Developing a Design Concept

Step one: back to basics

Word brainstorms is a really great way to put your ideas out right away.

Grab a piece of paper and revisit your strategy’s Big Idea - put it in the middle and list out all the keywords

The goal is to create a conceptual connection between ideas, for example in Cloud 9’s Big Idea was “comfort” then list out all the connected / associate words with that concept. It doesn’t matter it’s a noun, a colour, or whatever that might be and let your brain run wild free.

Find a connection between all the keywords: words that have a similar meaning, or two words that can be joined together. You might find a creative idea that can be used visually.

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Step two: expanding the ideas

Create visual associations with those words - now write down all the images that are connected with the words

It’s an iterative process, please focus on the words and take out the essence of the brand

Once you find some imaginaries that are connected to the words, ask yourself - which style might tell the story?

What imagery might connect with these visuals? A different type is an illustration. This may take you to your visual inspiration process to find all the common threads.

Allow yourself to have the freedom to expand your ideas by adding more things to your process - it’s completely okay - the goal is to find the best solution strategically and visually.

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Case study - Hustle Baby:

Brief: create a brand that represents a celebrity and create a brand that might get endorsed by celebrities in the future

The steps:

Researched the audience thoroughly so that the brand represents the personal brand perfectly

Picked a name - “Hustle Baby” inspired by their social media

Started with logo design - chose handwritten to emphasise the personal brand

Expanding ideas - create illustrations to represent words that are connected to their brands

Find the look and feel of the brand

Come up with the different deliverables that support the brand’s message.

Recap:

A design concept is something that will help you communicate the Big Idea to the audience

The Golden thread that connects all the elements

If you can come up with a strong design concept, it will help you create stronger, more cohesive visual identities

The most important thing is for you to sit down and identify those keywords that will help you guide the executions.

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