When it comes to logos, many start-ups and small businesses are looking for a quick solution. But a single logo – while affordable – is not a long-term solution.

Building a brand (which includes a logo), is about more than just your business. It’s about the customers you engage with and potential customers, their beliefs and passions, and their perceptions of your business.

This week, I want to highlight the importance of a brand as opposed to a simple logo by outlining our process. As a sort of case study, I’ll use Humble Onion Creative as an example, answering the why’s and how’s of our branding process.

About Humble Onion Creative

After almost 10 years of freelancing, I was ready to launch my own creative agency. I was overwhelmed at the thought. Who was my audience? What did I need to get started? What did I want to make sure other people knew about the company?

In the branding process I’d later use for my clients, I detailed the answers to these questions step-by-step, taking my time to research and understand my own business. The entire process started with the Discovery Phase.

Branding Discovery Phase

There are two key purposes to the discovery phase: Understanding the business, and defining goals and objectives.

Understanding the business

The first questions I asked myself were what did I want to do with the business? I had experience in a lot of different sectors, in a variety of marketing specialties. Initially, I had planned to offer a graphic design studio focused on stellar graphics and layout. Through the research process, I asked myself:

What industry do I want to focus on?
Who is my target audience?
Who are my competitors?

These questions felt huge. I felt like I had to know the exact answers, and allowed myself no room to be flexible. Initially, my answers were:

Industry: Any marketing-related industry
Audience: Anyone and everyone
Competitors: Local studios and agencies

“Building a brand (which includes a logo), is about more than just your business. It’s about the customers you engage with and potential customers, their beliefs and passions, and their perceptions of your business.”

Putting the thoughts down on paper was a start, but it was too vague. I knew if I wanted to be successful, I’d have to narrow these topics. After sitting with the thoughts and really honing in on the purpose of my organization, I narrowed down my answers:

Industry: Education
Audience: Publishing companies, educational institutions, education-related nonprofits and small businesses
Competitors: Mid-size publishing companies and education-focused organizations offering similar services

By offering more tailored, niche answers, I was able to get a better vision for the business. I crafted my mission, vision, and values based on non-negotiables for what my business would become. And with that, I was able to flesh out these statements.

Discovery is on-going. By staying connected to your industry, target audience, and competitors, you can learn what you should be doing to engage with your audience, and adapt your organization with time.

Defining goals and objectives

Based on the research I’d conducted about my industry and competitors, there were a few things I noticed:

Education was fairly straightforward, boring, and quite frankly, ugly.
The audience is pretty heavily-saturated.
Competitors are not active on social media, in general, or have misguided practices for engaging on social media.

With these notes in mind, it was able to guide my goals and outcomes for the branding process and establish starting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to determine how successful I was at reaching these goals.

My goals were straightforward and simple as I created a brand for my business:

Create awareness around the organization and its services
Infuse life and vibrancy into the brand
Create a clean brand that would be easy to replicate across touchpoints

Concept Development

Keeping the research in mind, I began brainstorming the name of the organization. Based on my history, I was able to narrow down ideas to Humble Onion Creative. From here, I took into account what I saw from other similar organizations, and made my focus differentiation.

Brainstorming and ideation

When it came to applying colors and typography, I leaned on my understanding of psychology and communication theory to direct what hues and fonts to use.

I saw lots of reds and blues in my research, which lends itself to excitement and trust, respectively. While great qualities, I was looking to differentiate. With the organization being a creative agency, I leaned into one of the greatest colors symbolizing creativity: Purple.

I developed a palette of colors that could be used together in an accessible way, complementing each other and reinforcing the brand.

Next, it was important to me to use a font that was created by diverse and inclusive creators. I spent weeks researching fonts. I knew I wanted a serif – communicating authority – that was tall and thin, but with variables for different uses. I found Hernandez Bros, and it felt like the perfect fit.

My secondary font choice was one that was accessible and free for use on many platforms, a sans serif that would complement my primary font. This led me to Montserrat.

Now, it was time to put it all together.

Sketching and Initial Design

When I say I was drawing a lot of onions, I mean I was drawing a LOT of onions. I felt an illustrative approach would communicate more about the organization, but I also wanted the logo to work for a diverse array of applications and be recognizable.

I went through sheets and sheets of paper, drawing every onion variation I could. I narrowed it down to a few options, then had the idea of combining these to illustrate both the simple and the complex.

Combined with the colors and fonts, I’d created the rough draft of my logo.

Refinement and feedback

In this phase, I’d normally send the initial proofs to clients for feedback, and incorporate their feedback into the designs. Since the client was me, I had a personal relationship (to put it mildly) and I was happy with what I’d created, but I wanted it fleshed out more.

I became interested in how I could use iconography to better brand my organization. What could I pull from the logo to use on stationery, letterhead, business cards, and social media graphics, among other touchpoints?

By using the shapes from the logo, I was able to create some minimalist variation to use for the aforementioned touchpoints, better instituting the brand in the grand digital landscape.

Expanded Branding (more than a logo)

Branding is different from logo design. Logos are part of branding, absolutely, but only one part.

In our branding packages, we include a variety of resources, including:

Mission, Vision, and Values
Tagline (when applicable)
Voice and Tone
Hashtag recommendations
Brand story
SEO
Website and blog

Different packages include different features, but for each of these contributes to overall brand. For Humble Onion Creative, this was a long process detailed in another blog.

Finalization and Delivery

After branding has been finalized, we double-check that everything is scalable and versatile for any possible application.

We then deliver assets in all formats, typically:

PNG for online
EPS for print
PDF for implementation and branding guide

Other files are available and will be mentioned in the Discovery phase.

Conclusion

Creating a logo is just the beginning of establishing a robust brand identity. At Humble Onion Creative, we understand that true branding goes far beyond a simple graphic; it encompasses the essence of your business, the values you stand for, and the audience you aim to connect with. Through our detailed branding process, we ensure that every element — from mission statements to color palettes — is meticulously crafted to resonate with your target market and set you apart from the competition.

My personal journey from freelancing to launching a full-fledged creative agency has taught me the importance of thorough research, strategic goal setting, and continuous refinement. As I've demonstrated with Humble Onion Creative, a well-defined brand is a powerful tool that not only attracts customers but also fosters lasting relationships built on trust and mutual understanding.

In the end, investing in a comprehensive branding strategy is investing in the future of your business. A logo may catch the eye, but a thoughtfully developed brand captures the heart and loyalty of your audience. Let us help you create a brand that speaks volumes and stands the test of time.

Humble Onion Logo and Branding Process