Introduction · Course 02
Branding
Who the brand is, written down so other people can build it.
Position a brand, find a name you can own, build the identity and write the brand book.
Start the first lessonStrategy, naming, identity systems and the book that holds them together. Read alongside real rebrands, with a verdict on each.
You will be able to
- Position a brand and put the brief on one page
- Find a name you can register and own
- Build the identity: the mark, colour, type and voice
- Write the brand book other people build from
- 14 modules
- 182 lessons
Curriculum structure
- 01Brand strategy20 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 02Brand for founders11 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 03Naming10 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 04Verbal identity10 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 05Identity systems18 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 06The brand book18 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 07Packaging20 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 08Applications12 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 09Brand architecture10 lessonsAdvancedAdvanced
- 10Brand psychology12 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 11Brand world building11 lessonsAdvancedAdvanced
- 12Brands and internet culture10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 13Terminology11 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 14Rebrands and case studies9 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
Module 01
Brand strategy
The thinking before the drawing. What a brand is, who it is for, how it is positioned, and what makes its logo its own.
20 lessons
Module 02
Brand for founders
For a founder building a small Indian consumer brand alone, on little money. What to pay for first, a one-page brief, a free trademark check on IP India, a homemade wordmark and an eight-page brand book, ending with No. 4 worked through and then your own.
11 lessons
Module 03
Naming
Getting to a name that is available, sayable and yours. Types of name, screening, trademark classes, and the checks that kill most candidates.
10 lessons
Module 04
Verbal identity
How a brand sounds. Voice against tone, vocabulary, taglines, product names and the small words in an interface.
10 lessons
Module 05
Identity systems
Everything an identity is besides the logo. Marks, lockups, clear space, responsive behaviour, and the rules that hold a system together.
18 lessons
Module 06
The brand book
The document everybody ignores, and how to write one they do not. Structure, rules with reasons, and keeping it alive after handover.
18 lessons
Module 07
Packaging
The pack as the strongest thing a brand owns. Hierarchy front and back, dielines, substrates, legal copy, and the shelf it has to survive.
20 lessons
Module 08
Applications
Where the identity meets the world. Signage, stationery, uniforms, vehicles, interfaces and the templates other people will use.
12 lessons
Module 09
Brand architecture
How the brands in a portfolio relate. House of brands, endorsement, naming a range, and what to do with the one you just bought.
10 lessons
Module 10
Brand psychology
What the evidence actually says. Memory, mental availability, fluency and price, with the replication problem named rather than hidden.
12 lessons
Module 11
Brand world building
Everything a brand owns that is not its logo. A place, a cast, a vocabulary, a ritual, a smell, and the worlds that collapsed.
11 lessons
Module 12
Brands and internet culture
How brands live online now. How memes move and when to join in, Indian brands online, creators, community and mistakes made in public, a reference diet and a teardown method, ending with No. 4's first month online planned and then yours.
10 lessons
Module 13
Terminology
The words, grouped by where you will hear them. On a brief, in a print quote, in a contract, and the ones agencies use that mean nothing.
11 lessons
Module 14
Rebrands and case studies
Five changes with the arguments attached, including the ones that were reverted and the ones nobody noticed.
9 lessons