06.660 so when we think about how we can apply
00:41:09.359 this to the brand we might want the
00:41:11.460 brand assets to show how easy it is to
00:41:13.560 be involved offering ways to get
00:41:15.480 involved that are casual and not a
00:41:17.160 continuous commitment for example
00:41:19.200 for pleasantness it's more about how
00:41:21.359 nice the environment is to be around so
00:41:23.700 something we can put in our research
00:41:25.079 report could be that we need to showcase
00:41:26.760 the really pretty parts of the garden
00:41:28.380 and how well adapted the garden is for
00:41:30.900 smaller kids for example I add all this
00:41:33.000 to my record and I make sure to add the
00:41:35.400 source so you can do this in a couple
00:41:37.440 different ways you could either link it
00:41:39.420 directly in the text or you could have a
00:41:41.820 reference list at the end of the
00:41:43.079 document this is what I tend to do and
00:41:45.839 then I just add a quick reference to the
00:41:47.760 author's name and the year it was
00:41:49.560 published in the actual main text and
00:41:52.740 then at the end of the document I had a
00:41:54.420 reference list I used the Harvard method
00:41:56.880 so there's different methods of citing
00:41:58.800 and a really quick way to do this is
00:42:00.839 just to use a tool called cite this for
00:42:03.359 me here you just add in the website link
00:42:06.540 or a book ISBN or the article DOI number
00:42:10.440 for example and then it creates both the
00:42:13.020 text and full reference for you so that
00:42:15.180 is super quick next I just do a basic
00:42:17.520 Google search for Trends in urban and
00:42:19.560 farming and see what different paths we
00:42:21.480 can find that we could go down I'm
00:42:23.220 looking for articles or even Trend
00:42:25.260 reports that will tell me why people
00:42:27.420 want to join an urban garden and this is
00:42:29.940 also a great place to find images for my
00:42:32.099 mood boards I can see that Hydroponics
00:42:34.380 are becoming much more popular for urban
00:42:36.240 Farms but it's not exactly what we're
00:42:38.640 after because rootful doesn't really
00:42:40.560 have hydroponic systems as part of their
00:42:42.480 Garden I can see a couple Farms that
00:42:44.520 seem a bit more similar to rootful so
00:42:46.980 I'll visit those websites and see what
00:42:49.200 they say yeah okay so we can see that
00:42:51.240 these are both very focused on community
00:42:53.339 and creating this Garden together to see
00:42:56.880 how this fits in with our Millennial
00:42:58.740 audience we can see if we can find
00:43:00.480 articles or reports that talk about the
00:43:02.640 role of community for Millennials we're
00:43:04.680 looking for articles that feel like they
00:43:06.240 come from very credible sources and I
00:43:08.460 also like to check out a couple
00:43:09.720 different ones before I form a kind of
00:43:12.480 conclusion about what I think this is
00:43:14.339 why it's really important to have time
00:43:16.440 to do the research and not feel like you
00:43:18.660 have to quickly rush to find something
00:43:20.460 but make sure you have the time to
00:43:22.440 browse and really take your time with it
00:43:24.119 I can see that online communities are
00:43:26.280 important to Millennials but I can't see
00:43:28.140 articles that directly talk about
00:43:29.700 in-person communities I do see that
00:43:32.640 Millennials are much more likely to live
00:43:34.500 alone than older Generations so perhaps
00:43:37.140 there's more of a need for community and
00:43:40.020 to find out I see if I can find articles
00:43:41.940 that talk about loneliness and see what
00:43:43.859 they say about Millennials okay so
00:43:45.780 Millennials are reporting that they're
00:43:47.579 likely to have only a few friends or no
00:43:50.220 close friends and a lot more people live
00:43:52.680 by themselves so this could be a great
00:43:54.660 opportunity to show how the Urban Garden
00:43:56.700 can be a place where you belong and I
00:43:59.339 think we need to be careful not to make
00:44:00.960 it seem like you have to be a really
00:44:02.819 expert Gardener to partake if you want
00:44:05.460 to look for Trends in Search terms a few
00:44:07.680 great places to look are Pinterest
00:44:09.359 Trends and Google Trends this will show
00:44:11.880 you what terms people use to find
00:44:13.740 different Urban Gardens or home growing
00:44:15.900 and it can give us some idea of how the
00:44:18.000 messaging can work for example we can
00:44:20.280 see that Urban Green Space has gone up
00:44:22.260 with 150 percent in search in the last
00:44:24.780 12 months we can also see on Pinterest
00:44:27.300 trends that Cottage Garden meaning these
00:44:30.000 cute Gardens with lots of flower and
00:44:32.040 garden Aesthetics are both up in search
00:44:34.500 a lot this could tell us that people
00:44:36.420 really care about having a space that's
00:44:38.400 really cozy to spend time in and kind of
00:44:41.160 reinforces this pleasantness factor that
00:44:43.500 we saw from the scientific paper so now
00:44:45.420 that we've done a bit of research we can
00:44:47.040 draw three different conclusions I think
00:44:48.839 first off people want an urban Garden
00:44:51.060 that looks really nice and that they
00:44:52.859 enjoy spending time in two is that
00:44:55.079 Community is a great way to draw in
00:44:57.420 Millennials who want to feel part of
00:44:59.579 something and don't want to feel lonely
00:45:01.440 and three it should feel really easy to
00:45:03.599 get involved you shouldn't feel like
00:45:05.160 there's a monthly commitment or a weekly
00:45:07.200 commitment or like you have to be an
00:45:09.000 expert to be involved you should be able
00:45:10.619 to just drop by and enjoy the garden
00:45:12.480 with this in mind I want to collect a
00:45:14.640 bunch of inspiration that I can use for
00:45:16.260 my mood boards so I look on Pinterest
00:45:18.839 unsplash dribble be hands and in books
00:45:21.599 that I have in my library for a typical
00:45:23.700 project I like to spend about two days
00:45:25.560 collecting information so this is
00:45:27.599 obviously a super shortened version but
00:45:29.700 I hope that I can give you a good idea
00:45:31.380 of how to approach the brand research
00:45:33.960 stage I already have an idea in mind
00:45:36.060 that we would want one mood board to
00:45:38.099 feel a bit more like a charity and
00:45:39.960 focused on community one that is more
