Lesson video

Hello, thank you for joining me today.

My name is Mrs. Conway and I will be guiding you through your learning today.

So our lesson outcome for today is: I can identify the features of brand identity and develop my own design.

So today is all about branding.

These are our keywords: Branding, logo, font, and subconscious.

We'll look at these in a little bit more detail as we go through the lesson.

So firstly, we're going to start looking at branding and logos.

So branding is a way of making a company's product or service more visible and recognisable.

It basically gives it a personality and that way, the consumers or the customers can engage with it.

It also helps customers just to understand what the business actually stands for and why they should choose it over other companies.

Branding includes lots of different elements.

So for example, you have things such as the logo, the tagline, a slogan, a particular colour palette which had been chosen specifically to suit that branding or style, some written brand guidelines, and core values.

All of these things work together to create branding.

Just to explain what written brand guidelines are, they basically explain how a brand should look, sound, and feel so that everything stays the same and people recognise it really easily.

In a company, think about the fact that there's lots of different people that work there and loads of people will be using things such as the slogan or the colour palette or the logo, and so everyone needs to be on the same page of how to use that correctly and the brand guidelines help to keep everyone in check and on the same page.

These guidelines, they're followed by everyone that produces products and designs for the brand.

The core values are the important beliefs and principles that then guide how that company behaves and makes decisions.

So let's do a quick check for understanding.

True or false? Branding is a way of making a product more visible.

If you'd like to pause the video here to take a minute to think about that, then do so now.

Okay, the correct answer was true.

How did you get on? Well done if you got that right.

And the reason is is that branding helps to make a product or service more visible and also more recognisable.

So let's look at what an actual logo is.

A logo is part of the bigger branding picture, and a logo is just a simple symbol or a design that represents that business or brand.

It's part of the branding and the brand identity, and it's kind of like the forefront of that branding.

A company logo is incredibly important, it's basically their symbol of success and how they represent themselves to their customers.

Just take a moment to think about any kind of famous company logos that you know and know really well.

It might be something that you're wearing, a favourite place that you like to go and eat or drink.

Do you think you know that logo well enough to actually be able to draw it from memory? Logos are used in lots of places.

Some of the examples are: the packaging and label of their products, the company website, across various social media platforms, any merchandise or the actual particular product itself, and also any marketing that the company does to promote itself.

Can you think of anywhere else that logos may be used? So let's just do a quick check for understanding.

What is a logo? Is it A, a written statement explaining a business or brand? Is it B, a detailed picture that represents a business or brand? Or is it C, a simple symbol or design that represents a business or brand? Pause the video here if you'd like to take a moment to think about that.

Okay, and the answer was C, a simple symbol or design that represents a business or brand.

Did you get that right? Well done if you did.

Now let's start thinking about how we actually design logos.

And there are some rules to kind of follow to have a really successful logo.

So these are: usually logos are very simple in design.

They don't want to be overly cluttered because they want to be very easy to recognise and also to replicate.

Keeping in mind that kind of keeping it simple, usually only one or two colours are normally used.

Now, some logos will use more, this is just a kind of normal kind of rule.

As I mentioned, they want to be really easy to recognise, especially if that can be even at a distance.

A simple drawing or symbol is sometimes used, and any writing is presented in a really simple way.

It needs to be easy to read and it needs to be quite minimal.

You don't want too much writing on a logo because you do want it to be kind of easily, recognisable, and as I mentioned, easy to spot at a distance.

Just take a moment and think about some of the logos that you know in your everyday life and think about some of them and how they use symbols to be seen really easily from a distance and easily recognisable as well as being easily replicated.

Now customers actually interact with logos and branding every day.

We do this all throughout our lives all the time and most of the time kind of subconsciously, so not even really realising that we are interacting with logos and branding.

And we will have our favourite companies and we will actually sometimes kind of wear those logos a bit like a kind of badge of honour, we're quite proud to wear them.

So Izzy's just talking here.

I can always spot my favourite fast food restaurant logo from far away on the motorway so I can start asking my parents to stop and get a burger.

