Start up Your Brand
Notes on Branding

My son proudly storms into my office. He’s not a big knocker yet. Instead, he presses a Postit into my hand and beams at me. It shows a cephalopod scribbled in pencil, wildly coloured in with a purple highlighter. “That’s you!” he says with shining eyes. His enthusiasm is infectious.

Of course, the resemblance to me is still limited. At least I hope so. And yet his work is still stuck to my monitor today. I love looking at it: After all, I know that a child of this age only draws what is absolutely important to him. A beautiful thought.

Similar situation, different protagonist

I teach at the Vienna University of Technology and give lectures on brand positioning and strategic storytelling. The programme is called Extended Studies on Innovation and shows young students from various IT disciplines how to make the leap from theoretical work to business practice. We work on early start-up ideas.

After one of these lectures, a student comes up to me. He wants to show me something: He has designed a logo for his start-up. When he notices my irritated look, he emphasises the obvious: he would like some feedback.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve worked with enough start-ups in my teaching career to know that student budgets don’t grow on trees. And I also think that, especially in the early stages, there are more pressing issues than your own brand.

Brand design only makes sense once a product idea and the strategic outline of a company are in place. Not the other way round.

But to stay with the analogy: Between a child’s drawing and a detailed character study, there is a long period of engagement with the activity itself. The ability to draw develops – through observation and practice. It is the same with design – even if its aim is not to enrich the details, but to reduce them: good logos live from a few, but all the more striking features.

This is precisely why the logos of successful companies appear so simple. That gives the layperson the impression that they could have done it themselves. Where is the work behind it? And why is it so expensive? It’s just a swoosh. The process and the years of training (in theory and practice) that are necessary for designers to create such a simple thing are invisible to the viewer.

So what advice would I give an early-stage start-up when it comes to designing its own brand?

Well, first of all, to look for suitable partners if design is not your area of expertise. Designers who think systemically, who understand the objectives of your branding, give visual form to your ideas and have the overall effect of your communication in mind. This requires the founding team to correctly assess their own abilities and limitations – and to recognise what they can do themselves and where it is better to seek help.

Form and Function

The overall image of a branding has an immediate effect – even before we consciously engage with the content. Good design creates a professional and therefore credible image of an idea. Professional is synonymous with expert, according to the Duden dictionary. And he must know – by definition.

In this particular dilemma, I made every effort to give the student feedback and to treat his attempts with respect. And yet I quickly had to admit to myself how pointless this endeavour really was: the student had hoped for praise. Just like I praise my son for his cephalopods.

Of course, the comparison is greatly exaggerated. His work wasn’t quite that dramatic and I would like to emphasise that. But I hope you understand what I’m getting at: a few hours of tinkering is nothing compared to years of work and training as a designer. And of course you can see that in a result.

So I somewhat awkwardly pointed out the shortcomings of his design to him and finally – in response to his disappointed look – explained my dilemma. I advised him not to design it himself. Full stop.

That was unpleasant – for both of us.

The disappointment was written all over his face. And that kept me busy for a while. After all, demotivating students is not part of my job description as a lector. At least not if I’ve understood it correctly.

When, if not then?

Since that moment, I have dedicated a significant part of my lectures to the question of why it is essential to be able to accept and appreciate help – be it the support of a designer or another professional. Why this help has to cost something, because free is often completely for nothing. And I try to show when, in my opinion, it is the right time to get the help of designers on board.

If the visualisation does not (yet) go beyond a pitch deck, for example, it often still makes sense to have the slide set professionally revised by a designer. The costs are manageable and it should be worth it to you: After all, you believe in your idea and are hopefully convinced that it will recoup the costs. A potential investor also wants to see and ultimately feel this belief.

If a website is being planned, another critical point has been reached. This would be a good opportunity to have the basic elements and system of a corporate design defined to ensure that the idea is also conveyed in a formally credible and professional manner.

Quasimodo in a suit

DIY often leads to a patchwork that simply doesn’t look coherent. The tech start-up is blue, the logo communicates too many things at once and lacks the formal simplicity it needs to really work. The infographics scream PowerPoint, the photographs are acquired from stock portals or made with A.I. – interchangeable and not very authentic. And all these elements are loosely held together by a WordPress template that somehow always looks the same.

That’s why I will continue to answer openly and honestly if a non-specialist student wants to discuss a design. And I will also advise them to get help as soon as it is financially possible.

After all, an unprofessional image doesn’t help start-ups one bit. But a professional one will. That also has another effect: it gives the founding team time to concentrate on what is most important at the very beginning of their journey: developing a convincing product and a sensible strategy to make it successful.

Fortunately, there are grants for marketing projects (in the broadest sense). You just have to know who to ask. My friend and neighbour Stephan would be a good place to start. He specialises in finding grants and investors – especially for research and development projects. You can find his LinkedIn contact just below the text.

Designers I trust can be found in the navigation point David. Simply write to them directly. They look forward to exciting topics.

Did you know?
Ali Bati’s “The Horse” was part of a campaign for an art school. The illustration developed a life of its own and went viral: today it is known as the hook for countless memes. The New York-based designer shows a funny excerpt as well as the remaining illustrations of the campaign on his website under “the ad that became a meme”. I was probably one of only a few people to ask him if I could use the image for my purposes. He gave me permission – presumably under the motto: It’s too late anyways.