Persona - The power of a good brand
Frank contemplating a client brand.
When a company looks to establish itself in the marketplace, it often turns to branding to help. The concept of branding and identity is to create a look and feel immediately identifiable and recognizable in the marketplace. Good branding can increase the value of the product or service and the company itself. A company’s identity in the marketplace can easily make or break its profitability as a whole. The harder a company works on its branding and identity, in most cases, the more awareness it creates. For example, Coca-Cola is known worldwide for its product.
A consumer can see it in a foreign county, with labeling in a foreign language and know it is a Coca-Cola product. The red color and shape of the bottle is an immediate trigger in many minds as to the fact that the drink is a Coca-Cola product. This is branding and identity at its best.
The more often a customer sees your brand in the marketplace, the more often he will consider it for purchase or hire. If the brand and identity are truly kept consistent, the customer is more likely to feel that the quality is consistent and to become a loyal follower of the brand. However, this means that the product or service must maintain a consistency that reflects the image as well.
Here are some brands Frank has designed for his clients.
The more often a customer sees your brand in the marketplace, the more often he will consider it for purchase or hire. If the brand and identity are truly kept consistent, the customer is more likely to feel that the quality is consistent and to become a loyal follower of the brand. However, this means that the product or service must maintain a consistency that reflects the image as well.
Here are some brands Frank has designed for his clients.
Some Brands, Sub-Brands, and re-brands...
REEF & BARREL RESTAURANT
Reef & Barrel is a restaurant is Manasquan, NJ. It's owned by brothers Bob and Chris Fahey. Reef & Barrel is a beach based bar and grill. The circular design of the brand is a nod to the Fahey brother's other restaurant, "Cross & Orange". The lowercase "b" serves as the brand's frame and the lowercase "r" in the middle of the brand also doubles as a barrel wave. The "b" keeps the ferocity of the wave ("r") contained which is indicative of the ferocity of flavor a diner would experience and yet there's an opening on top of the brand (which is also the tail of the 'b') to show that Reef & Barrel is open to adding and improving on the food they serve and are not stuck and locked into one way of doing things. |
ELITE REMODELING GROUP
Company owner Nick O. needed a brand to represent his remodeling company. He wanted it to show that he's more than just a roofer and window guy. He wanted his clients to know that he cares about every job he do. So much so that all of the products Nick uses are environmentally friendly and sound. In a word, green. The Elite brand speaks of that. Instead of the typical puff of smoke coming out of the chimney in the design, Frank went with a single leaf to drive the green aspect of the company. The top of the brand "houses" the "e" like an A-line roof and the blue speaks of his integrity, as in true. Nick is a down-to-earth, relateable, blue collar guy. Honest, dependable, skilled, and affordable. |
SPARTAN STUDIOS
Andrew Anastasopoulos loves history and it shows on his popular podcast, "History by Fire". Soon after his podcast debuted, he started thinking about other genres for podcasts he was interested in besides history. He formed Spartan Studios, llc. for this reason. Spartan Studios gives people the opportunity to podcast under the Spartan network. Since Andrew is Greek, is a Muay Thai practitioner, and his fight name is "Spartan" it was a bit of a no-brainer what his brand should be about. A 5 piece red Spartan helmet wearing headphones. The red symbolizes fire in honor of Spartan's first podcast, and the 5 pieces that make up the helmet are symbolic of the 5 rivers in Greek mythology. Those rivers being Acheron: the river of pain, Cacytus: the river of wailing, Lethe: the river of forgetfulness, Styx: the river of hate, and Phlegethon: the river of fire for which the podcast is named, "History by Fire". |
MICHAEL JEROME
Michael Jerome hired Frank to create a brand for his music known as "Dramatic Prog". Michael's music is very keyboard driven. So, Frank decided that since Michael is a very unique individual, his brand should reflect that. Michael Jerome is a poet. His lyrics dig deep into your very soul. He's a modern-day Shakespeare. To visually show this, Frank designed the "keyboard collar" to be indicative of a ruff collar worn often during the Shakespearean time period. The cartoon image shows that Michael, although a musician, doesn't take himself too seriously, and lastly, Frank went with a handwritten style type face for the name to indicate that Michael actually writes songs and music old school style -- in a notebook! |
FITNESS FURNACE
These days it seems like a lot of gyms and "fitness centers" are more concerned with a member's comfort level than the results they crave. Fitness Furnace is a gym that pulls no punches. They have fans. If you're still hot, you can open a window. People go there to work out hard, and to sweat hard! The brand had to reflect that attitude. 3D rendering came into the design here and can also be scaled back as an illustration. The brand is hot and when it's gets too hot, it lets off a little steam up top!
