What Does the Branding Process Look Like?

At first glance, you may think that branding is just about designing the logo, creating the color palette, & selecting the typography. And that’s all part of the process, but you may be surprised to know that there is so much more going on under the surface. 

Branding is not just about design—it’s where form meets function, & where science & art intersect. It’s an incredibly informed, thorough process that can take upwards of 12 weeks to bring a project to its full potential!

The word “branding” is thrown around a lot online, but there’s always a sense of mystery surrounding it. If you’re looking for a rundown on what branding is, check out our previous blog post here! But even if you know what branding is, I’m sure you’re still wondering… what exactly does this process entail?

So allow us to give you a behind the scenes peek at our branding process for our 12-week atelier experience!

The first step in our process is always gathering information, getting to know our clients, & setting our intentions & vision for the project. 

In this phase, we work very closely with our clients, & expect them to be as hands-on as us during this part of the process—it’s a collaborative effort for sure! We send out an incredibly detailed questionnaire to gather information on their intentions & vision for their brand, their mission statement & brand promise, their target market, their competition, & anything else that may be of use to us during the later phases of our project in order to inform our creative direction.

If any of these assets are not in place, we work with our clients to clarify & solidify them going forward. Clarity is key!

The brand strategy phase is where we lay it all out on the table & gather our initial impressions & direction for the project. We encourage our clients to take their time filling out the questionnaire in as much detail as possible, and we meet a few times in this phase to iron everything out. We’re lovers of details here at Zehra Studio, so the more comprehensive the information, the better! This also ensures that we’re aligned with you on the vision & intention for your brand. Communication is super important to us, so we always strive to start the project off on the same page!

Once the brand strategy phase comes to a close & we’ve collected all the necessary information, we are able to move forward with creating the brief.* Once we create & present the brief, we can move forward with bringing your brand to life—this is also when things start getting real.

The second step in our process is designing your brand identity.* This is what most people picture when they think of “branding”—moodboarding, logo & submark design, color palette, typography selection, custom illustrations & icons, & collateral design.*

But as you can see, we can’t move forward with designing the visuals until we’ve done the groundwork to solidify the brand foundation! 

Our identity design process starts with some good old-fashioned moodboarding—we freestyle a moodboard on pinterest, solidify a creative direction, and move forward with designing our assets! 

We then move into a cycle of revision & redesign to come to our final logo & brand identity assets. Our priority during this phase is to ensure our clients are satisfied with the final decisions we’ve made with their identity, while simultaneously ensuring each of our design decisions are explained thoroughly.

We believe in doing everything with intention—as designers, we know that form follows function, so we always strive to make your identity functional, first!

This is often the most exciting part of the process—everything comes together visually, and our clients start to see their brand vision come to life for the first time!

The 3rd step in our process is designing your website. This serves as your brand’s very own home on the internet, & is SO important for customizing your clients’ experience with your brand.

We begin by crafting your buyer’s journey specifically for the website. Once we know the intention of the website & the source of the visitors, we begin the wireframing process* for your website. Once the wireframe is approved, we create the first functional prototype, which becomes an interactive first-draft version of the final website.

We then enter a cycle of feedback & revision, making necessary changes to ensure that it is on par with your vision. Upon approval, we move ahead & start implementing systems & automations to ensure that the form of the website matches it’s intended, robust functionality.

At the culmination of the website design process, we always give it a thorough test run to ensure all systems are functional, from pop-up modals, to intake forms, to animation triggers, & other automations.

• The final step in our process is strategizing & designing a seamless experience for your clients. This tends to be the part of the process people don’t think about, but it is arguably the most important—experience is what truly makes or breaks a brand.We start by strategizing your buyer’s journey*, ensuring there are no holes in the process where qualified leads could fall through the cracks. We then move on to strategizing your client success journey*, & make sure your clients have a system that supports them throughout the process of working with you (and entices them to come back & buy again!).After we’ve strategized and laid out the framework of your brand’s experience, we get to implementing & making sure all of your assets are connected, automated where possible, & running like a well-oiled machine. We’re big believers in working smarter, not harder, so we design your experience to work hard so you don’t have to. 

• There’s a lot that goes into developing a strategic & successful brand. It is so much more than just a logo—it’s a living, breathing entity that needs love, care, & space for discovery & evolution. And if your brand is in need of some TLC, we invite you to inquire below about getting on the waitlist for our all-inclusive Atelier Experience. Let us elevate your brand to new heights!

• Brief: A document that lays out the vision for your brand & the scope of the project.Brand Identity: the visual elements of a brand, such as color palette, typography, logo, etc, that identify and distinguish the brand in your audience’s minds. Design Collateral: printed material used to provide information about your business and give it an image. This can include anything with the business logo: packaging, social media templates, business cards, etc.Wireframing: a very simple layout for a website—boxes & squares filled w/ placeholder text/pictures, to showcase to you what the website will look like.Buyer’s Journey: touchpoints your audience goes through when making a purchase decisionClient Success Journey: touchpoints after your audience has purchased something from you