00:45:42.359 focused on the kind of cottage core cozy
00:45:44.880 aesthetic and one that is perhaps a bit
00:45:47.579 more like Botanical and focuses on
00:45:49.680 bringing in illustrations of plants but
00:45:52.140 I don't want to get more specific than
00:45:53.640 that before I've had a look at some
00:45:55.319 designs and see where my mind goes when
00:45:57.839 I look for images I try to find a nice
00:45:59.700 mix of different applications so in this
00:46:02.400 case I know they will need a logo a
00:46:04.380 website social media templates and
00:46:06.480 signage in the actual Garden so I want
00:46:08.940 to find examples for all of these if I
00:46:11.280 can I also think photography is such an
00:46:13.560 important part so I want to find at
00:46:15.359 least one or two images that can guide
00:46:17.400 each mood board as I find things I just
00:46:19.800 use the Milano extension to add the
00:46:21.780 images to My overall mood board and then
00:46:23.940 I'll sort and put it all together later
00:46:25.680 I want the stage to be really free and
00:46:28.020 just creative and the space for us to
00:46:29.760 just look for inspiration without
00:46:30.960 feeling like you have to be creating
00:46:32.700 already okay great so now we have lots
00:46:35.280 of different inspiration images that we
00:46:36.599 can use now I want to go into Mila note
00:46:39.060 and divide them up to the three separate
00:46:41.099 mood boards so I can make sure that I
00:46:43.079 have enough images to work with once we
00:46:45.000 start designing you could definitely do
00:46:46.980 just one mood board but I find that it's
00:46:49.380 quite nice to have three different mood
00:46:51.180 boards or at least more than one so that
00:46:53.760 you can explore some different
00:46:55.020 directions at this super early stage
00:46:57.060 when the stakes are a lot lower so I
00:46:59.400 like to have either a safe a medium and
00:47:01.740 maybe a slightly more adventurous mood
00:47:03.720 board or three different directions that
00:47:06.599 I think could all be interesting but
00:47:08.160 that are super different so that we can
00:47:10.260 look together with our client and see
00:47:11.940 actually surprisingly this direction
00:47:14.099 works really well let's explore that so
00:47:16.500 this stage is supposed to be really
00:47:17.819 playful and we really want to be
00:47:19.740 exploring different options you could
00:47:21.839 definitely make the mood board straight
00:47:23.339 in Mira note but I like to use the pen
00:47:25.619 tool and add text and other details to
00:47:27.720 make the mood boards feel a little bit
00:47:29.460 more like the images are all from the
00:47:31.140 same brand so I personally like to make
00:47:33.900 them in illustrator
00:47:35.460 I make the mood boards the same size as
00:47:37.859 my keynote Pages because I'll put all of
00:47:40.500 my key research findings and the mood
00:47:42.420 boards all into one presentation that I
00:47:44.520 can share with my client during the
00:47:45.900 meeting I usually try to start with the
00:47:48.240 colors for each mood board and this way
00:47:50.280 there's a clear kind of visual Direction
00:47:52.200 and I can see how they differ from each
00:47:54.780 other I also want to make sure that the
00:47:56.940 typography has Clear Directions so if I
00:47:59.700 really like one of the images but the
00:48:01.319 typography is really different from the
00:48:03.420 other ones in the same mood board I
00:48:05.400 might block out that area and add text
00:48:07.680 myself the goal is for each mood board
00:48:10.140 to have a really distinct Direction so
00:48:12.900 we want to make sure that everything
00:48:14.099 matches and feels like it could fit into
00:48:16.140 the same brand another good idea at the
00:48:18.599 mood board stage can be to look into
00:48:20.220 stock illustrations or Graphics that you
00:48:22.440 can use because this means that you
00:48:24.300 don't need to spend all this time making
00:48:25.980 something just for the mood board but
00:48:27.960 you can still get that feeling that
00:48:29.339 you're after
00:48:30.359 so now I think we're at a point where
00:48:32.640 I'm gonna actually say that I'm done
00:48:34.980 with these mood boards I feel like you
00:48:36.960 can always keep going and find new
00:48:38.700 things you want to tweak but I'm gonna
00:48:40.140 be happy with this so for the first one
00:48:43.079 we've gone for a much more modern Vibe
00:48:46.020 and the idea here is to make it feel
00:48:48.720 like a place for young people to come
00:48:51.300 people who want it to be kind of like
00:48:53.940 inspired by museums and cool cafes so I
00:48:56.880 wanted to have that direction in there
00:48:58.200 in case that's something my client wants
00:48:59.819 to pursue the second one is a lot more
00:49:02.700 around Botanicals a much softer Vibe
00:49:06.060 where we have illustrations and it feels
00:49:09.180 like layering and almost a little bit
00:49:11.700 like kind of scrapbooking where it feels
00:49:14.220 like the garden is more natural and
00:49:16.079 grows a little bit at its own pace and
00:49:18.480 so here we really want to create this
00:49:20.520 calm feeling of a place that you can
00:49:22.619 come to when you need a bit of time for
00:49:24.660 the third one I wanted to be a bit more
00:49:26.579 of this college core feeling and here I
00:49:29.400 wanted it to be lots of flowers colors
00:49:31.980 like you have fun picnics and lots of
00:49:34.319 really fun events where you can bring
00:49:35.940 your kids and there's always a lot of
00:49:37.740 energy and movement I've used these more
00:49:40.200 playful illustrations here and this
00:49:42.660 little dotted line to kind of create
00:49:44.160 more of a DIY feel to make it feel a
00:49:46.500 little bit less intimidating once I feel
00:49:48.780 comfortable with my three mood boards I
00:49:50.520 add them into my keynote here I also add
00:49:53.460 the key takeaways for my research the
00:49:55.980 client will get the full research report
00:49:57.720 after the meeting but I just want to
00:50:00.000 discuss a few key takeaways that we can
00:50:02.280 incorporate into the brand so the
00:50:04.260 presentation could look something like
00:50:05.520 this we cover what the competitors look
00:50:08.040 like opportunities for their own brand
00:50:09.900 visual Trends Trends and psychology for
00:50:12.599 Their audience and lastly the mood
00:50:14.579 boards I also like to show that how
00:50:16.500 might we questions that we came up with
