"Cowboys all know you can't brand nothin' till you tie three of its legs together, slam it to the ground, and sedate it."
- Bart Crosby, brand designer

This is the opening to a new book that the UX+D team recently added to the library. Branding for Nonprofits by DK Holland is directed toward non-designers, outlining:
• the definition of a brand
• how to build a brand team
• the anatomy of a design brief
• the designer's role
• the branding process
• implementing the new brand

Overall Holland does a good job of explaining the complex idea of branding in a simple way. For clients interested in rethinking and redesigning their brands, this book is a great place to get started, siting case studies and valuable insights from designers who work with nonprofits. Holland makes it clear that you cannot create an effective brand without fully understanding the organization, it's goals and it's audience.

When determining a brand's strength, she stresses
reputation: How well is the brand known by its audiences?
esteem: How highly do its audiences rate the brand?
relevance: How much do the brand's audiences care about what it does or stands for?
differentiation: How different is the brand from others? Are other brands similar?

One thing that Holland does not emphasize is the difference between a brand strategy and a visual identity. Brand strategy involves the essence of the organization and what message is conveyed to it's constituents. Visual identity (logo, color, typography, etc) is a vehicle for communicating the brand strategy to both the organization and it's constituents . This book focuses primarily on visual identity.

A brand is about more than a logo. It's about how the brand resonates with the constituents. Think about the companies that resonate with you. When you're in the aisle, which brand do you choose? Why? What does that brand convey? How?

Holland touches lightly on the role of websites within branding. She mentions websites in the context of a cohesive visual identity (along with brochures, letterhead, signage, etc).

All in all, this is a good, quick read for anyone interested in learning more about branding. It's a refresher for designers and a good intro for non-designers. My favorite part? The appendices that include branding guides from Aish, AIGA, BAM, Governance Matters.

While we're talking about brands, here's a NY Times article: What We Talk About When We Talk About Brands