Back in design school a teacher once warned the class that as designers we'd be called upon frequently to 'quickly whip things up'. And boy oh boy she was absolutely right. Early on in my career I found myself 'quickly whipping up a logo' for a friend because they 'just wanted something simple' and in their (not technically asked for) opinion all I had to really do was turn an existing font into a vector and BOOM, it would change their business life.

But the thing is, these vectorised fonts that, let's be real, could actually just be created in word - don't help anyone. They are blands (brands that are cookie cutters of one another - I'll write another blog on this later) that are chasing instagram likes without any real... purpose. These blands tend to stay around for a minute, sometimes two, but they often fade away quickly and quietly.

So it took me a while but eventually I've learnt how to say a big fat no to people who asked me to 'whip something up', instead I now help them delicately craft brands that are bloody genius (in my very humble opinion). How? I spend time understanding the very crux of the brand and the founders, what makes them tick, what gets them out of bed, what drives them and from this we can predict every touchpoint of the brand and strategise around it.

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Crafting a brand goes beyond a logo, you also need to consider:

• The feeling you elicit when someone buys your product or service (remember: people buy feelings)
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• The voice you use to describe your products
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• The journey customers go through to find you
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• The scent of the candle in your shop
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• The ply of toilet paper you have in your office (none of this 2 ply shit pls)
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• The way you answer the phone and how long it takes you to return calls
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• Whether the links in your email signature actually work
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• ALL of your marketing collateral (spelling mistakes, get outta here)
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• And a million others things!

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Consumers are getting damn savvy and the expectations out there are high. That is why it's important to understand a customers journey and all their potential touchpoints along the way, because this is what makes your brand (and can make or break your reputation).

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