00:50:18.180 in the discovery and make suggestions
00:50:20.280 for how we can solve them for example if
00:50:22.920 one of the how might be questions for
00:50:24.480 rootful was how might we create a brand
00:50:26.819 that encourages new people to visit the
00:50:28.859 garden my response could be to focus on
00:50:31.319 how easy it is to join in and using
00:50:33.599 really aesthetic images to show how
00:50:35.400 lovely the garden is how much
00:50:36.960 information you put really is down to
00:50:38.940 the scope of the project if let's say
00:50:41.099 you're creating a website and social
00:50:42.900 media templates then you might want to
00:50:45.300 include examples from competitors or
00:50:47.220 from their own current brand where you
00:50:49.079 point out opportunities for example
00:50:50.700 during the meeting with my client I take
00:50:52.859 them through each slide of the
00:50:54.180 presentation one by one and discuss what
00:50:56.400 we found I make a note of any
00:50:58.140 preferences that they have and any other
00:51:00.420 findings that maybe they have to add
00:51:02.040 that we can then put into the research
00:51:03.720 report or look into further when I
00:51:05.579 present them with words to my client I
00:51:07.440 make sure that they understand that
00:51:09.420 although these are curated directions
00:51:10.980 specifically made for them we have not
00:51:13.380 designed anything uniquely this is all a
00:51:15.839 collection of things that already exist
00:51:17.220 in the market and this is just for us to
00:51:19.800 make sure that we're understanding the
00:51:21.599 visual direction that they are
00:51:22.920 interested in taking because although
00:51:25.619 these are all curated we still want to
00:51:27.540 make sure they feel really excited about
00:51:29.280 their own brand so personal taste and
00:51:31.079 preference does come in a little bit
00:51:32.640 they can like one of the mood Birds
00:51:34.619 really strongly or they can like
00:51:36.000 different bits and pieces from them so
00:51:37.980 that we can create a really Dynamic
00:51:39.900 concept that we'll take into
00:51:41.520 consideration the different things that
00:51:43.079 they're interested in a really key thing
00:51:44.760 here is to always ask why so if your
00:51:47.400 client for example really likes a logo
00:51:49.319 you can say really good perfect that's
00:51:51.660 helpful to know why do you like that
00:51:53.819 logo is it the color is it the
00:51:55.800 typography is it the lockup is it like
00:51:58.740 that it feels really playful or really
00:52:00.359 Dynamic try to get to the bottom of why
00:52:02.700 because if you end up with just a
00:52:04.859 collection of things that they like but
00:52:06.540 you're not quite sure why it's really
00:52:08.579 really difficult to use that as a guide
00:52:10.260 when you're creating your own Concepts
00:52:11.819 we also want to let them know that
00:52:13.800 dislikes are just as helpful as likes so
00:52:16.619 we don't want them to tiptoe around
00:52:18.180 anything just to make sure they're not
00:52:19.800 hurting our feelings because we want to
00:52:21.720 know everything all what they like and
00:52:23.760 all what they don't like after the
00:52:25.440 meeting I add in any last information to
00:52:27.480 the research report and I export the
00:52:29.339 keynote to a PDF and then I add both of
00:52:31.980 these documents to the client portal
00:52:38.640 my first step when I create Concepts is
00:52:41.099 to try to look at the mood board and
00:52:42.960 free associate ideas that I could think
00:52:45.240 of that might be appropriate for the
00:52:47.220 brand in this case I was thinking about
00:52:48.960 these beautiful garden Gates that have
00:52:51.240 really ornate designs and how maybe we
00:52:53.880 can create a design for a logo icon with
00:52:56.160 a simple version of these I like it
00:52:58.559 because a door feels very inviting and
00:53:00.660 it would be a really good way to bring
00:53:02.040 in leaves and flowers in the icon I use
00:53:04.980 sets like Pinterest unsplash and pixels
00:53:07.440 to find reference images and I add it
00:53:09.839 all into Mila notes so that I can refer
00:53:12.359 back to it when I sketch I'm also going
00:53:14.339 to create illustrations that are a lot
00:53:15.720 more realistic today so I'm going to
00:53:17.819 take you through how to do that and I
00:53:19.680 want to have images that I can use as
00:53:21.300 reference and I really do want to
00:53:23.339 consider copyright here I always use
00:53:25.800 images that I have rights to when I use
00:53:27.960 them as reference like through envato
00:53:30.059 licenses or a site like unsplash just to
00:53:32.940 make sure I'm not infringing on anyone's
00:53:34.740 copyright okay great so now we have our
00:53:37.020 different references and I'm going to
00:53:38.700 start sketching ideas for my Logos I
00:53:41.160 work in procreate because that's where I
00:53:42.839 illustrate and I'm really comfortable
00:53:44.040 but if you prefer you can sketch on pen
00:53:46.619 and paper or even an illustrator if
00:53:48.900 that's something you're comfortable with
00:53:50.040 I try to not get too stuck on one idea
00:53:52.680 so I started working on the different
00:53:55.260 layouts for the door but then I always
00:53:57.420 want to try try out other ideas like
00:53:59.640 maybe creating a handwritten word Mark
00:54:01.500 for example
00:54:02.700 since we want this Urban Garden to feel
00:54:04.800 very inviting and friendly I think maybe
00:54:07.559 a more hand lettered workbook could work
00:54:09.720 really well try to focus on where in the
00:54:12.540 word that you have empty space like in
00:54:15.359 this one you have space above the O's
00:54:17.339 because the capital r and the T are both
00:54:20.220 higher up and then see if you can add in
00:54:22.859 details or customize the letters to
00:54:24.780 create a more balanced design I also
00:54:27.240 have this idea of a few vegetables or
00:54:29.460 maybe flowers coming together to create
00:54:31.440 more of like a stamp effect kind of like
00:54:34.079 what you would see if you would use Lino
00:54:36.000 cut or stamp as a design it brings a bit
00:54:38.760 more texture and I think it can work
00:54:40.260 really well with this more organic
00:54:41.940 design Style
00:54:43.380 my problem here is that it's just not
00:54:45.420 very visible at small sizes so I need to
00:54:48.540 find a way to make the design much
00:54:50.099 clearer and maybe a little bit simpler
