13 Habits of Highly Effective Brand Identity Designers

Ever just been peaceful and then suddenly, heard of a brand in passing or seen a brand on TV advertisement and just wondered,

Wow, the brand image of this XYZ product is intense!

Or,

How did someone come up with such a creative logo? How does the font style or color scheme of the logo go along so well?

What goes around in the minds of individuals that they design such crazily innovative logos?

It’s just such questions fascinate you entirely, and you can’t help but praise the visual elements of the brand? The demi-god vision that they have…..

Because of such thoughts rushing my mind like a hamster running on a wheel, no kidding!

Well, to all such curious souls.

 We offer you a slice of our very own knowledge-flavored cake.

This write-up is hence a little insight into the personalities and habits of the masterminds behind some of the most attention-grabbing and robust brand identities.

Being Self-Aware is Their Vital Weapon

You probably have no idea just how vital self-awareness is for a brand identity designer.

I mean, it’s practically impossible for the designer to develop legit brand strategies without even knowing how and what your audience thinks about the brand!

Hence, self-awareness refers to the designers having a thorough comprehension of the brand recognition.

Mind you: this doesn’t just include the designers focusing on the assets and weaknesses of the brand.

Not quite, and please let not yourself be confused by these two. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is different from understanding what your brand’s worth is.

And successful brand identity designers?

They focus on making strategies to highlight and improve the perception of the brands they’re working for.

They know what people think of the brand; they work to boost the excellent image further while eradicating any perceptions or misunderstandings that the audience has in their minds.

Reasons such designers are so sharp and successful in what they do!

That’s also why some significant brands invest extensively in focus groups, to get a peek inside the minds of different people.

Brilliant, no?

They Absolutely Do Not Compromise on Quality- and that’s on Period!

Successful designers do not gamble on consistency by doing the job quicker than is required.

The golden rule!

And they follow the rule:

When you’re running out of time, it’s easier to let the client know you’re going to take more time instead of scrambling the job and turning in something sub-par.

Hence, when you hand in a project, you’ll feel much better if you’ve given it all. By pushing the boundaries of your skills, rather than scraping through with the minimum amount of work possible, you give your best shot.

They Love Outshining Their Competitors- and excel in it.

To win the game, you must be in the game!

To outperform your competitors, you must know the competition well. Differentiation is all about creating a brand identity: making the brand recognizable, meaningful, and exclusive.

It is also easy to fit in without a clear understanding of the competitive landscape. Therefore, knowing not only who the competitor is, but how the company responds, in interpretation and in performance, is essential.

This is what you can expect to find in the DNA of most of the famous brand identity designers! (Yeah! just to give the right scope we went to these extents.)

As they move through the process, they pay special attention to their rivals. They view themselves in terms of common visual elements, patterns, visual themes unique to the industry, brand personalities, etc.

So, now you get it, it did show them an excellent opportunity to distinguish.A piece of evidence to support the idea, an organization conducted comparative brand testing and discovered that all of its rivals were using the same four colors. This is not unusual, because many companies continue to gravitate towards the same graphic features (think about the red hue about Netflix and YouTube).

One notable example of this:

In 2011, Twitch’s video network made a splash with its all-purple logo, at a time when its rivals used bright greens and reds. The color was immediately a signature of their company.

They Work on Projects they’re Really Interested In

There are a massive number of projects that can be addressed as a model, yet gifted designers do not apply for them all.

If a project charges a premium rate, they can miss it if it doesn’t suit their value. Simple.

Keen designers choose projects that excite them, deriving passion in them.

The reason the projects get successful?

Because designers then work with their soul and not just their body!

If they miss out on any unwanted project?

Well, no remorse and nothing to lose. No time or effort wasted either.

All that the identity designers need is to make effective strategies while incorporating their full concentration and passion into it.

Money is more comfortable to earn once you’ve got the right skills, after all!

They are the Masters of Getting their Priorities Streamlined

For instance, many companies may allow the delivery of work for a duration of 24–48 hours; these are the individuals who will be given the utmost attention.The brand identity designers know what’s essential for them to, or what project is more time-sensitive. They excel at understanding what things to focus on at what times.

Individual customers can give up to a week, or a few weeks until they have to turn in the job.

For such activities, the designers can afford to complete it later.

Though, let’s not forget. This doesn’t mean they forget about such works till the last moment, merely that more pressing projects can be completed and focused on before.

This takes us to the next thing: the personality of competent designers is such that they possess some awe-worthy scheduling skills! (Wish I could borrow some.)

Also, a critical point, they know their limitations. And they know to never take on too much work, just enough that they can manage at their full productivity.

After all, the designers know that greed doesn’t take one very far, eh?

Work overload can result in demise anyways- in their case, the risk of losing their image and integrity.

