Renegade Architecture

 

 

Branding yourself is no easy task, nonetheless it will be the cover you are judged on and it's vital to any start-up to get it right first time. Below are my top tips for starting off in the right direction, but don't forget site like Behance and Abduzeedo are great sources of inspiration.

 

#1 - Don't be afraid to DIY

 

Were all creative individuals, and at some time or another we have all had to use Photoshop and Illustrator. You've just taken the plunge; so don't be afraid to experiment a little more. Just keep it simple, and keep it true to yourself - your clients cant ask anymore than that. Yes, there will be a lot of variations that will never see the light of day, but it's all about exploring yourself and finding your identity. Remember, there are endless amounts of tutorials online to help you learn new things.

 

#2 - Logos are overrated

 

Gone are the days of logo glyphs, remember you are a 21^st century business person - close that clip art gallery.

 

 

#3 - Stay classy

 

Simple fonts will always work (and Helvetica will always be good design). Crazy fonts are not only messy and irksome to read but also a nightmare when it comes to going online. Do yourself a favour and keep it simple, serif or sans serifs are both fine, but make sure it is a font you can carry over to your website (see Part 2) and your emails, invoices etc.

 

#4 - Be cool

 

There are a lot of really fantastic reprographic services becoming very widely available, like Spot UV and Letterpress. We are designers, and it would be a shame for us to miss out.

 

At Renegade we've opted for spot UV on our printed material, everything from business cards, promotional material and (soon) our invoices support this subtle highlight of spot applied gloss lamination.

 

#5 - Print on the good stuff

 

If something is good enough to commit to paper then always use 'the good stuff'. People love the tactile nature of thick 400gsm business cards, or invoices on nice paper. Throw out that copy paper for the supermarket and get yourself to a paper merchant. Most importantly find a paper that suits your style, and that represents your practice. You will be amazed how many variations of white paper there are.

 

Case study:

 

As with anything, you have to make it happen. Push your supplier to do something out the box if need be, but most importantly make sure you commit to to print. We might all dream of a paperless environment, but if you don't have the right material to hand at the right time you may well just loose yourself a vital contact - or even worse a contract. Try new things and don't be afraid to fail. We took a big gamble using spot UV for our material, but hope you agree that it works really well.

 

Our business cards use the spot UV to pick out the stylised crosshatching on the reverse of the card. On the promotional flyer, we have used it to make the image 'pop' and evoke memories of the good old days - the days when we actually printed photos!

 

Below are a couple of snapshots of our material. Don't forget Behance is a fantastic source of inspiration. Get in touch if you would like to see hands on.

 

 

Up next: Branding Part 2 - The Untangled Web

 

About the author:
Dominic McAndrew is an architecture student/restaurant manager/freelancer and the man behind Renegade Architecture&Design (www.renegadearchitecture.co.uk ). He mainly provides visualisations and 3D printing services to architects, the construction industry and individual clients. He also works as a subcontractor in the Property sector where he specialises in Energy Performance Certification surveys. Short-listed for the AJ Writing Prize in 2012, and the CIOB Art of building in 2011 he hopes to buck the trend of underpaid Part 1 placements but taking Renegade from strength to strength.