00:54:52.380 but I don't want to lose the personality
00:54:54.119 okay so I have an idea I want to see if
00:54:56.940 we can use the flower that I quite like
00:54:58.920 and maybe combine it with a shovel to
00:55:01.800 create an icon
00:55:03.540 okay I do really like that and I think
00:55:05.579 this might be the direction that we're
00:55:07.079 gonna go in it could be hint that the
00:55:09.540 work that you put into the garden helps
00:55:11.640 you flourish and makes your community
00:55:13.200 better before I finalize the Mark I want
00:55:16.440 to try a few different flower designs
00:55:18.240 and I think this one with the more
00:55:20.099 pointy ends works best
00:55:22.140 my last step before I move to
00:55:23.700 illustrator is just to clean up the
00:55:25.440 design so it's easier for me to create a
00:55:27.359 vector from and I also want to make sure
00:55:29.520 that I create a solid version so that I
00:55:32.220 can just make sure that the idea still
00:55:33.780 works perfect so now that we have our
00:55:35.880 concept I want to move into Adobe
00:55:37.920 Illustrator and create a vector version
00:55:39.540 and that's just so that the logo can be
00:55:41.880 scaled infinitely without becoming
00:55:43.680 pixelated in illustrator I try to use
00:55:46.200 the shape Builder tool and the
00:55:47.760 Pathfinder to break my design into
00:55:50.160 geometrical shapes and then customize
00:55:52.559 them by adding or subtracting Parts I
00:55:55.500 feel like this makes it easier to be
00:55:57.359 precise rather than if I would use the
00:55:59.400 pen tool because I could just never make
00:56:01.500 a circle as perfect as the circle tool
00:56:03.720 you kind of have to try your way forward
00:56:05.520 here and just make sure that your logo
00:56:07.559 is visible at small sizes so you can
00:56:09.900 zoom in and out just make sure that all
00:56:11.940 your lines and negative space
00:56:13.800 tend to be kind of similar so that it
00:56:16.020 feels really balanced and you don't have
00:56:17.640 one area that's super thin and some that
00:56:19.619 are super thick when you have different
00:56:21.480 shapes that overlap it can be quite
00:56:23.040 helpful to use command y to show the
00:56:24.900 outlines of these shapes and then when
00:56:26.760 you want to go back you just click
00:56:28.020 command y again just keep tweaking your
00:56:30.300 design and sometimes it can be a really
00:56:31.800 good idea to just take a break get a bit
00:56:34.619 of a fresh perspective and then come
00:56:36.059 back and see okay is it balanced what
00:56:38.520 can I improve what can I tweak before I
00:56:40.980 move forward I want to check to make
00:56:42.420 sure there's not another logo design
00:56:44.099 that already exists that looks super
00:56:45.960 similar to what I've just created so I
00:56:48.240 use a database called repo Global brand
00:56:50.579 database and here you can search for
00:56:52.740 logos that look similar by just
00:56:54.660 uploading your own image it's kind of
00:56:56.520 like tin eye but for copyright I can't
00:56:58.920 see anything similar so let's continue
00:57:00.540 next up I want to find a font that will
00:57:02.880 work well with my icon in some cases
00:57:05.220 where I'm not sure if I will have an
00:57:06.900 icon I might start with the typeface but
00:57:09.240 in this case I felt like the icon would
00:57:11.099 guide the design
00:57:12.480 I usually start with the fonts I've
00:57:14.099 already installed because they tend to
00:57:16.079 be the ones that work well and that I've
00:57:17.880 kind of pre-vetted before
00:57:19.859 in this case I'm thinking that we want a
00:57:22.140 serif maybe display font with a lot of
00:57:24.839 character if we choose a sound surf I
00:57:27.540 think the logo could feel a bit too like
00:57:29.400 hipster or modern but we need it to be a
00:57:32.400 little bit of a heavier weight to work
00:57:35.160 well with the mark so it doesn't feel
00:57:36.599 unbalanced I'm not quite finding what I
00:57:39.420 want from my library so I'm looking on
00:57:41.280 envato elements and I actually think I
00:57:43.559 found a font that could work really well
00:57:45.180 for like the small text that goes around
00:57:47.400 a batch and for little details
00:57:50.400 if we look back to the mood board having
00:57:52.619 these Badges and kind of a more retro
00:57:54.720 style was a big element so I do want to
00:57:57.359 give that a try
00:57:58.619 okay yeah I do really like that I think
00:58:01.200 many of these retro type faces have kind
00:58:03.480 of a heavy hand texture but that could
00:58:06.119 make it quite hard to read at small
00:58:07.740 sizes and I also don't want it to feel
00:58:09.960 too retro so I'm going to use a solid
00:58:12.420 version I also found a font that I
00:58:14.579 really like for the word mark
00:58:16.740 an idea to connect the T and the F so
00:58:19.260 I'm going to give that a try because at
00:58:21.420 this stage I'm just trying things out
00:58:22.980 and seeing what works best I actually
00:58:25.200 won't finish this one because I think it
00:58:27.119 just becomes too complicated and the
00:58:28.859 line is a little bit too thin but it was
00:58:30.960 worth a try I always put all of my
00:58:33.240 little experiments as a small version up
00:58:35.640 in the top corner of my board so I can
00:58:37.799 always come back to them if maybe I have
00:58:39.660 an idea later or I think of a way to
00:58:41.700 maybe tweak them so I would say never
00:58:44.040 delete things that you've tried because
00:58:45.660 you never know if you want to use them
00:58:47.099 so now that we have the icon the stamp
00:58:49.559 and the word Mark I want to start
00:58:51.059 building out the different lock-ups of
00:58:52.799 the logo and the slogan and I'm noticing
00:58:55.319 that the text in the circle it feels a
00:58:57.480 little bit dense and it means that it's
00:58:59.460 a bit competing with the word Mark and
00:59:01.500 it's a bit harder to read I'm gonna try
00:59:03.240 to make the tracking so the space
00:59:05.099 between all the letters much wider and
00:59:07.619 that way you will be able to make the
00:59:09.000 text a bit smaller but still cover the
00:59:11.579 same area that looks a lot better so I'm
00:59:13.680 going to apply that to the stamp as well
00:59:15.299 okay nice so now we can create the lock
00:59:17.400 up and then we can move on to colors
00:59:19.559 since I picked out these colors for the
00:59:21.480 mood board and they're not taking from
00:59:22.920 another brand I like to use them as a