WOODROW SEARCH
Sometimes a design can happen by accident. However, that "accident" can be just the right design for what's needed. "I wish I had a deep, psychological explanation behind this design", says branding specialist Frank Sasso, "but I don't. This design for Woodrow Search was just supposed to be a placeholder until I got a direction in my head on how to proceed. The client, Bill Woodrow, saw it and loved it before I had a chance to tell him that wasn't the design yet. It reminded me of how the Nike brand was formed." The Nike brand. Another story for another day. |
SISTER FOX
One of the best things a guy could call his girlfriend in Russian is "lisichka". It means "little fox" especially if she has red hair. Russian Blogger Katrina loves to cook and she's good at it. She wanted to break away from the norm of the blogging world and actually brand herself. Frank designed a breakaway brand for her where a tiny sleeping fox takes the place of the "o" in the word. Also, upon a closer look of the design, you'll notice a hidden "s" in the tail which stands for "Sister". The brand can stand alone without the text and still have the same (if not more) impact. 
RAVEN'S NEST
John D. owned approximately 14 acres of land in the Northeast area of the US. He's a die-hard Edgar Allen Poe fan. So when he wanted to convert his 14 acres into a housing community, naming the streets after Edgar Allen Poe stories and titles, "Raven's Nest" was the obvious name choice for the project. This brand acts as the "a" in "Raven's Nest" on signage. It also has been broken up into 2 pieces of copper. The background A shape is one piece and the raven sitting on a stump is the other. A light shines up from the middle of these 2 pieces and great dramatic shadows appear everywhere behind the raven bringing the Edgar Allen Poe series to life, especially at night! It's quite a sight. |
STAR CAFE
How do you create a brand for a cafe called "Star Cafe" without incorporating a star in the design? How do you avoid the trap of a predictable brand layout just because 50% of the brand seems to demand a STAR? "Part of the challenge with this brand", says Sasso, "was to avoid being obvious. That's why I used the negative space in the "A" of "star" as my answer for where the star shape should appear. Being a customer of this cafe, I really enjoy the coffee and decided to use the "S" in "star" as my focal point whereas the "s" doubles as the steam coming out of the cup and the rest of the word continues off as steam". Too often, designers will take the obvious, easy way out of a brand design. Frank never listens to what he thinks the brand should be, he lets the brand tell him and he then designs accordingly.
How do you create a brand for a cafe called "Star Cafe" without incorporating a star in the design? How do you avoid the trap of a predictable brand layout just because 50% of the brand seems to demand a STAR? "Part of the challenge with this brand", says Sasso, "was to avoid being obvious. That's why I used the negative space in the "A" of "star" as my answer for where the star shape should appear. Being a customer of this cafe, I really enjoy the coffee and decided to use the "S" in "star" as my focal point whereas the "s" doubles as the steam coming out of the cup and the rest of the word continues off as steam". Too often, designers will take the obvious, easy way out of a brand design. Frank never listens to what he thinks the brand should be, he lets the brand tell him and he then designs accordingly.
