Branding Advice - Trumpet Branding Design

The benefits and a simple way to:

11/5/2017

Leo Varadkar said he wanted to lead a party for 'people who get up early in the morning'. He might have offended quite a few people by saying this but he got my vote.

I recently read that the most successful entrepreneurs get more done by 8am than most people do all day. Intrigued by that I did a bit of research and I have learnt that early risers are more proactive than night owls. They’re also more agreeable, productive and conscientious, compared to people who sleep in.

Waking up earlier allows you to start the day with a victory. Your willpower is at its absolute best first thing in the morning, so it’s the perfect time to fit in some exercise. This will stimulate the flow of endorphins for a clear and healthy mind. You could also try a 30 second cold shower. (I promise you, it wakes you up and you’re less likely to need all that caffeine...)

Other benefits to waking up earlier include quiet surroundings and having time to eat a good breakfast, perhaps while reading the news as supposed to just glancing at the headlines. This will set you up for the day so by the time you’re ready to start working, you’re full of energy, and as it’s still early(!) you can get started on your most important task of the day, before all the usual distractions start...

If the thought of waking up at sunrise is just too much, have a think about how you spend your evenings. If you’re as productive after dinner time as you’re in the morning, you’re lucky. If not, well then have a think about what you could do if you had one extra hour every morning. You’d need to envision something positive. Something just for you, that you will enjoy and look forward to. This good reason to get out of bed will help you set the alarm for earlier and it will help you get up.

How to go about it
If you’re keen to try this out you will need to pick your ideal wake-up time and you need to work towards that time, gradually, to avoid shocking your system.

Build your habit 15 minutes at a time. If you normally get up at 7:30am you must set your alarm for 7:15am. Do this for two days. For the following two days, set it for another 15 minutes earlier than normal. You need to do this every day of the week, including weekends. You can not have any sleep-ins until you are completely ‘re-programmed’.

As you get up earlier and earlier, you need to go to bed earlier and earlier. The goal isn’t to need less sleep, the goal is to wake up earlier, to reap all those benefits I listed above. And more.

Leo probably agrees with Benjamin Franklin:
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

I have only just got started, but I think I will too.

Branding and Design.

1/5/2017

As a graphic designer I have worked with several branding experts over the years. And although things change constantly there are a few fundamental principles when it comes to branding and these are pretty much unchanged since I started out in the industry some twenty odd years ago.

Here's a few links to articles I have written about branding and design.

Tell a Story
Creating a brand story is the best way to differentiate your business, but it is not simply about standing out and getting noticed. It is about building something that people care about. Something they want to buy into.

Build a Brand
A brand is your business reputation. It is through branding that you will create consumer trust and emotional attachments. A good example is Lego. They’re not just building blocks for kids. They represent childhood imagination and creativity.

Name it
There’s plenty of ways to go about developing a name for your business. You can describe what your business is or what it does, you can take a word out of context or you can make up a brand new word.

Before beginning, plan carefully
A creative brief is a communication tool that outlines a project’s requirements, expectations and resources. It helps ensure that everyone involved in a project are on the same page.

Talk with one voice. Show one face.
Here’s my design principles and some of my logo designs. You need to communicate clearly, confidently and positively. It is absolutely vital that your logo represents your core values.

Put it into words
While logos are visual representations of a brand, taglines are audible representations of a brand. If your business name is not already descriptive of what you do, well then your tagline should be.

Know your colours
Colours have the power to convey and communicate meanings and messages without words. It is the most important component of a logo design and by far what people remember the most, much more so than the shape or word of the logo itself.

Don't tell 'em. Show 'em.
Every brand, from the smallest startup to a corporate giant, need a set of branding guidelines to maintain their identity.
Here’s a list of what I believe is essential information for a brand style guide, along with some great examples from the likes of Skype, Spotify and Orange.