00:59:25.260 starting point but I do feel a bit like
00:59:27.540 the screen might be a bit too dark and
00:59:29.700 maybe it gives a bit too much of a
00:59:31.559 serious feeling
00:59:32.819 I do like the coral and the beige but I
00:59:35.220 think the yellow also needs to be
00:59:36.480 adjusted a little bit the last thing
00:59:38.220 before we move on to the illustration is
00:59:40.740 to look at Photography in photography I
00:59:43.200 think can really make or break the brand
00:59:44.940 especially when you present it to your
00:59:46.680 clients I think having their new logo on
00:59:48.960 a photo that gives the right feeling can
00:59:51.480 really bring home a design when you're
00:59:53.040 presenting it okay so now let's have a
00:59:55.319 look at how to create a more realistic
00:59:57.119 illustration I'm going to share a time
00:59:59.280 lapse of my procreate illustration and
01:00:01.859 I'm going to talk you through it so you
01:00:03.180 can see every step that I go through and
01:00:05.040 every pencil brush stroke I want to draw
01:00:07.440 this P pod because it has a really nice
01:00:09.720 green color that I think will work
01:00:11.280 really well with the brand you can see
01:00:13.319 the reference image that I've put up in
01:00:15.180 the top corner and I try to break it
01:00:17.520 into basic shapes as I draw and look at
01:00:20.280 what shapes I can see rather than assume
01:00:22.799 what they should look like so for
01:00:24.720 example the peas are actually quite
01:00:26.700 Square rather than round because they
01:00:29.099 all have to fit into that pod so they've
01:00:31.260 all been a bit squeezed I start with the
01:00:33.900 base color and then I add shadows and
01:00:35.760 lighting and you really have to hang in
01:00:37.920 there and Trust the process because it
01:00:40.020 always looks quite terrible in the
01:00:41.579 beginning and just keep looking at where
01:00:44.160 the shadows and the light is and add and
01:00:46.319 remove as you go I like to put
01:00:48.119 everything on its own layer so that I
01:00:50.099 can make a Shadow more or less intense
01:00:52.140 with opacity rather than having to redo
01:00:54.960 a whole section so here it is it's a pea
01:00:57.660 pod so let's start using it in our
01:00:59.520 design I think it would be nice to
01:01:01.020 create a section on the website to talk
01:01:03.000 about growing your own food and I think
01:01:04.980 the illustration works really nicely
01:01:06.480 with the font as well the black text is
01:01:09.240 a little bit harsh so I'm gonna use a
01:01:11.339 green text instead to create a bit more
01:01:13.380 of a friendly feeling I also wanted to
01:01:15.540 show that even if you're not an
01:01:17.040 illustrator and you'd work as a brand
01:01:18.780 designer and want to use illustration
01:01:20.460 there are so many good stock
01:01:22.319 illustrations that you can use so I'm
01:01:24.540 going to work with some of those as well
01:01:26.040 in this video another great tip if
01:01:27.960 you're a brand designer and you don't
01:01:29.280 illustrate is a team up with an
01:01:30.900 illustrator and create a joint process I
01:01:33.599 think it's a really good way to get more
01:01:35.160 work as well because you can both bring
01:01:36.900 projects to each other and it's really
01:01:39.059 fun to collaborate I also want to
01:01:41.040 finalize my fonts and I think it's
01:01:42.720 really important to have a font for the
01:01:44.339 main text that is really easy to read we
01:01:46.920 want to keep in mind people have maybe a
01:01:49.079 form of color blindness or maybe not see
01:01:51.000 as well as other people so the text
01:01:53.040 should be really visible now comes a
01:01:55.440 really fun part I'm going to start
01:01:56.940 applying the visual language to create
01:01:58.799 Instagram posts as a way to show my
01:02:01.440 client how this brand can be applied
01:02:03.240 because the practical application will
01:02:05.700 be a really big decision factor for them
01:02:07.440 I quite like the idea of having an image
01:02:09.839 treatment that feels a bit like
01:02:11.220 scrapbooking because it fits nicely with
01:02:13.859 the mood board but it also feels a bit
01:02:15.480 like you're making memories
01:02:17.339 at this point if you feel like it's easy
01:02:19.260 to design that usually means that you
01:02:21.240 have a clear brand and that all of your
01:02:23.520 forms and colors work well together if
01:02:25.859 you're finding it hard to use have a
01:02:27.599 think about what changes that you can
01:02:29.040 make to the brand assets so it will be
01:02:31.319 easy for both you and the client to
01:02:33.059 apply the brand in the future so here is
01:02:35.579 the rootful brand
01:02:38.770 [Music]
01:02:42.359 I had so much fun creating this brand
01:02:44.339 and I would love to hear from you if you
01:02:46.079 want to see more work on illustration
01:02:47.760 here
01:02:53.160 I like to use keynote to prepare my
01:02:55.859 presentations and that way I can set up
01:02:57.780 a template so it's much quicker every
01:02:59.520 time I need to do a new project the goal
01:03:02.099 of the concept presentation is to take
01:03:04.260 this concept that you've created in your
01:03:06.119 head and then show that to your client
01:03:08.220 so they can really understand the vision
01:03:10.020 and how it will be practically applied
01:03:12.359 day to day most clients are maybe not
01:03:14.819 super visual people and that's probably
01:03:16.619 why they hired you as a designer and so
01:03:19.319 that's why we want to use AIDS like
01:03:21.299 mock-ups and different examples and
01:03:24.000 photography and show different brand
01:03:25.799 applications so that we're not just
01:03:28.020 showing a logo in Black and White for
01:03:30.180 example because that's something that
01:03:31.799 will be really difficult for your client
01:03:33.420 to actually picture how they will work
01:03:35.220 in their day-to-day branding a common
01:03:37.200 Pitfall that a lot of concept
01:03:38.760 presentations have is to not talk about
01:03:40.920 the reasoning and the idea behind the
01:03:43.260 concept so if we just show the visual
01:03:45.299 we're not really telling the story of
01:03:47.460 the brand so here's how I structuring my
01:03:49.619 concept presentations to make sure I get
01:03:51.480 this Vision across and that I'll be able
01:03:53.640 to get helpful and actionable feedback
01:03:55.859 from my client the very first slide I
01:03:57.960 have is just an intro stating what the
