“Who Should Know”

Experimenting with some photography options while working on designing the new brand identity.

During the research and discovery phase, there’s a lot of digging to do and asking the right questions. Aside from getting to know your client and their business and/or industry, you’ve got to know their audience and who they’re serving. I’d say this might be even more important than getting to know just your client. For your client, maybe start by finding out who their competition is, what kind of similar companies are out there–how are they doing it? 

Next, you’ll need to take some time digging around to see who your client’s work, product, or service appeals to, or the types of customers/clients they are trying to attract. This will also have to align with their intended business goals as well. What can help during this process is brainstorming some user personas. This is a helpful tool I’ve learned from some basic User Experience Design for Web Design, but just as helpful for your business and brand. In these user personas, get as detailed as you can, or imagine a specific person that you could think of, their lifestyle, their preferences, their age range/group, their background and interests, hobbies, line of work, you name it. What kind of value are you offering them, what problem are you solving for your intended audience, and what problem are you solving for your client?

I’d spent some time not only thinking about these questions, but also asking questions to my family, especially my Dad and sisters. My Dad has offered a lot of business insight, and I see the passion he has for what he’s doing and building. My sisters have allowed me to tap into the lives of their potential target audience of hip young foodies, along with the trends and cultures they follow. Each of them had very different tastes in term of aesthetics, but they’re good extremes to work with in finding a balance for the look and feel of Ube & Company’s brand identity.