People - Brand and Communication identity toolkit

If you want to build a brand, you have to think far more about the next person than about yourself. Who are you building for, and how do you want to show up in their life? Every exercise in this toolkit returns to that question.

Most people speak of building a brand. In reality, branding is something you shape, because what you are shaping is people’s perception. Branding is the unique position you occupy in the mind of another person.

That position is shaped in two ways, and this toolkit is organised around them.

• Visual identity. How your ideals and positioning are represented visually: images, video, typefaces, symbols, logo variations, and the other marks that say something about you. The aim is to own a piece of mental real estate in the minds of your people and to build a moat that others cannot easily cross.
• Oral identity. How your ideals and positioning are carried through your messaging, language, and communication. This is how your brand takes root in the minds and lives of the people you serve, and in your industry.

Neither is enough alone. The work is in their synergy: visuals and words together, communicating the meaning behind the brand, the idea, the vision, and the unique perspective you want to pass to the next person.