01:04:00.000 meeting is and the core purpose of the
01:04:02.099 meeting and for me that means picking a
01:04:04.559 direction for the brand I always present
01:04:06.839 three different concepts to my clients
01:04:08.400 but if you're presenting one concept
01:04:10.859 your goal might not be to choose a
01:04:12.599 direction it might be something like
01:04:14.099 revealing the brand identity and making
01:04:16.559 it iterations before we move to launch
01:04:18.900 of the brand next I explain all the
01:04:21.240 different sections that we're going to
01:04:22.380 go through and just tell my client what
01:04:24.540 to expect I want them to be aware of
01:04:27.240 everything they're going to be seeing
01:04:28.559 and that they'll see lots of different
01:04:30.000 applications but this is also where I
01:04:32.520 asked them to wait with their feedback
01:04:34.319 until we've shown all the different
01:04:36.180 concepts it's really difficult to give
01:04:38.579 good feedback before you've seen all the
01:04:40.740 different applications and if you decide
01:04:42.720 to have feedback after each concept
01:04:44.460 which definitely is a helpful strategy
01:04:46.559 as well I've noticed that sometimes
01:04:48.780 those comments are just not as valid
01:04:50.579 after they see the next concept so let's
01:04:52.859 say you're are presenting the three
01:04:54.180 different ones and they have lots of
01:04:55.500 Commons on each but actually they notice
01:04:57.359 that the third one is the clear winner
01:04:58.859 then you might not really have had to
01:05:01.020 have all those comments on one and two
01:05:02.579 because they're going to be out anyway
01:05:04.079 so I like to tell my client that I'm
01:05:06.359 gonna present all three concepts and
01:05:08.760 then we can have comments and we can go
01:05:10.680 back and forth and we can have a
01:05:12.180 discussion together about the concepts
01:05:13.920 to see which direction they want to go
01:05:15.599 with the last section I have before I
01:05:17.579 show my work are a few slides that just
01:05:19.619 recap the project goals and explain what
01:05:22.440 to look out for in a good logo design
01:05:24.780 can be so subjective and we want to set
01:05:27.000 the right tone and make sure that our
01:05:28.619 clients think about their customers
01:05:30.119 rather than their own taste so now we
01:05:32.280 can dive into presenting each concept I
01:05:34.440 always start with the core idea behind
01:05:36.299 the concept and this will set the tone
01:05:38.400 and show my clients that I've listened
01:05:40.140 and taking their goals into
01:05:41.700 consideration keeping this in mind we
01:05:44.040 can now start presenting the logo I
01:05:46.200 usually have four different slides for
01:05:47.880 the logo the first one is just a mark in
01:05:51.059 black on a white background next I
01:05:53.579 showed variations with black and white
01:05:55.440 and here I can mention if you made any
01:05:57.359 tweaks to make sure that the white
01:05:58.740 version is optically similar to the
01:06:00.720 black on white version then I move on to
01:06:03.540 color variations I then include a slide
01:06:05.819 that shows the dynamic aspects of the
01:06:07.740 brand for some it can be a fully Dynamic
01:06:10.559 brand where the colors and shapes of the
01:06:12.359 logo change to fit different departments
01:06:14.339 or areas of the business but for some
01:06:16.559 it's more about showing the icon and
01:06:18.299 different lockups of the logo now that
01:06:20.220 I've covered the logo I present the
01:06:21.839 colors and the fonts and here I think
01:06:24.240 it's really important to explain how
01:06:26.099 they will actually be used now that
01:06:27.839 we've covered the basics of the visual
01:06:29.400 language I dive into more in-depth
01:06:31.859 sections like illustrations photography
01:06:34.079 social media templates and any other
01:06:36.180 applications that I think will be really
01:06:37.799 relevant to this brand if the project
01:06:39.780 includes print packaging or maybe a
01:06:42.119 website design I always try to include
01:06:44.220 at least one applications of each of
01:06:46.020 these as well just to give my client an
01:06:48.240 idea of how this will work day to day
01:06:50.039 for each application take some time to
01:06:52.380 find mock-ups that will really tighten
01:06:54.359 well with your clients business and
01:06:56.460 that's going to show how the brand
01:06:57.960 practically works much better when I
01:07:00.539 present multiple Concepts I always make
01:07:02.520 sure that both the sections that I
01:07:04.319 include but also the exact mock-ups are
01:07:06.599 the same for each concept because that's
01:07:08.640 going to make it so much easier for my
01:07:10.500 client to actually compare and look at
01:07:12.839 the visuals that we've created rather
01:07:14.339 than the mock-ups that we picked the
01:07:16.380 very last slide is always just the logos
01:07:18.359 of the different concepts just to kind
01:07:20.220 of jog their memory and give those a
01:07:21.960 place to start the discussion when I've
01:07:23.760 taken my client through the whole
01:07:24.900 presentation my first question is always
01:07:27.359 which direction do you lean towards the
01:07:29.940 most this will give us a really positive
01:07:32.099 starting point to start having
01:07:33.480 discussions about things that they feel
01:07:34.980 really strongly about like positive or
01:07:36.780 negative and it will be really good to
01:07:39.000 start narrowing down which direction
01:07:41.039 we're going overall we typically go
01:07:43.140 through the presentation back and forth
01:07:44.819 and review all the concepts again and
01:07:46.799 start having those questions and
01:07:48.180 discussions that my client has maybe
01:07:49.619 been writing down during the meeting if
01:07:51.839 they love everything right away that's
01:07:53.760 perfect but don't be afraid to ask if
01:07:55.980 there are any areas that you need to
01:07:57.539 work on because it's much better to do
01:07:59.339 that now rather than when you've
01:08:01.079 exported everything and created the
01:08:02.579 foreground guide and then you realize oh
01:08:04.440 actually this color doesn't work so make
01:08:06.660 sure you ask those questions now if they
01:08:08.700 have multiple people on their team make
01:08:10.980 sure that you act as the translator if
01:08:13.020 they have different opinions so let's
01:08:14.460 say one person really likes concept one
