You launch your brand or product and you do not know what strategy to approach for your branding?
You need inspiration to create your brand identity?
You want to know the best practices in graphic design?
You knocked on the right door ! KNOK STUDIOS reflects on the good recipes to succeed your branding in 2019.
Create a logo in 2019: Trends
Logo design is often a real headache. Between marketing goals, the graphic designer’s vision and the customer’s feeling, communication can be tough!
So, even if you want a designer to create a custom logo, do not hesitate to go to websites selling logos such as 123rf.com, brandcrowd.com, or graphicriver.net to make a pre-selection of your favorite designs.
And to keep going in the right direction, let us give you some inspiration and best practices for the creation of your logo in 2019.
#1. Choose an adaptable / adaptive logo
Having a dynamic logo that can be changed or edited is a great way to renew yourself and show that your brand is and will always be relevant!
A logo that knows how to adapt to events and fashions will infuse life into your business. It’s also a great way to boost your community management and your Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram publications.
But it is also important that your logo can adapt to different sizes of media, whether web, print, or other, and can for example be represented in the form of acronym or drawing:
#2. Correct proportions and soft geometry
A logo, today more than ever, must be simple in its forms to be easily recognizable, and, as seen previously, be more adaptable to different formats of branding.
A geometric logo with abstract modern forms inspires structure and order while evoking a modern image. Coupled with bright, warm colors and curves, these logos convey a softer and more positive image.
#3. The new minimalism: Dare the “Blanding”
In this logic of simplification of logos, the trend of “Blanding” (“Bland” designating something banal) has appeared.
This is one of the ultimate steps for successful companies: their brand is now so well known that it is no longer necessary to highlight or differentiate it.
In this example above, no need to mention a brand or even display a logo or text: everyone knows who and what it is.
And the biggest brands follow this trend of simplification to the extreme, so much so that brands and products come to be confused. Frigidaire, Google, Post-it and K-way are so many brands that have become over time names or verbs used in everyone’s life.
#4. Play with negative spaces
Carrefour, FedEx, Toblerone, NBC … are all brands whose logos work on this principle of negative space. The principle is simple: you hide a symbol or a drawing inside your logo.
This practice, if not new, is still relevant in 2019, and still reflects the originality and inventiveness of your brand.
#5. Do not be afraid to try 3D
Often more expensive, 3D logos can push the details to their maximum, and create a “wow” effect in the viewer.
They immediately show your potential customers that your brand is thinking forward and suggest by their realism that your company is well anchored in the world.
Choosing the right typography for your Branding
Writing fonts are an essential element for your branding. And it’s never an easy choice, because thousands of fonts are available for free or not on the internet, on sites like Google Fonts or Dafont.com.
Difficult under these conditions to make an informed choice, and yet, do not rush: it is not a decision to be taken lightly!
Because just like the logos, the fonts have a very important impact: they communicate emotions that must correspond to your message or your brand image.
Combining writing fonts is not easy either. You have to know how to find the right balance or the good contrast between your main font (that of the logo or the titles of your web site) of the secondary ones (for your body of text and your subtitles) to obtain the best effect.
If nothing will replace the opinion of a good graphic designer, some sites give you suggestions of “pairing“, namely of elegant associations of Fonts, such as fontpair.co or fontjoy.com.
Beyond that, regarding the choice of font style, it really depends on your industry!
#1. “Vintage” fonts
The “Vintage” writing fonts can be adapted to certain food or natural products, even to certain services perceived as “traditional” (barbers, chic cafes …)
The vintage or retro styles make it possible to portray a quality image and are a good choice for craft products or associated with refinement:
#2. “Serif” fonts
Fine and elegant fonts, with Serif, are regularly used by prestigious institutions, but also by luxury, fashion and even luxury brands:
Be careful however: serifs are to be used sparingly. They work particularly well in titles, logos or headers, but are not suitable for large blocks of text.
#3. “Bold” fonts
In 2019, the popularity of bold fonts will continue to grow.
These fonts do not lack personality and will be allies of choice to display your message, and will make your posters and flyers visible from afar.
Your packagings: Ideas for 2019
Your products are the heart of your business, and your future customers need only a fraction of a second to know if they are attracted to them, that’s why your packagings must be trendy and create impulse and desire !
Again, several trends are emerging to aim right.
#1. Ornaments and finesse of the details
This trend goes against the minimalism that can be seen for logos in particular.
Adopt intricate decorative details to embellish and give more personality to your brand.
Inspired by Baroque and Art Deco design styles, as well as the recent popularity of hand-drawn illustrations, this trend is characterized by the same ornamental details that minimalists seek to eliminate.
#2. Natural elements
More and more, consumers are looking for authenticity, even traceability of products.
Using elements of nature is almost always a good choice for your packaging: they’re known to all, their shapes are pleasant and their colors inimitable . Therefore, why not use them?
#3. Vintage, again and again
Still stemming from this need for authenticity, but also originality and simplicity, especially by reducing the size of packaging (less plastic, less cardboard), the vintage style remains relevant for a good number of products in 2019 .
SEE OUR PACKAGING PORTFOLIO
New ways to differentiate with original branding
You may already know this: On average, a person must be exposed to a brand 7 times to begin to show trust and engage in a process of reflection or purchase.
Branding is proving to be a test of originality, but also of patience: it is necessary to give the market the time to become familiar with and to appropriate your brand.
By multiplying your communication channels and using different media for your branding, you will be able be known by as many people as possible!
Bags, pens, notebooks, calendars or other office supplies are the basics of branding for most brands, and rightfully so: they are useful objects of everyday life, and by making yourself useful, automatically, your brand will be associated with a positive feeling.
You can also opt for more “fun” media such as games, card games or other t-shirts to make your brand friendly by combining it with leisure or fashion.
But the least we can say is that these media are not really original.
So, know how to adapt to your environment and your industry to create a branding that will make a difference in the collective imagination and give you a good exposure.
And some fans will not hesitate to wear on all media the colors or logos of their favorite brand. Among these new supports, we can mention:
- Phone cases and computers
- Transportable batteries
- Stickers for computers
- Stylus (pen for touch screen), mouse or mouse pad
But do not confine yourself to material supports!
Virtual media can be very useful too. Offer your customers or fans Virtual Goodies to your image as a free download on their phones and computers:
- Wallpapers
- IPhone or Android themes
- Video games
Case Study: Umbrellas “Vietnam”
This is no secret: Vietnam, because of its tropical climate, has two seasons, one rainy, the other dry. As a result, expect to see during the rainy months sales of K-Way, ponchos (raincoats) and umbrellas explode. This is the perfect opportunity to sell or offer products that display your brand!
That’s why we have designed umbrellas for the Hippo brand in the colors of Vietnam during the football competitions that brought together hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fans in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi!
In short: understand your market! Be smart and observe the consumer’s habits of consumption and use to find the right idea that will serve and allow your brand to reach the most people.
Thus, as previously seen, in Vietnam, country of the motorbike but also of the 6 months rainy season, big companies like the banks do not hesitate to offer helmets of protection or raincoats to their customers who will drive across the city carrying their brand for free!
Do you need Branding consulting or Graphic Design services in France or Vietnam?
Discover all our branding services or contact directly KNOK STUDIOS !
