Why graphic design is your biggest weapon

Recently, we’ve hit the mark for our client Little Sale Birdy (www.littlesalebirdy.com).  Little Sale Birdy is a retail sales website that desperately needed its own identity to differentiate itself from the sea online fashion stores.  We knew from day one that to tell Little Sale Birdy’s unique story, we’d have to invest in high impact visual design.  Since then, we have built an entire army of Little Sale Birdy collateral from t-shirts to business cards. 

Through the design process, over the course of a year, we’ve built Little Sale Birdy’s brand presence up to the point that they are synonymous with the colour yellow.  This branding feeds in to one of our guerrilla marketing campaigns where we hit the streets to profile stylish Sydneysiders (wearing yellow branded t-shirts, of course). You’ve been warned: if you see a person in yellow on your morning coffee run, you may very well be Little Sale Birdy Style Approved.

We have managed to achieve big feats with Little Sale Birdy, largely due to the fact that design was at the core of our plan of attack.  Here are three important lessons to remember while you are creating your visual artillery:

1. It’s more than a logo. Although a logo is imperative to a brand, it is only one component. A brand is a collective set of memories. A logo can be a company’s most important asset, but is not effective existing alone. Enjoy the satisfaction of deciding on your logo, while being cognisant that this is only the beginning of the branding process.
   
   
2. Value consistency. The key to branding is eliminating confusion. Every piece of collateral that we have created for Little Sale Birdy is either black or yellow. Perhaps blue would have been more pleasant on a t-shirt, however that would decision would obscure our message.   Little Sale Birdy is black and yellow. That is non-negotiable.
   
   
3. Defy the standard. The online consumer industry is a saturated market, and Little Sale Birdy had to fight hard to gain ground amongst well-established e-tailers. ASOS, The Iconic and Top Shop all have one thing in common – they’ve surrendered to black and white logos. We defied the status quo and cemented Little Sale Birdy’s identity in yellow. Play with design until you’ve established your own trademark.