01:08:16.198 and one person really likes concept two
01:08:18.000 get them to really distill down what
01:08:20.160 they like about those Concepts and see
01:08:22.259 if there's any crossover so maybe you
01:08:24.600 realize that the reason they love
01:08:25.920 concept one is just because of the
01:08:27.779 colors but actually everything else
01:08:29.520 about concept 2 is stronger so then you
01:08:31.799 can have a discussion about okay do we
01:08:33.600 need to keep concept 2 as the mean
01:08:35.279 Direction but maybe bring in some color
01:08:37.439 options from option one so try to be the
01:08:40.140 translator there and help them verbalize
01:08:42.420 what they're feeling around the design
01:08:44.100 after the meeting I upload this console
01:08:46.799 presentation to my client portal in
01:08:48.839 Trello and I also send them an email
01:08:50.698 that summarizes all of the different
01:08:52.560 changes that we've decided together that
01:08:54.479 we're gonna make to the brand before
01:08:55.920 it's finished if you have misunderstood
01:08:58.080 anything your client will catch that
01:08:59.520 right away and that saves a lot of time
01:09:01.738 for everyone I personally offer three
01:09:03.719 rounds of revisions because I want to
01:09:05.580 give the space for my clients to really
01:09:07.920 get the brand that they want and I make
01:09:09.719 sure I put that space in my budget so I
01:09:12.000 can offer a really great brand
01:09:13.198 experience without having to push them
01:09:15.420 on budget each time once your client has
01:09:17.698 approved all the new changes then it's
01:09:20.100 time to export all the files and create
01:09:21.779 the brand guide when I export the files
01:09:23.819 I want to make it really easy for my
01:09:25.560 client to actually use the different
01:09:27.238 files and know what the different files
01:09:29.219 are for so what does this whole setup
01:09:31.380 actually look like for my logo files for
01:09:33.899 example I start with a folder that's
01:09:35.640 just called logo inside that folder I
01:09:38.279 have two more folders print and digital
01:09:40.500 use in the print folder I have a pdf
01:09:43.198 version in CMYK for each color variation
01:09:45.779 and I also have a JPEG version in CMYK
01:09:48.600 for each color variation and the last
01:09:51.060 thing I add is an Adobe Illustrator file
01:09:53.219 setup in CMYK with all of the different
01:09:55.679 color variations one in each artboard
01:09:59.100 for the digital folder I do the same
01:10:01.260 thing with PNG and SVG files and
01:10:03.840 sometimes EPS in different color
01:10:05.940 variations and I also include an Adobe
01:10:08.280 Illustrator document in RGB I also
01:10:10.860 usually make a folder specifically for
01:10:12.660 social media just to make it really easy
01:10:14.580 for them to not have to second guess
01:10:16.320 which color combination or which icon to
01:10:18.300 use if I know that the brand will be
01:10:20.280 used at really different scales like a
01:10:22.320 business card and a giant billboard for
01:10:24.420 example I might also create different
01:10:26.520 file sizes so that they have those
01:10:28.739 options and this is mostly for print
01:10:31.080 because for digital use you're not going
01:10:32.880 to need as wide of a scale of different
01:10:34.980 file sizes to actually create all these
01:10:37.199 files you can go about it in lots of
01:10:39.120 different ways but there are two ways
01:10:40.860 that I've been doing it one way is to
01:10:42.239 set up an illustrator document with as
01:10:44.040 many artboards as you have logo
01:10:45.719 variations and then export them into the
01:10:48.060 right file formats like jpeg or PNG
01:10:50.760 because I provide the illustrator file
01:10:53.040 anyway this has been the way that I've
01:10:55.140 done it in a lot of my projects but
01:10:57.600 there is actually a much faster way that
01:10:59.520 I learned about recently you actually
01:11:01.380 have an export window in illustrator
01:11:03.540 where you can just drag in your logo and
01:11:05.940 then choose the file format and you can
01:11:08.100 also add multiple file sizes this is
01:11:10.920 super handy when you want to export all
01:11:12.840 the different versions separately like
01:11:14.219 maybe the icon the word Mark and the
01:11:16.380 full lockup with the slogan for example
01:11:18.540 the only thing here I'm actually not 100
01:11:20.460 sure of is what the resolution is my
01:11:23.520 best guess is that it chooses the
01:11:25.140 resolution that my document is set up in
01:11:27.000 but many times you might want to have a
01:11:29.159 lower resolution rather than let's say
01:11:30.780 300 DPI especially for digital use so I
01:11:34.020 would love to hear in the comments if
01:11:35.460 you know what resolution the export
01:11:37.679 window uses I then do the exact same
01:11:40.440 process for any assets like
01:11:41.820 illustrations patterns and icons and
01:11:44.460 then we upload all the files to a cloud
01:11:46.560 folder that I can share with my clients
01:11:48.780 really easily at a later stage one my
01:11:51.239 client has actually paid the final
01:11:52.560 invoice I share this folder through the
01:11:55.380 brand guide with them by clicking share
01:11:57.420 and then setting the share setting to
01:11:59.580 anyone with the link can view the reason
01:12:01.860 I use these settings is that my client
01:12:03.719 might actually want to share this folder
01:12:05.580 with someone on their team or a
01:12:08.100 marketing person a web developer or
01:12:10.199 someone else who might need access and
01:12:12.300 in that case I want them to also be able
01:12:14.219 to access it so I don't want to share it
01:12:16.020 just with the specific emails I wanted
01:12:17.820 to be anyone with a link but on the
01:12:20.159 other hand I don't want to set them as
01:12:21.900 an editor because an editor can delete
01:12:24.420 files and if you have an external person
01:12:27.179 who comes in for a project and
01:12:28.560 accidentally deletes a lot of files that
01:12:30.600 could be a lot on your plate to find
01:12:32.340 those files on your hard drives and
01:12:33.960 upload them again so I just make sure I
01:12:36.120 set this setting to view okay great so
01:12:38.640 now that we have all these assets to go
01:12:40.260 I'm gonna start creating the brand guide
01:12:42.179 the goal of the brand guide is both to
01:12:44.580 help show my clients how to use the
01:12:46.440 brand day today but also to show the
