If you’re setting up a new company then the first thing you’ll need before you start designing and spreading your brand is a company name. This should be something that’s catchy and that creates the kind of association you want to come with your business. Richard Branson’s choice of the name ‘Virgin’ was very clever as it suggested something ‘fresh’ and ‘new’ but also something provocative. It garnered attention and got people talking about it, while being memorable and catchy. Virgin the company deals with all sorts of different services so the name was fine being somewhat abstract as it was. You may on the other hand want your company name to be more descriptive, for example ‘Right Car’ for a car rental company, rather than ‘Good Day’ which says nothing about the company. With a name like ‘Right Car’ just the name is advertising in a way if someone who hears it happens to be looking for a car. Other things to consider are that companies with numbers or the letter ‘A’ at the start of their title will come first in listings (giving them a primacy effect; with ‘Z’ you can benefit from the recency effect meaning it’s the last seen – if they get that far). Statistically some letters and sounds are also more successful than others which you may want to look into if you’re somewhat superstitious.

Next you need to design a logo for your company. This can incorporate the company name, or it can be a simple image that becomes associated to that name. The Nike tick or the Apple logo are good examples of the latter (the apple logo is also clever in that it’s almost a pictogram for the company name itself). This logo should be easy to replicate and look good on headed paper, fliers and products. You’ll be using it a lot so make sure to use a graphic design service to ensure it’s as good as it could be.

A graphic designer will also come in handy for the next part, as if you want your branding and logo to be successful it needs to find its way into everything your company produces. Take Virgin again as an example and note how all of their promotional material and many of their products are white on red or red on white. This extends to their website (one of the most important extensions of your brand from a design perspective). With apple, everything is styled in the same way – white or black with curved edges and a minimalistic approach with the apple logo somewhere on the body. This way a cohesive experience is created, and if the experience is enjoyed the customer or client will seek out others similar to it – provided hopefully by your company through branding and design.

Most people working in the brand design industry try to emphasize the difference between branding and just a logo.