Hi.
My name is Florian.
And yours?

Brand is what others think of us. This might be confusing at first, so here are two examples: The value of the brand Apple is based on the excitement it creates in the minds of its consumers. The value of the brand Intel is the result of the expertise we attribute to the company and its products. Images create reliability because we always know where we stand. For us consumers, that is reason enough to dig deeper into our pockets. So a brand is the result of an interaction between communication on the one hand and perception on the other. This also means that if a company preaches quality but doesn't deliver, its image will suffer – and so will the value of its brand.

The term branding refers to methods and models for becoming aware of these mechanisms and using them to build, strengthen or change a very specific image. Branding is therefore strategically aimed at establishing a brand.

We cannot escape our identity, no matter how hard we sometimes try. And our identity is shown to the outside world: through our behaviour, the way we communicate, the style of our clothes, even our choice of friends. Much of this is done subconsciously, some of it is done completely unconsciously. It's no different with companies: identity grows naturally, founders gather people around them who share their goals, ideas and views. The values of individuals become the beliefs of a collective. This shared attitude is reflected in the culture (corporate culture), the behaviour (corporate behaviour), the activity (services or products), but it must also be perceptible and visible in the communication (corporate communication) and the appearance (corporate design).

Behaviour and culture are deeply rooted in a company's identity. They are shaped by the people who founded the company and carried forward by the employees who live the brand in their daily lives. Good communication and design must also work together with these existing pillars. If this core is to be communicated well and professionally to the outside world, there is no way around the knowledge and experience of well-trained designers.

Archetypes serve as a shortcut between a rational thing (e.g. the activity of a company) and its emotional meaning (e.g. "the explorer suits us because everyone should find an employer where they feel at home"). On the level of facts, companies are comparable to their competitors. But this is the opposite of what good branding aims to achieve. It is what a thing means to us that provides the first points of differentiation. The level of meaning creates differentiation from others doing the same thing on paper. And at the same time, it resonates with people who think in a similar way.

Many agencies use the two terms interchangeably. However, the term corporate identity is somewhat misleading. Identity it is not a service that agencies provide. It exists in advance and has grown naturally. Agencies therefore do not define identity, but develop a language to make it visible and perceptible as a personality, both internally and externally. To do this, designers and strategists need to analyse the existing entity, understand it and identify what makes it unique. When this is successful, design and language express what is really there - in a positive way, of course. The system is right in itself.

Good communication starts with asking the right questions - and asking them in the right way. "What does the audience want to hear?" becomes "What do I have to offer? And which audience will respond?" Good communication expresses what is really there and is heard by people who want to hear it.

Successful brands reduce their signals to very few messages that they repeat like a mantra. They stay true to their principles over the years and communicate in a consistent way. Every advertisement, every marketing campaign, even the design elements used, are subordinate to their strategic brand objectives.

David is the name of my network. David stands for everything I can't do or can't do well and therefore need help with. Branding is no solo effort. And I am very passionate about what I do. To make brands work well, I need people I trust both professionally and personally, people I know what they can do and how they work.

It depends on the job and the team. I usually act as a general contractor. However, there are some services for which I cannot be held liable and these are invoiced separately by the service provider.