01:12:49.140 values and anything else around brand
01:12:51.060 that will be helpful for a third party
01:12:52.920 date they might bring in like a marketer
01:12:54.960 for example the sections can vary a
01:12:56.940 little bit depending on the business but
01:12:58.500 I usually include a couple pages about
01:13:00.360 the brand values tone of voice and the
01:13:02.940 idea behind the brand
01:13:04.500 sometimes I work with a copywriter and
01:13:06.840 then this section on brand tone and
01:13:08.880 messaging might be a lot longer but if
01:13:10.980 I'm creating it myself I'm not a
01:13:12.600 copywriter so I tend to focus on what
01:13:14.580 we've come up with in the brand research
01:13:16.380 and Discovery session after this intro
01:13:18.960 section I add guidance on how to use
01:13:21.120 each part of the brand if we just add
01:13:23.340 the colors for example but we don't
01:13:24.960 explain which ones are background colors
01:13:26.940 which ones are used for buttons and
01:13:28.500 which ones are just part of illustration
01:13:30.179 for example it will become really
01:13:32.219 difficult for anyone besides ourselves
01:13:34.080 to actually use the brand
01:13:35.760 for Logos it can be a good idea to
01:13:37.800 explain when to use which version and I
01:13:40.800 like to show examples rather than just
01:13:42.900 explaining through text you can also
01:13:45.060 include sections on the brand
01:13:46.560 photography style and give examples of
01:13:48.600 attributes to look out for in a branded
01:13:50.640 photo for example for the rootful brand
01:13:53.460 we might want to focus on photography of
01:13:55.679 gardening in action and the outdoors
01:13:58.140 rather than let's say vegetables being
01:14:00.000 photographed in more of a studio
01:14:01.440 environment and we can also make notes
01:14:03.900 about inclusion and color palettes or
01:14:05.940 anything else that will help us create
01:14:07.260 that cohesive brand identity the next
01:14:09.780 section is perhaps the most prescriptive
01:14:12.000 and this is where I includes social
01:14:13.739 media templates and any layout
01:14:15.300 formatting for a website packaging or
01:14:17.520 print that we might have created if you
01:14:19.380 have packaging for example you usually
01:14:21.239 want to have a template where each
01:14:22.860 flavor or new product has roughly the
01:14:25.500 same layout and placement for the logo
01:14:27.480 and text but the colors and the graphics
01:14:29.760 might change if I have the time and the
01:14:31.860 budget I also like to add a page on
01:14:33.900 aspirational examples this could be
01:14:36.060 adding The Branding to merchandise or
01:14:38.340 storefront for example if I know that
01:14:40.440 this is something my client will
01:14:41.699 eventually want to do this is a great
01:14:43.679 way for you to inspire your clients but
01:14:46.199 it can also be a great way for you to
01:14:47.820 get more work in the future because
01:14:49.500 you're showing them all these different
01:14:50.820 applications that you're capable of
01:14:52.500 doing that they might actually be
01:14:53.820 interested in here's a really neat tip
01:14:55.739 that I started doing recently remember
01:14:57.600 how we uploaded all of the brand files
01:14:59.699 to the cloud earlier now I can link each
01:15:02.580 of these folders in my brand guide this
01:15:04.920 way anyone who needs a certain brand
01:15:06.659 asset like a logo or a pattern they can
01:15:09.420 just find the direct link and download
01:15:11.280 them from the brand guide lastly I
01:15:13.560 export the brand guide as a PDF and now
01:15:15.659 we're going to create the handoff
01:15:16.679 package where all of this is going to go
01:15:18.420 together to wrap up the project a
01:15:20.699 handoff package is just a really nice
01:15:22.320 way to give your client everything you
01:15:24.420 need from the project but also to say
01:15:26.520 thank you and encourage them to work
01:15:28.080 with you more in the future I like to
01:15:29.940 keep it really simple and just include a
01:15:31.739 quick thank you and a personal note
01:15:33.300 about why it was really fun to work on
01:15:35.219 this project together then I have links
01:15:37.380 to download the brand guide and the
01:15:38.880 different brand files and I finally add
01:15:41.219 a link to leave a testimonial on my
01:15:43.199 Google my business page this makes it
01:15:45.420 super easy for you to get testimonials
01:15:47.400 and it also helps improve your SEO the
01:15:49.620 final section is a list of services that
01:15:52.020 we offer and if I worked with a brand on
01:15:54.780 a very extensive project and there isn't
01:15:56.820 an obvious Next Step this might be a
01:15:59.040 list of General services that I offer in
01:16:01.020 case they're interested
01:16:02.460 if I have something in mind that I think
01:16:04.860 would be a really really good fit let's
01:16:06.480 say we worked on a brand and I know
01:16:08.100 their next step is to focus more on
01:16:09.659 their marketing but we already designed
01:16:11.400 their templates I might talk about maybe
01:16:13.380 a newsletter or their email signature or
01:16:15.900 other ways that we can work on maybe a
01:16:17.820 retainer to create assets for them so
01:16:20.040 this is a really good way to show hey I
01:16:22.320 really enjoyed this project it was great
01:16:24.120 relationship I'd love to keep it going
01:16:25.860 here are some ways that we can keep
01:16:27.659 working together the very last step is
01:16:29.699 just to send this handoff package to my
01:16:31.440 client and say a big thank you for a
01:16:33.719 nice project and that's a wrap for this
01:16:36.659 whole series on creating a brand from
01:16:38.460 scratch I thought it might be really
01:16:40.080 nice to make the next series about how
01:16:42.540 to run your business day-to-day like how
01:16:45.000 to get new clients how to think about
01:16:46.920 finances and maybe how to set goals for
01:16:49.140 your business so if you have any
01:16:50.940 thoughts on what kind of videos you
01:16:52.620 would like to see from me I would love
01:16:54.300 to see those in the comments if you want
01:16:56.460 to learn more about branding and you
01:16:57.960 really enjoy these deep Dives have a
01:17:00.060 look at this video where I created a
01:17:01.500 brand from scratch or 4 or a kids
01:17:03.239 clothing brand that was a really fun one
01:17:05.280 thank you so much for watching good luck
01:17:07.800 with your projects and see you next time