It’s funny how people confuse the two so let’s clear it up quickly.
Brand design is about designing a brand. It’s not design used to create brand elements. It’s the architecture of a brand and it happens in the planning phase.
A good sample of that is when building a personal brand that sprouts other brands. Elon Musk and his Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, Neuralink, etc. brands is a good example.
I’ll write more on this under “Planning for my Brand”
Design and Branding are a huge topic. We find a bit of confusion here too.
A Logo is not a brand. It’s just a symbol to remind people of your brand. Not even the whole Corporate Identity can be simply equaled to brand.
The Brand is about feelings. It’s about how people feel about your or your business. For this to happen, people will have to come in contact with your brand first. That is what we call “Brand touchpoints” and this is where Design gets to be the lead actor.
Design is decisive to all the visual touchpoints of your brand: the logo, the colors, the typeface, the interior design, the products, the packaging and so on.
All design elements have to be aligned to the brand core values. That is why you always need to start at the core. A discovery session is a good approach if you want to find those core values. A good designer will understand and apply this. He will go deep into the soul of your brand before he starts showing you logo options.
Finding a designer that can understand your brand and how it’s values need to be communicated, is something that way to many entrepreneurs ignore. That is one of the first checkpoints in your entrepreneurial journey. It’s what will set the whole tone of your business and it’s what people will feel about you and your brand.
Don’t screw it! You’ll regret it later.