If you can have a little think about any fast food restaurants that you know that you can recognise really far away because their logo or a symbol that they're using is really easy to recognise just like Izzy.

Sam also has mentioned something here about logos.

I like having my favourite clothing brand logo visible on my clothes as I like the look of it and I want other people to recognise it as well.

It makes me feel included with other people wearing the same brand.

And sometimes that can be really true of logos and branding, that we kind of feel as part of a club when we all wear the same kind of logos.

Let's just do a quick check for understanding, thinking about what we've learned about the rules of what makes a successful logo.

So which font out of the three below would be the most suitable for a children's nursery? Take a moment to think about that and you can pause the video here.

Okay, and the answer was C.

Now you might have had a slightly different answer there and that's absolutely fine, but just try and think about what that children's nursery is trying to represent.

What is it that they're trying to get across to their customers? So when we're designing a logo, the choice of colours and also the font and image are all really important decisions.

The font is basically a printer's term, meaning the style of the lettering that's being used.

The style of the font can portray different meanings, just like we saw in the check for understanding of that children's nursery.

So you can see here, we've got two different examples of two different types of font.

Now one is what we call serif font, and it's quite formalised and it's a little bit official looking.

The other one is more italic and it's kind of joined up and it looks more like handwriting.

Just have a little look at them.

What do the styles of the fonts above make you think of? Are they serious, fun, expensive, cheap? Your subconscious will already have made a decision about them and what they're trying to represent before you've even really had a chance to actually think about it.

But just take a moment to have a look at them and think about it a little bit further.

What are they expressing to you? All of the fonts of logos do this quite naturally with us, they are putting a meaning across to us even when we don't realise it.

So the meanings that the consumers apply to the style of the font do need to be really carefully considered.

And logo design is a really big kind of industry and a lot of thought gets put into it.

If a designer makes a logo for a rock music festival, for example, but uses a quite formal looking font, people might not realise it's for a rock festival or even pay much attention to it because it may not actually catch their attention as something they are interested in.

What do you think the style of a font for a rock festival should actually look like? Here, Izzy is having a little go at that question.

So she says, "I think it should be a little edgy and it should also look like it's got lots of energy or movement in it." Sam thinks maybe it could look really angular with sharp corners, a bit like lightning.

Izzy's also suggested could it also look a little bit retro and have a vintage style to it? We've all got slightly different versions of what we think would be suitable for a rock festival depending on what our opinion of rock music is and what our perception of rock music is, but I think Izzy and Sam have come up with some really good suggestions there.

So we can actually use the logo rules as a success criteria to create a successful logo for a rock festival.

Have a little look at the logo below and then let's just have a little review of those rules that we've been over.

So a successful logo should be very simple in design.

One or two colours normally used.

Easy to understand, even a distance.

A simple drawing or symbol is sometimes used.

And writing is presented in a simple way and is easy to read.

Take a moment just to review that example.

Do you think it meets it? Do you think in some ways it doesn't meet some of those points? And where it doesn't meet it, why doesn't it meet it? Do you think it could be better, and how could it be better? Okay, it's now over to you guys to have a go.

I'd like you to consider font style and also use the success criteria that we've been over for a successful logo.

You are going to design a logo for either a rock festival or a classical musical festival.

Completely your choice, whatever you prefer.

You will also need to devise a name for that festival.

Let's just remind you of that success criteria that you need to follow when designing your logo.

Again, it should be very simple in design.

One or two colours normally used, easy to understand, even at a distance.

A simple drawing or symbol is sometimes used, and writing is presented in a simple way and is easy to read.

Now don't be fooled, actually, simple design is sometimes the hardest type of design.

So if you find this task a little bit tricky and a little frustrating to try and keep it really simple, don't worry, it takes practise.

But sometimes when we are trying to do things really simply, we have to pay attention to detail quite a bit.

Just the position of a font or maybe the thickness of some lettering, all of those little slight changes can make a big difference when we're doing simple design.

Okay, pause the video here and have a go at it.

Good luck.

Okay, how did you get on? I'd like you to just kind of review and compare your logo now.

