Kingsley Harris

Why branding matters for startups

I recently took part in a heated debate about the value of startup branding on the popular design-centric discussion community site called Branch. The question was whether spending time on a logo design for an early-stage startup was a valuable use of a designers time. There were lots of designers who supported the idea and many who didn't.

Shortly after the post I had the opportunity to meet with a founder of a young startup. She had recently graduated from Y Combinator and pivoted her company in a new direction. When I asked her about her company the first thing we discussed was the branding and why it was important for them to get that right, immediately. She later went on to explain the process she had undergone, starting from her high level vision all the way down to the design brief was drafted and that she engaged a professional designer to bring that vision to life.

You could argue that she could have diverted the energy and money to other areas of her business however, she knew branding was important and that an identity make it easier to connect with her audience. I applaud founders understand the value of design and branding and invest in it early. There are a couple of notable companies who understood this almost right away, and made design a core part of their business. These companies are well rewarded by their legions of devoted customers and the industry accolades the collect.

So yes, I think branding is important for startups, from day one.

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Finding Designer Product Fit

In the world of startups, finding product market fit is a positive signal that a company or product might take off and become successful. Finding product market fit is in part about value and metrics, it's also about understanding the market your product is intended to reach. I want to make the argument that early-stage founders should evaluate and hire product designers based on similar sets of rules. I call this product designer fit which I define as finding the right designer with a broader view on design and a wider range of actual design experience.

As a 15 year design veteran, I've had the opportunity to work on many different types of projects. As an Art Director at R/GA I was responsible for helping clients express their vision, products and services in ways that resonated with their audiences, everything from selling cars to selling bathroom cleaners. Through that experience I was able to gain a broader view of design as a service and increased my range of practical design experience.

My role at Freshthrills is more than just a designer. I leverage my past experience into a broader range of skills that are valuable to startups. I've consulted with startups in Fashion-tech, Software as a service (SaaS) and Consumer social. Each company have their own set of challenges that I take on with confidence. I am comfortable with it because throughout my career I've been constantly exposed to different products targeting different markets, with different sets of challenges.

So back to product designer fit. Every startup deserves the best and brightest design talent. No matter your business, product or target market, it's imperative that you find a designer who's not just a painter of pretty pictures, but one who has a broader range of experience and actual practical design experience.

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Design Research

As a designer a big part of your job is to have a constantly growing and changing supply of inspiration. This can be a growing list of Typography, Branding, or Graphic Design resources — point is, designers need reference materials to inspire, motivate and out do their peers.

A few weekends ago I set out to find a few good typefaces for a branding project currently underway at my studio, Freshthrills. The project is to rebrand an existing mid-stage startup, elevate the brand and introduce a new product to its current and next generation of users.

As apart of our branding process we showed examples of mood imagery in the form of typography in use, and typeface examples pulled from large foundries and a few indies as well, this works well as a design lubricant to get the team to visualize the end design.

After reviewing we came to a swift decision that a san-serif typefaces was the ideal typographic direction to take.

Turned out to be a great decision...

Next post, I'll share some of the examples I found and how that influenced the final design.

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Introduction

I'm a Designer and Co-Founder of Freshthrills a brand and design consultancy, based in Brooklyn, NY. My co-founder John Merlino and I have spent the greater part of the past decade collaborating.

At Freshthrills we work with closely founders of early stage startups. Through a close collaboration, we help them articulate the company mission, develop brand identity and design digital products.

I plan to write more about my experience working with startups and the case studies on how design accelerators early stage companies.

Stay tuned...

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