August 22, 2023
Kris: Do graphic design is need to know brand strategy in order to be successful. Let’s have a chat about this. You’re listening to design and prosper episode 90.
Don: Hello? Hello. Okay, so today we’re gonna be talking about the blurred lines between designers. Being designers and having to become brand strategists. So it’s a really confusing landscape, isn’t it, Kris? There’s all these buzzwords going around and, and a lot of designers are getting confused.
Kris: It’s a little bit scary for designers. All this brand strategy speak and oh goodness, what does this mean? What do I need to know now? Designers have so much pressure on them, like, okay, designer, you have to be a copywriter. You have to be a photographer, you have to be an illustrator, you have to be a brand strategist. You have to be all these things.
You have to be a work designer as well. And it’s, it’s like, okay, well actually no you don’t. Mm-hmm. You definitely don’t. You can still charge higher prices. Even if you aren’t doing a, a super detailed level of brand strategy, because. The way we see brand strategy, it’s a completely different career path.
Really, branding as a whole has become a big buzzword, and we have seen this emerge over time because it wasn’t a buzzword
Don: when we started our careers. That’s right. That’s right. It wasn’t, and it’s, it’s probably the mid to late two thousands that it emerged and it was this thing that started coming out and just scaring the hell out of designers really.
Um, because like brand strategist and strategy, they’re very sort of grown up words, aren’t they? Like you’ve got to be strategist and I chose the path of a design degree over a marketing degree and they are very different. And we can pop that credential onto our, our list of credentials if we want to, but it would’ve been extra.
Education. Education, we would’ve had to invest in that to have both. So we don’t have both. So I don’t know about you, but I’m a designer. I’m not a marketing strategist. And that’s the question that we want you to you to ask yourself, am I a designer or am I a marketing strategist? So this brand strategist has pulled us in to that fold, hasn’t it?
And that’s what’s confusing. It’s like, okay. So I’m now meant to be the strategist and it’s, it’s really tricky. There’s definitely an element of strategy that goes into brand development and the creative concept of development and that yes, you are responsible for and that is what people are paying you for.
But the whole deep marketing strategy, That’s not yours, Joanne. Just like Kris was saying, when you’re a designer, everybody expects you to be able to do anything remotely creative, like being a photographer, being a web developer, being you know, an illustrator because can’t you just do that? Can’t you do it all?
And it’s like, well, no, actually that all in their own right. Deeply qualified and to honor that profession, I would need to go and, and immerse in that profession and, and learn it and understand it. So, to say that I can do it all is actually a little bit inauthentic, isn’t it? Mm. You know, it is. You don’t have that credential to, to offer, so you’ve gotta be really careful about what you are saying that you can do and what you are delivering.
Kris: And what level of brand strategy are we talking about here? Hmm. ’cause is this the entire brand structure of a business? So we’re talking the brand voice and the rollout of every single touchpoint. I. Within a company, ’cause that’s what branding is, right?
Don: Absolutely
Kris: everything that touches the customer that is branding.
But which part are you responsible for, and how much brand strategy are you going to bring into your business practice as a designer. We are not saying don’t do any brand strategy or any strategic work as part of building up brands for clients, but it’s just about doing it in a way that is right for designers.
We have a process that we use for brand strategy, which is designed specifically for designers in mind. And it is a process that is so enjoyable not only for the designer, but also for the clients. The clients love it and it’s a much more visual process, and yes, it’s clever and it shows your intelligence and all the rest of it.
But it’s not like this strategy doc that we used to engage people to do all the time. We had specialists that we worked with that honestly, if I had to do those kind of documents, I’d just rather stick a fork in my eye because it was so dry and so boring and so, so traditional, I guess. Um, we like to look at it in a bit of an unconventional way, and it is more visually based.
Michelle: My name’s Michelle and I like to call myself an Immersive branding experience specialist. Before I joined the academy, I was in this state of, being frustrated with the industry.
I had spent basically years doing business master classes but there was nothing that was tailored to graphic designers that I related to or spoke to me. So when I found design and prosper and the academy, I finally, it was like, oh, oh my God. Finally, something that I can relate to. My experience of the academy was everything that I was hoping it would be. you were really truly who you projected yourself to be on your socials. I loved the community. I loved that there were other people who were, on the same journey. Not necessarily at the same stage of the journey, which was also nice that you got to see where different people were at. Because I, I could learn from that. And even though I had already felt like I had a wealth of experience, I actually felt like I was upskilling in a way that I knew would take me further than other courses could have. like, You know, really upskilling on the important, skills to run a design business.
I loved joining in, on every Q and A because, even though I didn’t have a question, um, listening to other people’s questions, something always comes up and you always learn, about something that you might not have thought about.
I think it’s so important to have, a group of people that you can go to and share your wins and any fails with as well.
it’s just, I love the community and I loved the content. The content was very thorough and easy to follow, um, and activating.
The biggest thing that changed about my life is that I finally felt in my heart that it was possible to work for myself and be successful in the lifestyle that I have.
