For some, “brandstorming” is a get-to-know-you session between designer and client about the client’s business goals, and how the designer can help creatively reach them. For me, it’s still about gathering ideas, but instead it’s a fast creative activity purely for the designer. You could even turn it into a game by timing yourself.
How do you brandstorm? Look around yourself for brands you interact with or just have awareness of, think about other professional industries, utilize brief internet searches, and even incorporate other languages. You should be able to come up with as many unique brand names as possible.
Write these names to the far left of an Excel sheet, Google Doc, or on paper. The following columns are to be named according to what you may need to create for the brands. I have columns for Industry (real estate, restaurant, lawn care services), Notes (the meaning of words, key ideas), Primary Logo, Secondary Logo, Wordmark, Product Design/ Branded Collateral, Style Guide, Social Posts, and Case Study if you choose to write a few paragraphs about your research and design process. Here are five ideas from my first brandstorming session.
- Hayworth & Hawthorne; Real Estate
- Alma’s; Food (Bakery)
- Eagle’s End; Lifestyle
- A Cappella; Food (Italian Cuisine)
- Lightning Lash Co.; Beauty
This exercise gets creative juices flowing, allows you to practice skills, puts more assets in your portfolio, and prepares you in crafting high quality work for your future clients.