We're approaching the end of Season 1, but not before a jam-packed episode on creativity and collaborations to help amplify your food business. This bonus clip covers important considerations for your brand's visual identity, including who can help and when to drop the big bucks:
Whether working with a firm or independent designer, ask them in advance about:
- Their project discovery process
- In addition to logo, which visual branding pieces they provide (e.g. style guide)
And, remember:
- Logo ≠ brand identity
- Take time to get to know your customer well before dumping a lot of money into version 1 of your logo
- Check out a designer's portfolio before reaching out to them: if you don't like what you see, move on
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Amanda
Well, just starting with the logo, how did you find somebody to develop this for you?
Michelle
We had, through, I think, one of the food programs that we were a part of. Somebody from this firm came and spoke to a group of potential or budding food entrepreneurs, and so that put them on our radar. And then we were looking at their portfolios. We knew that they had done work for other people and sat down with them and really appreciated the process. I think, as somebody who in my prior career was often on the - I'm not a designer, but I was on the project management side of - the other side of that, it was really exciting to be the client in that situation…
Amanda
Yeah.
Michelle
… especially about something that was like our baby. And that we had such a strong vision for and knew that we couldn't bring that vision about by ourselves. So, it was really fun to have that kind of like facilitated conversation that led to what would become our logo and our tagline. And then, and that's why you look at pricing for logos sometimes you're like, “oh, my God,” but if they're done well, they really are the backbone of your entire brand. But they can't be the only thing…
Amanda
No.
Michelle
… but they need to give you that backbone from which everything else can grow.
Amanda
It's something that I wouldn't necessarily trust to Fiverr.
Joan
Ha!
Michelle
Yeah.
Amanda
Maybe the first one [logo], maybe the first one, but no. No, I'm glad to hear that you, you know, you found a firm, a reputable one, and that they worked out for you. You didn't end up moving forward with firms, though, for other creative ventures like videos or anything like that?
Michelle
No, and that's where it goes to, like it's hard to justify the line item [expense], but in a lot of cases like these were very these were like kernels of ideas, right? So, we didn't know yet. It's not like we had the resources nor the polish to have like a whole, a whole pitch or a whole concept developed that we're just like “okay, firm, come, make happen for us.” You know, we really wanted and, I think, needed that collaboration.
Joan
Yeah, [a] brand’s identity like, you know, there's a logo, but then there's also a whole brand identity. Like you should be getting more than just one image. There should be color palettes and other things for you to be able to apply.