5 Ways to Prep Your Brain for Branding with Boheem

How lucky for our #shillosyd students! Last month Claire Bonner, co-founder of Boheem Design stopped in for a guest lecture on branding. She walked our students through a few awesome projects and shared some brilliant tips to prep your brain for brand identity projects. Today on the blog, we asked her to share some highlights from the talk. Take note!

Boheem specialises in brand strategy and design. Why do you think it’s important to “think of a brand holistically” straight out the gate?

If you set off on a journey, there’s no way you will be able to plan your steps unless it’s clear to you what your destination is.  Similarly, there’s no point building anything unless the foundation is secure and strong.

When building a brand, it’s important to get your head around what you’re ultimately aiming to achieve before you can orchestrate each development along the way.

Without the firm establishment of colour palette, typefaces, treatments and rules, a brand will lose its footing and stumble—and that will result in brand supporters having a weakened faith in everything the brand stands for.

During your lecture you said, “a good logo is one that makes you think: I wish I had done that”. What are some of your favourite logos that stand up from the bunch? 

Gosh, I feel like those moments happen all the time! I really hope I’m not the only one who’s intimated by other designers’ brilliance. Yesterday I saw the new Bondi Icebergs branding by M35 for the first time; very nice. That’s a great example of where the logo isn’t “The Main Thing” anymore, at all.

What’s a favourite branding project you’ve worked on and why? 

I’ve been asked that before, and it’s a hard one to answer. I think partially because there’ve been so many projects I’ve worked on in collaboration with others which I’m proud of for all different reasons. I also like to believe that the best is yet to come! I have quite enjoyed working on Moss River this year, and our studio has also been developing a rebrand for Sushi World. Both projects are still in the works and yet to be added to our portfolio. Stay tuned!

Could you share your “5 Ways to Prep Your Brain for Branding”? Our students loved those!

1. Keep a tidy workstation. The design process is like meditation; if you want the good ideas to come through with clarity, you need to have your head and desk in order first.
2. Use a pencil and paper. Nothing like using these old fashioned tools to resolve marks for a unique brand. Step away from your computer; you’ll be glad you did.
3. Become a typeface nerd. If you know your fonts, their origin, associations and contexts, approximate age… you’ll be a step ahead. It also means you’ll work faster as you won’t be starting from scratch every time, looking for the perfect typeface.
4. Keep your inspiration organised. Pinterest! Best tool ever for designers. Keep looking, looking, looking and save your ideas as you go.
5. Remember there’s no point digging a great big hole in the wrong place. Doesn’t matter how much time and energy you’ve invested in that ‘hole’. If it ain’t right, you need to accept that and start again!

What are you looking forward to at Boheem?

This year, Boheem has been involved with the establishment of Austockphoto, which will be the ultimate Australian stock photography library. We’re accepting photographer submissions at the moment and will be launching with (hopefully) 10,000 images early 2016… so watch this space! www.austockphoto.com.au.

Big thanks to Claire Bonnor for sharing her branding tips! Visit Boheem’s website for more inspiration and follow the studio on Instagram.

Images—via Boheem Design.