approach

I aim to help each of my clients create and maintain a strong, unique, and engaging brand—one that is fresh and relevant and that is reinforced through every message, every interaction with customers and the public, and every product or service produced.

What is branding?

No longer is a company's brand shaped entirely by the tangible benefits or qualities of the products and services they sell. Nor is it shaped solely through their choice of colors, logo or imagery. Increasingly, brands are being shaped by the consumer of a brand as much as by the company perpetrating it. Brand is in the messaging and product you produce, sure, but it is also in the response that people have to that messaging and product and to your company—and it is increasingly in how consumers interact with and influence each other.

Your logo, colors, fonts, even sounds and photos, make up a vocabulary that, if well-targeted to your desired audience and used consistently, can provide the basis of a solid brand. A designer's careful choice of visual elements can instantly provide consumers with a "sense" or a feeling about a product. But successful companies reinforce the best qualities of their brand in everything they produce, whether it's their product design, packaging, the appearance of an office or store, a website, a blog or a Facebook page. Even a receptionist's tone of voice on the phone can strengthen a consumer's perception of a brand.

Most successful companies acknowledge that tastes and perceptions shift over time and work to keep their brand fresh and relevant, without losing track of the core values that shape its foundation. Maintaining a brand is an ongoing process; it requires constantly engaging with your customers to identify the values and perceptions you want to support, and the needs you could be filling. It involves listening as much as talking—the design of your product or logo or website is only the first word. A genuine, vibrant, and well-informed brand will engage and resonate with your customers, and they will voluntarily join in the work of maintaining it through their interactions with one another.

Where does design fit in?

Design should function as a part of an overall brand-building strategy, as a tool to both support and inform other initiatives. A graphic designer should have a solid understanding of branding and of the various methods with which brands are built and supported. They should also have a good command of the visual language of colors, fonts, imagery and layout, and know how to use these tools to communicate with a variety of audiences. And of course they should produce stunning visual materials, within that greater context.

What about the rest of it?

Through relationships with other independent creative professionals, I can offer my clients brand guidance and services that extend beyond the realm of visual design. If the best approach for your market and your goals requires services that I do not directly provide, I will help you find the right people for the job and will collaborate with you and with them on creative direction and overall strategy. Together we can hone all of the products, messaging and communications you produce in order to build and maintain the brand you want and need.

If you are thinking of hiring a professional designer or illustrator, I invite you to take a look at my portfolio and then e-mail contact@ariellewalrath.com or give me a call at 207-221-0913. I'd love to put together an estimate for you.