It’s sort of drilled into us at school. To make it and to be successful, you have to, um, go and work for huge corporations or work for a huge agency, win a couple of, golden pencils or whatever and climb up this ladder that somebody else had made for you. Whereas, like that’s not success to me. So I feel like, the academy has enabled me to actually action on the success that I imagined for myself, that would work around my family life,
And the biggest transformation that I’ve had from doing the academy is knowing a hundred percent that it’s possible and that I can be as successful as I want to be. However that looks like,
and I guess it is just believing in myself. When you told me that I needed to stop thinking of myself as a freelancer and really value my work as a business. That was really huge to have someone tell me that. I know it’s really simple, but it was just a huge mindset shift. And I think it’s that accountability. It’s just that having someone believe in you and having that accountability, It’s just really shifted things massively for me.
So it’s like, You’ve created this safe space for everyone to be able to say what they’re truly thinking and feeling and fearing. And that’s so important to feel safe. Right.
So, yeah, Kris and Donna , uh, will be your design business fairy godmothers. Your life will be so much better for it. You not a complete designer without doing the academy.
[Back to the Episode]
Don: I think it’s a different skillset and it, and you’re accessing a different part of your brain. You are thinking holistically. Yes, for sure. But it’s definitely a different skillset and I think that’s the thing that, that I would like to really highlight is that, We as designers who have gone down the pathway of being educated as designers, like Degree in Design, do not have more than a unit, a subject of marketing under our belt.
So we can’t profess to be marketing specialists, and I think it’s. Honoring the specialist by saying, you do that part, we’ll do this part. Now, that’s not to say that I am not completely confident in graphic designers being brand strategists in the sense of understanding brand application, understanding, brand rollout, understanding the impact of a brand at every touch point.
In fact, I think we excel at that as designers and it’s important that we understand. The language around explaining the brand strategy in design speak, and the aesthetic in the visual and the verbal voice of the design as opposed to the different structure and framework that a marketing strategist would need to take.
And that’s their profession and that’s their secret source. So we just need to really own the pathway that designers have and the brilliance that we bring in terms of elevating a brand across. All the touch points and the strategy behind that. That’s what we own. That’s what we can do confidently. And that’s, that’s the bit that we need to separate out I think.
So if we can clear up a little confusion around that, if you can own that element, I think you’ll be really confident about saying, I do brand strategy. Yes. That’s the strategy that we do.
Kris: And I think that because branding has become such a buzz word, marketers are using it as their job titles now.
And so it’s very confusing. So what, what brand strategy do you have to do? We have a really beautifully designed process for this that we go through with our one-to-one clients, and also in our 12 week academy. We have two weeks, two modules that intersect each other all around this and getting those beautifully strategic solutions for clients.
And then we have another module where you sell it and the language around it and what you would say. But it is an enjoyable process. A considered strategy is essential of course. But let’s not get all bogged down in pages and pages of reports in order to believe we’re worthy of charging high amounts.
Don: Yeah, absolutely.
Kris: Because that’s not true, because Donna and I have absolutely charged high amounts for branding for decades.
Don: Decades, decades and decades, and the strategy around the brand mark and the brand, application, and rollout is worthy of those prices. Absolutely. And I, I, I just wanna say, just when you’re popping all the different hats on, just feel really confident that you’ve got that, that scope of knowledge to offer.
And if you don’t feel like you have it… like I’m not an illustrator. I can illustrate certain things and for some clients my illustration style has been fine. But when I can’t do a particular illustration that absolutely suits the brief, I outsource to the right person to get the job done. And I don’t pretend that I know how to do that, and I don’t pretend to take it on.
I just get the right person for the job. So if you find yourself in a position where your client is asking for those reports, asking for that deeper dive like Kris and I have done in our careers, gets. Somebody on board for that say, that is something that I can offer you, but we need to get an expert in on that and we’ll get them in for you and collaborate with someone.
So you don’t have to have that knowledge, you don’t have to have that understanding. So just remember the value that you offer as a brand designer. That’s the thing that we want you to really understand.
Kris: I mean, what made you become a a designer? You know, was it because you just wanted to write all day?
Probably not. You would’ve become a writer. Yeah. Yeah. We we’re attracted to the visual and. A lot of the stuff that’s required of detailed brand strategy, detailed marketing strategies is a different part of the brain. So it’s like that left brain versus right brain activity, and it’s about tapping into your zone of genius.
And sometimes we’re good at things also. But we don’t enjoy them. So it’s about that as well. You might be a good writer, you might be really good at this analytical thinking and getting right into exactly how a brand is going to unfold from every single touch point. And if that is your zone of genius, that’s brilliant, but it doesn’t mean you have to have that to be a really successful brand designer.
Don: that’s right.
Kris: So hopefully that helps to clear up a little bit of confusion around branding, brand strategy, marketing strategy. Uh, feel free to go and check out our academy. Yeah. Go and head to designandprosper.co/theacademy, and we’ll pop that into the show notes as well.
Don: Yes. Alright, take care. Beautiful designers.
Kris: Until next time. Have a beautiful day.
Don: See you later.
Kris: Bye-Bye.
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