What to include in a brand creative direction

Ever been in this spot before?

You’re full of ingenious design concepts for a brand, yet there hasn’t been much talk about what the client truly needs. Consequently, when the design phase kicks off, it feels kind of like trying to score with a moving goalpost.

If this scenario rings a bell, it's likely due to a missing ingredient: a brand creative direction.

Crafting an impactful brand for your client demands more than just visual flair; it necessitates injecting strategic foresight into your designs. We understand that a brand encompasses more than mere design assets and aesthetics (and if you didn’t know that, take a glance at this piece), but how do we bridge that gap?

Introducing: Brand creative direction.

A brand creative direction sets the parameters defining a brand’s personality and aesthetic. It serves as the bedrock upon which all other elements are built, encompassing colors, fonts, and logo designs.

Establishing a creative direction for the brand enables you to pinpoint its core values, attributes, and personality traits, which can then be visually translated into design elements. This direction streamlines the design process, providing you with a roadmap to craft a visual language that's uniquely tailored to the brand, create a style guide ensuring consistency across all campaigns, and develop a voice that resonates consistently throughout the customer journey.

When crafting a brand creative direction, two primary components must be considered: the brand foundation and the style guide. These components synergize to construct the brand’s visual identity.

Here are some pivotal questions to ponder when formulating a brand creative direction:

The Brand Foundation:

First and foremost, immerse yourself in your client’s business holistically. Identifying their "secret sauce" and overarching business goals will serve as the cornerstone for shaping their brand.

• What are the Core Values of your brand?

• Who is your Ideal Client?

• What are the needs of your ideal client that you can address?

• Why are they inclined to engage with you or purchase from you?

• What is your brand's Positioning Statement?

• Name three competitors and elucidate what distinguishes you from them.

The Brand style:

Next, it's time to delve into the nitty-gritty of style preferences! These tailored questions unearth your client’s visual inclinations for their brand.

• What aesthetic "vibe" do you envision for your brand? Consider rustic, modern, boho, kitschy, clean, feminine, masculine, etc.

• Are there specific colors you wish to emphasize in your brand?

• Do you have any symbols or icons you wish to integrate?

• Do you have a preference for font style? Serif, sans serif, script, bold, handwritten, etc.

• Are there any brands whose style you admire? It needn’t be related to your industry. What aspects of their style captivate your attention?

By using these questions as a launching point for your designs, you’ll be able to develop a brand creative direction that meets all of your clients needs and effectively helps you strategize and begin designing a brand!

Want to hone in on your design business processes?

Now that you have your creative process figured out, let’s get you set up with all of the other elements of designing for clients.

My course, Brand Process Savvy, will teach you just that!

The course is packed with resources to set you up for success in your branding process so you can spend less time going back and forth with clients on design revisions and spend more time designing brands you and your clients LOVE.

Check out the details here!