THE PRACTICAL GUYS
Scott Newman and Tom Quinn have dedicated their life to helping people save money, invest wisely, give sound counsel, and exposing the dirty little secrets of the financial world. The Practical Guys needed a brand that would instantly set a person at ease as well as put a smile on their face. Frank jumped at the chance to create a caricature of Scott and Tom for the brand. "Except for Snoopy being the mascot for an insurance company, I don't think people would ever expect a cartoon of financial people", says Sasso, "...at least not this accurate." The cartoons are kept within a blue circle except the heads, which symbolizes that even though they are practical, they think outside the typical and traditional boundaries. Scott's mouth is open because he loves giving all the information upfront, whereas Tom's mouth is closed showing that he is more the strategist of the team. The blue background symbolizes their honesty (true blue) and integrity. |
VERBAL SMASH
Shane Pittman and Jason Beville host a weekly podcast called "Verbal Smash". It's about 2 guys relating to not only each other but also to their listeners. Shane clearly sets the pace as he leads an untethered, opinionated Jason through current events, inappropriate but funny comments, and a hilarious yet informative monthly segment called “Whatcha Watchin?” The brand features a caricature of Shane Pittman with a "Hulk"-type body literally smashing the title of the podcast. "Brands like this are really fun because I'm a HUGE comic book fan", say Sasso. "I will see ANY movie, watch any TV show that has to do with superheros. I don't care how cheesy it is". |
Sub-brands...
CORALUST
Having a brand is one thing. Having a SUB-brand is a whole other thing. Dan Jodry sells beautiful coral at his website, Coralust.com. People know his brand and it's solid. From Monday through Friday, he posts videos on YouTube ranging from Mistake Mondays all the way to Frag Fridays. Yes, he has a cute name for each day of the week. Dan's brand needed a sub-brand however. So, inspired by the bright orange color of his brand, Frank dug into his bag of tricks and created a sub-brand in the form of a fish and named it, you guessed it, Cora. On each thumbnail of Dan's videos, you'll see an image of Cora in a situation mirroring the title of the day's video. The sub-brand allows Dan to scale his company into areas he never would have gone without it. Coloring books, short animations, and plush stuffed Coras are all items he can now use to teach children about coral insuring himself future generations of customers. |
BLOOMING GROVE INN
The Blooming Grove Inn is an elegant restaurant located in Ewing, NJ. With live music on Friday and Saturday nights, outdoor dining, special events, and incredible food, the Blooming Grove Inn is a treasure. "Something I love about this place is that they don't take themselves too seriously", says Sasso. "I created a a sub-brand in the form of a cartoon of Steve that lets his patrons know of upcoming events. We also used this sub-brand as the push notification icon on the Blooming Grove Inn app. Lots of fun!" |
Re-brands...
HEATHER BEDELL HEALTH
Wholeness coach, Heather Bedell, already had a brand but it lacked being able to reflect the quality of her services. Frank took the original brand design, and made some tweaks. "Since Heather deals with individuals, I wanted to visually represent that somehow," says Sasso. "My wife gave me the idea to strip in a fingerprint texture into each of the leaves to show that. It came out great." The colors represent the 4 different areas that Heather coaches people in. Purple = Spirituality, Orange = relationships, Yellow = physical, and green = career. If you're wondering how Frank came to label those colors, he would love to tell you. Just be prepared, he gets very excited explaning this one. 
Brand before hiring Frank
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TEDDY & ME DAY CARE
The new Teddy & Me brand used elements and ideas from the old brand for a new, fresh look. "The old design looked like children entering the gates of heaven", says Sasso. "I actually thought it was a logo for an association of grieving parents whose child has passed away." The new brand incorporates the children running toward the viewer with the teddy bear in the middle running with them. Kids are encouraged to use their imaginations at Teddy & Me, so the fact that the kids are running with a teddy bear reflects the value of imagination. The little teddy bear flying out of the boundaries of the circle shows that the kids are free to expand their minds, have fun, learn, and not feel confined. 
Brand before hiring Frank
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