One of the hardest parts of creating branding for your company is coming up with your initial idea. Sometimes you have too many ideas, sometimes you don’t have any. I’m going to tell you about a trick I use that can help you narrow your focus for what your logo should represent. This is something I learned from an online course many years ago and it has stuck with me all along. I don’t always end up using the ideas I extract from this exercise, but it’s a great starting point and at the very least can get your thoughts flowing. I’m not sure what the technical term for this process is, but I call it a “brainweb”.
To begin, pull out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, and write down the name of your business. If there are multiple words, write them in various locations on the page and space them out. Think about core values, or other words that are unique to your business and write them to the page, again, making sure you leave plenty of space between them. Once you have some core words that represent your business, you are now going to do a freewriting exercise where you branch these concepts out into other related words. For each word, write down everything that that word makes you think of, surrounding each word with related ideas. Draw lines to connect them back to their core word. The most important step here is to avoid filtering your thoughts. Nobody is going to judge you. Write down absolutely everything that comes to mind and build out a web. Repeat this process for each core word. Once you have a second layer of ideas on the page surrounding each core word, continue branching out the web and looking for more connections.
You aren’t done until you run out of room on the page. Eventually you should reach a point where you have some newly found bridges that connect your core ideas together. In the example pictured, I was able to connect GoodBoy to Graphic Design with “Fetch” and “Deliverables”.
GoodBoy>Dog>Fetch>Deliverables
Graphic Design>Files>Deliverables>Fetch
Fetch is the perfect way to connect the two ideas, because a “goodboy” is a loyal companion that seeks to deliver happiness (and sticks!) in the same way that a good graphic designer is looking to fetch you the best logo ideas possible. Combining this idea of fetch with other concepts in the web, I decided to make my emblem a skull with a bone in it’s mouth. The skull is a masculine concept, but I illustrated it in a very playful way where it is retrieving a bone the same way your loyal companion fetches a stick.
Maybe your “brainweb” didn’t get you anywhere. Try starting with other core words. What products/services do you offer? What makes you unique? What is important to you?
GoodBoy Design can help you with your “brainweb” process, or if you’ve already had success in this exercise we can help bring your idea to life! Contact GoodBoy Design today, your loyal companion.
