Branding & the resourceful mind mapping.

Reflection on Mind Mapping Tool ­ My first time on branding

Challenge

I’ve worked as a freelance designer for quite some time now, I think since I was on my third year of

college. For every three editorial projects I’d get one project regarding corporate design, so I

definitely was more focused, at that time, on the visuals than on the final functionality of the things I

was creating. My process was pretty simple, I’d create a layout and then get it approved by my

client, same thing I used to do for my small corporate design projects, which mainly involved creating

deliverables like flyers for an already existing company. The main picture was that I was being a lazy

designer, but the fact is I just wasn’t prepared enough. I was your basic Jon Snow, I knew nothing.

This story goes back to my first, built from scratch, branding project for an american traditional

bakery. For which I had to figure out the following:

How to get out there and compete with the local favorite bakeries?

How to seem traditional but innovative at the same time?

How to become trustworthy and develop not customers but fans?

Selection

So without knowing at the time precisely what I was doing, I fell accidentally/on purpose to the ​mind

mapping tool​. I needed to know what the competition was and how to become relevant in a very

closed market, what would be the brand differentiator against other companies who had been well

positioned for a very long time. So I went with the classic process that’s done for branding, following

the rules on how to create a successful brand:

1. Define the problem.

2. Specify goals.

3. Investigate:

3.1. Overwhelm your client with an extensive brief in order to know their expectations,

what they think the personality of the company should be and detect basic needs.

3.2. Investigate key concepts.

3.3. Make a through and through benchmarking; for those of you not familiar with this

term it refers to the process from which you compile information and gain new ideas,

by the comparison between aspects of your company/brand/product with the leaders

or stronger competitor of the market.

4. Read and translate all the information into relevant facts, conceptual maps, moodboards and

more creative process. Establish the criteria and create.

5. And the rest of the process which focuses more on refining the visuals and building the final

face of the brand.

Application

So during the ​what is ​part of this project , after an extensive investigation, a thorough benchmarking

­ on what already existed on the market in the city my client was going to establish the company­ I

was left with huge amount of data I didn’t actually knew how to read… Until I noticed ​patterns that

kept telling me the same things. Just like that, while doing things like conceptual maps and

comparison charts, all this information gave me a great insight on what was lacking in the market,

where were this companies making the same mistakes and how to avoid them. So I built an action

plan, about the way the company should work, more precisely I tried to put down into words and

sketches what would the company experience be like. The different approaches we could do to

attract new customers and maintain them as faithful fans. The main idea was this: host every four

months an introduction/tasting event for the season’s new products and flavours, so this way we’d

maintain our customers on the lookout for every season. Which visually translated into a new pattern

per season to accompany the main logo and idea.

Insight

Not only I came up with a visual face for the brand but also with a ­ way more important ­ customer

experience. Which inevitably helped me achieve my goals, maintaining a traditional core but still be

able to be a creative and innovative bakery. So’d call it a win­win. Hail Mind mapping!

Approach

What would I do different next time? Well for starters now I know or have a clue on what the process

is like so it’d take less time to develop the idea and translate the information. I’d follow a more

structured process and guess less. Focus more on facts than on assumptions.


Branding & the resourceful mind mapping . Reflection on Mind Mapping Tool ­ My first time on branding Challenge I ’ve worked as a freelance designer for quite some time now , I think since I was on my third year of college . For every three editorial projects I ’d get one project regarding corporate design , so I definitely was more focused , at that time , on the visuals than on the final functionality of the things I was creating . My process was pretty simple , I ’d create a layout and then get it approved by my client , same thing I used to do for my small corporate design projects , which mainly involved creating deliverables like flyers for an already existing company . The main picture was that I was being a lazy designer , but the fact is I just was n’t prepared enough . I was your basic Jon Snow , I knew nothing . This story goes back to my first , built from scratch , branding project for an american traditional bakery . For which I had to figure out the following : How to get out there and compete with the local favorite bakeries ? How to seem traditional but innovative at the same time ? How to become trustworthy and develop not customers but fans ? Selection So without knowing at the time precisely what I was doing , I fell accidentally / on purpose to the ​mind mapping tool​. I needed to know what the competition was and how to become relevant in a very closed market , what would be the brand differentiator against other companies who had been well positioned for a very long time . So I went with the classic process that ’s done for branding , following the rules on how to create a successful brand : 1 . Define the problem . 2 . Specify goals . 3 . Investigate : 3.1 . Overwhelm your client with an extensive brief in order to know their expectations , what they think the personality of the company should be and detect basic needs . 3.2 . Investigate key concepts . 3.3 . Make a through and through benchmarking; for those of you not familiar with this term it refers to the process from which you compile information and gain new ideas , by the comparison between aspects of your company / brand / product with the leaders or stronger competitor of the market . 4 . Read and translate all the information into relevant facts , conceptual maps , moodboards and more creative process . Establish the criteria and create . 5 . And the rest of the process which focuses more on refining the visuals and building the final face of the brand . Application So during the ​what is ​part of this project , after an extensive investigation , a thorough benchmarking ­ on what already existed on the market in the city my client was going to establish the company­ I was left with huge amount of data I did n’t actually knew how to read … Until I noticed ​patterns that kept telling me the same things . Just like that , while doing things like conceptual maps and comparison charts , all this information gave me a great insight on what was lacking in the market , where were this companies making the same mistakes and how to avoid them . So I built an action plan , about the way the company should work , more precisely I tried to put down into words and sketches what would the company experience be like . The different approaches we could do to attract new customers and maintain them as faithful fans . The main idea was this : host every four months an introduction / tasting event for the season ’s new products and flavours , so this way we ’d maintain our customers on the lookout for every season . Which visually translated into a new pattern per season to accompany the main logo and idea . Insight Not only I came up with a visual face for the brand but also with a ­ way more important ­ customer experience . Which inevitably helped me achieve my goals , maintaining a traditional core but still be able to be a creative and innovative bakery . So’d call it a win­win . Hail Mind mapping ! Approach What would I do different next time ? Well for starters now I know or have a clue on what the process is like so it ’d take less time to develop the idea and translate the information . I ’d follow a more structured process and guess less . Focus more on facts than on assumptions .