Following up with Clients is a BIG Must for Them

When the job has been turned in, efficient brand identity designers always make sure they follow up with their clients.

Not just to make sure they give the invoice, but also if they are satisfied with the result, and most specifically, if they are willing to maintain the relationship by providing most jobs.

But if they don’t have any more work available, that’s the time the designers use their charms to ask for being considered for future projects too.

For online or freelance clients, successful designers always inquire for alternate contact channels, including e-mails or Skype.

In the future, this helps them get in touch with these clients when looking for jobs- especially if they’re in a dry spell.

You will get plenty of jobs during a dry spell by calling all of the former customers you’ve consulted with, including those you haven’t called in a couple of years.

Good designers believe that customers are the kings, and respecting clients is after all the basic rules of the industry!

They’ve Got Some Next Level Organization Skills!

They can’t survive without being organized, to be honest. (God knows, how I am doing, though.)Being organized is a must for everyone. Though, it’s a particularly essential trait you shall find in successful brand identity designers.

As freelancers, they’ve got multiple projects at a time, all of different scales and requirements. How to make it through all this?

Be organized and keep track of everything. For this, the designers often make use of tech tools to develop their interpersonal abilities.

Keeping everything structured increases not only productivity but also does the job itself more enjoyable for them.

I mean, it can be difficult trying to find out where a specific file is, and what project it belongs to until you discover it.

The number of projects you have will grow as you become a more experienced designer, and your organizational techniques will also need to improve.

That’s why to be successful, and you need to be organized and suited to your characteristics. The best work is that which suits your personality.

They’re Very Selective When it comes to Taking Risks

Want to attract a potential customer in the future, and get a lot of work from them?

You’ll also need to take some style changes in the hopes of impressing them. You may need to distinguish yourself from the crowd by producing exceptionally innovative ideas, but it need not suit all customers.

It’s a new customer, and there’s no great harm done to your daily working life if you miss them.

You have the potential to make a first impression great, though. This is a particularly great strategy when you’re trying to impress a client who will provide high paying work for you.

Only give your bests hot when you think that the time is right!

And, my curious souls, this is what you shall see if you ever analyze traits of competent brand identity designers. Trust me!

The Constant Never-Ending Hunger to Learn More

Knowledge never scares an intelligent human who strives to excel. The same is the case for brand identity designers too.

The amount of expertise and experience you have while working on a project when it comes to becoming good designers reflects the variety of abilities you would use.

Expanding your resource collection so you can boost the results of your plans makes sense.

Additionally, once you can learn new talents, prospective employers are more likely to hire you — hopefully, for better-paid work.

You will be excited about developing new things, as a creative artist- exactly what innovative designers succeed in!

They practice a variety of deigning skills, even hire seasoned models for mentoring, or self learn from online tutorials.

They Know Their Audience

Logo designers know their target audience like the back of their hand.

Your personality as a company is the “name” connecting with the entire world. Whatever you make is meant to express just who you are.

One widespread misunderstanding is that a brand identity is guided purely by what the company wishes to show. That is not wholly true. It also highlights what consumers of your company choose to communicate with or are accustomed to connecting with. If your identity doesn’t resonate with them, then it won’t work.

This does not necessarily mean that customers of your brand will choose the color of your logo. It means you will make more effective design choices once you understand their needs, wishes, and values.

The role of innovative and brilliant identity designers?

They try this simple exercise to build individuals who embody the specific audience groups to learn who they’re trying to meet. These people describe demographic as well as psychographic details, which gives the designer’s insight into who these people are and what drives them.

This also includes comprehending how the brand may be viewed by secondary or tertiary audiences (e.g., other brands or prospective employees) outside their primary market (customers). Such knowledge also has the power to affect decisions of the designers.

The Ace in Setting Their Ultimate Goals

It’s no hidden secret that setting goals are the foundation for any successful thing.

For innovative designers, in particular, knowing their goals and the ultimate vision is a must. Setting deadlines and scheduling their timetables is equal to oxygen for them, really!

This helps them assess their productivity in meeting deadlines. It hence, also helps the designers avoid unhappy clients or incomplete projects and delay fines.

Goals motivate the individuals, giving them room to breathe. It also helps them not procrastinate and give their best shot.

Final Thoughts

I hope that some of your curiosity has been fed on what goes on in the minds of legendary identity designers. That’s how they create super cool logos and brand identities- be it the bitten apple for Apple or the Starbucks classy logo.

Now you know, and you can also get inspired by these habits. I know it’s hard to change your personality, but it is easy to change the routine.

For success, following such habits does help in making you smart, confident, and creative.

Also, one last advice:

Quality over Quantity.

You make this your motto, and you conquer the world!

Originally Published at Fullstop360.com/blog.