Building a Brand and Its Design Identity from the Ground up

Brands have a great deal of responsibility on their shoulders. They aren’t just entities that sell products or services. They impart an experience to their customers. They solve certain business problems for their customers. They educate. And in doing so, they build an everlasting relationship with their customers.

And therefore, it’s imperative for a brand to:

• Have a clear idea of who they are
• Who they cater to
• How to reach out to them and convey their thoughts

And how does one do it?

Through the different touch points or channels of interaction between the brand and the customer. Touch points such as brand collaterals, packaging, digital ads, print materials, et cetera.

And in order to do that, a brand needs to have a complete brand identity in place.

Today, we’re talking about one of Pune’s most prolific businesses houses – the Bora business group. With interests in real estate, food and finance, they recently forayed into technology with their brand 121. Through this brand, they sought to integrate themselves into the lives of people who utilize gadgets that make lives easier. For example: earphones, bluetooth earpieces, USB cables, power banks, et cetera.

The very first brand collateral for any brand is its very name. The CEO Mr. Prashant Bora communicated the following vision and concept for this brand:

‘Enriching lives and bettering the communication between people.’

The idea of bettering the communication between people in today’s world led us to the name 121. It’s symbolic of the one to one communication that we participate in with others in our lives. The kind of communication that brings 2 people in a better understanding with each other. And hence, the brand name was coined.

The logo followed next and instead of choosing to go with a complex logo as preferred by many, we encapsulated this idea with a simple typographic 121. Simple, straightforward, and easy to grasp.

However, that was just the beginning of this brand’s journey.

A brand’s journey isn’t just limited to creating the identity. Even the best brand identities require a careful analysis and strategy in order to be extended across different channels.

In case of Bora’s 121, their branding was extending through the packaging for their products. Packaging is one of the major factors that decide the success or failure of a brand and its products. Therefore, their packaging was designed in a way to communicate the youthful, energetic, and sophisticated personality of the brand.

The products by 121 are a remarkable example of technology meeting finesse and modernity. The same was communicated through the use of colours and layout of the design.

If you thought that branding is just about the external appearance of the brand, you couldn’t be more wrong. While the products at 121 were being designed, crafted, and readied to go into the customers’ hand, a different challenge emerged at 121’s Pune office.

As is with most office spaces, the workplace was elegant but lacked a certain vibe and character. The walls were plainly painted but seemed mute. There was a narrative at play but the walls didn’t certainly reflect that. And it’s undeniable what a pivotal role is played by some having some kind of art and character in the office.

Finally, an office branding exercise was commissioned by Mr. Prashant. Under that, we began with the hallway leading up the Pune office. Our hand-illustrators got to work and created a mural that communicated the evolution of communication for mankind. Of how we came from a civilization that had one phone between a neighbourhood to personal phones for all of us today. About how 121 devices play an important role in augmenting the lives of users of all personas and places. Be it the urban setting or the rural.

Can the inclusion of office art actually create a difference in a workplace?

You’d be surprised to know. Read more about this internal branding exercise here.

And this is what Mr. Prashant has to say about the work we did for them:

Branding requires extensive efforts and meticulous planning and execution. Efforts, time, and strategy to link every piece of the puzzle in a way that they form a picture on their own. And this is best done when the brand identity is built right.

Remember: once you get the brand identity right, it’s simply a question of extending it across different mediums. Conversely, an ill-placed brand identity is a recipe for disaster, since it starts a chain reaction that amounts to lost time, efforts, and money.

If you’d like to give your brand the care and love it deserves, consult an expert who’ll treat it like their own. And nurture it, feed it, and do everything in and beyond capacity to grow it.

That someone’s us.

We at Saypan have an extensive experience of devising branding across domains and niches. We take a mix of process and result oriented approach to understand the brand at its core and bring it to life with our communications.

Would you like to grow your brand into a success story?