So look at your logo design and compare it to that example below and also evaluate it again against that success criteria you were using when you were drawing it.

Let's just remind ourselves what that was.

So very simple in design, one or two colours normally used.

Did you make it easy to understand? Do you think it could be easy to understand even at a distance? Have you used some form of simple drawing or symbol or image? And is your writing presented in a really simple and easy way to read? If you are doing the rock festival and doing the idea that Sam suggested of making your writing look a little bit like lightning, has it become almost too difficult to read by doing that? There's gotta be that fine balance between it.

Okay, now we're gonna look at using colour in branding and logos.

So colour is really crucial in branding and designing logos and can make a really big difference about how we perceive something.

Colours can evoke different emotions and if carefully used, can also create really strong messages.

So for example, chocolate brands quite often use the colour purple and there is one very well known chocolate brand that you hopefully will recognise as doing that.

The reason they do this is because it is a very rich and warm colour that is actually often associated with luxury.

Colours do have meanings and that is because our brains naturally and almost subconsciously associate them with feelings, experiences, and also cultural symbols that we know.

So for example, red might feel exciting because it reminds us of energy and danger, quite often warning signs use the colour red to attract our attention, and so we do naturally associate it with danger.

But blue often helps us to feel calm.

We usually associate blue with things such as the sky or water.

As I mentioned, this is usually done subconsciously.

The subconscious is the part of the mind that works without us really being aware of it, and you might already have heard of this.

It influences our thoughts and our feelings and our actions.

And we're not usually in control of it, it's happening really kind of without us being aware of it.

It's the opposite of when we make a conscious decision.

When we make a conscious decision, we are really thinking that through and we are aware of ourselves making that decision.

Designers have to consider the customer's subconscious decisions as well as their conscious ones.

As I said, conscious decisions are decisions that are made with the customer really being aware.

And so the designers have to think about both of those different ways that decisions are made by the consumer or the customer.

Now over time, societies have also given colours specific meanings.

So for example, white for purity or green for nature.

Let's just do a quick check for understanding on that.

So what is the subconscious? Is it A, the part of the mind that makes purposeful decisions based on facts, is it B, the part of the mind that works without us being aware of it, or is it C, the part of the mind that is creative and imaginative? Pause the video here if you'd like to take a moment to think about that.

Okay, and the answer, it was B, the subconscious is the part of the mind that works without us even being aware of it.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, so let's have a look at some of the typical meanings associated to some colours.

So red is quite often connected to things such as passion, energy, love, danger, or even urgency.

Blue is usually things like calm, it's quite trusting, stability, or even sometimes sadness when we say we are feeling a little blue.

Yellow.

So yellow is usually happiness, energy, warmth, but sometimes it can also mean caution and is also used on some kind of cautionary signage as well as the colour red.

Green.

Now green is naturally associated to nature, but also things such as growth, health, and also sometimes luck as well.

Think about the four-leaf clover being green.

Orange, creativity, enthusiasm, fun, warmth.

Obviously the sun, that warmth, those kind of colours are naturally associated.

Purple we've already mentioned as having connections to luxury, but it's also sometimes considered as wisdom, imagination, or even mystery.

Pink, usually things such as love, kindness, femininity, or even playfulness.

Now pink is an interesting one because femininity does come up under this.

Now, it's usually and has been associated that women is always a pink or it's a female colour.

This isn't always the case.

There's lots of women that do not like the colour pink and lots of men that do like the colour pink, but it is historically associated with femininity and is sometimes considered that way.

Black.

So black is usually associated with things such as power, also sophistication, mystery, but also mourning as well.

And mourning is when we are considering the loss of somebody who has died.

White is often associated with purity or simplicity, also things such as cleanliness and also peace.

And grey.

Grey is quite often seen as neutral.

It's considered to be a balance or sometimes also professionalism, so a lot of people wear grey suits to work, for example, but it's also considered as sad or kind of associated with sadness.

Think of like a grey, drizzly miserable weather day and usually we kind of think of that as a kind of a bit of a more of a sad day.

