Branding

Need a name? a brand? a logo? This is what we here at Works Design Group do day in and day out. How you ask? I’ll break it down:

Our team at Works Design always say that we like to be in the process from the beginning. Whether it’s a brand, logo, product concepts or even naming we are always up for the challenge. Truth be told, for a design team, we are all about the visuals. Believe it or not, when things are more open ended or lose, you would think it would be a designer’s dream- however, it can be more daunting!

The naming process though, can be tough.

We thought maybe we would give you a run-down of the process. It’s not just picking names out of thin air- it may be that in some cases but the process is much more than that!

First, we start with meeting the client- understanding the ask, the product and or service. From there we do our own research both within the category as well as cross category. As a team we normally sit down and develop buckets in which our names can fall into. It helps to know a bit more about the overall brand presence, personality, goals and other relevant information like the audience/demographic and even the product placement if applicable.

Individually, we each go in and make a list of words, phrases and prospective names that we like. We compile all of these names and head to the WDG Conference room for a team brainstorm session. We whip out the sharpie and get crackin’!

This meeting is a great way to talk through ideas as some of these words can spark new ideas.

We have also found that hearing a name is crucial in this process in addition to seeing it on paper (or screen). Sometimes the sound is completely different or may even stick with you after the fact. Going through this exercise is extremely helpful. The collaboration is always fun for our team. Most of the time this leads to our best work.

The result of this meeting is we take this long list and weed through to what we feel works best, is strong and hits on the marks mentioned previously.

Next, we take that narrowed down list and head back for further research. We make sure that there is no direct competition when it comes to the name, whether there is something close and of course if the domain name (or something similar) is available. Much like our design process in speaking with printers from the beginning, we never like to show our clients anything that isn’t achievable or in this case available.

Along with the names, we always like to present moodboards. As I said before, we are visual thinkers. What we do is compile imagery that creates the overall style and mood that we are going for. For us, this helps gets a little more information from the client in terms of where they want to go and even sometimes where to stay away from.

Between the moodboards and the names, this helps us narrow down and move onto the next steps- branding and logo design!

Some of our most recent work which featured this process are featured on our website.