Now colour has different meanings depending on the culture.

So red, white, and black hold significant, but also contrasting symbolic meanings dependent on whether you are in the Eastern or Western kind of culture.

So in the West, red means love, danger, and aggression.

White quite often means purity, innocence, and peace.

And black usually is associated with mourning, evil or fear.

However, in Eastern cultures, red actually symbolises things such as joy, prosperity, and also good fortune.

And white in contrast to the West is actually mourning and death and simplicity.

And obviously mourning and death normally falls under black in Western culture, so Eastern culture, it's just kind of switched the other way round.

In Eastern culture, black represents more about mystery and also a kind of more modern way of doing things.

Okay, let's do a quick check for understanding on this.

Out of these three colours, which colour often represents nature? Is it A, which is black, B, which is green, or C, which is red? Pause the video here.

Just take a moment to think about that.

Okay, how did you get on? It was B, green.

So green is often associated with nature just by that kind of subconscious of obviously the trees and the leaves and the grass.

So let's have a little bit more of a think.

If a luxury cleaning product brand used red for their logo, what do you think this would make the customer think of? So Izzy's had a go answering this.

I think the customer might think of the product being for an emergency or dangerous in some way.

It doesn't make me think of clean things.

Is that true for you? Do you have the same opinion or do you have a slightly different opinion? So what would be a more appropriate colour choice? Now Izzy has suggested the colour blue here.

So I think blue would actually be a better choice as it's a calm colour and also makes me think of water, which is pure and clean.

It is also linked to water in Eastern cultures as well, so it'd be suitable for a product being really inclusive if it was sold globally.

All right, time for you guys to have a bit of a go at this.

Using the logo you have already drawn for either the rock festival or the music festival, I now want you to develop two different iterations.

When I talk about two different iterations, it's basically two different developed versions of it.

And I want you to do that just by changing the colours.

So the actual logo, the font and the style and the images that you've chosen stay exactly the same, you're just going to see if you can change the kind of meaning of that logo just by changing the colours alone.

And as I mentioned, you're gonna create two different iterations of this.

One for a folk music festival and one for a pop music festival.

Think really carefully about what colours you would use to represent folk music and also pop music.

If you're not quite sure about what folk music is, then please do you talk to your peers around the classroom or maybe speak to your teacher.

Once you've had a little think about that and had a go at that, you are then gonna write one sentence to explain why you actually chose those colours for each type of the festival based on the connotations of the colours.

So just kind of justify your colour choice by explaining those a little bit.

Pause the video here to have a go at that.

How did you get on? So here you can see I've done two different logos, one for a folk music festival and one for a pop music festival just as you have done.

You can see for the folk music festival, I've incorporated the colour green.

Folk music is often very much associated with nature, and so I wanted to bring that kind of natural meaning to it by introducing the colour green.

For the pop music festival, I've used much brighter colours.

Now I've chosen colours such as orange just to kind of create that warmth, but also that kind of fun colour of the yellow, the orange and the purple, kind of being a little bit contrasting together as well.

So really bright, bold colours to give that feeling of fun pop music.

Have a little look at your logo and see if you're happy with your colour choices.

Have a look at some of your friends' as well on your table with you and see what they chose.

Do you think it works? Do you think they're suitable? You are also going to be writing a sentence about why you chose the colours for your festival.

Now I've just explained why I chose my colours, but here I've also done a little bit of writing to explain it as well.

So the folk festival design used colours associated with nature and earth, and the pop festival design used colours associated with fun, warmth, and playfulness.

Okay, so let's just summarise today's lesson.

Branding is a way of making a company's product or service more visible and recognisable.

A logo is a simple symbol or design that represents that business or brand and is part of the bigger branding picture.

The company logo is extremely important, it is a symbol of success and how they represent themselves to their customers and their wider audience.

And colour is really crucial in branding and designing logos and choosing the right colours is important.

Colours can evoke different emotions and if carefully used, can create really strong messages.

Thank you so much for joining me for the lesson today.

I hope you've learned a lot about branding and the use of colours and logos, and I will see you soon.

Thank you.