We’ve all seen the movie “Titanic,” right? Maiden voyage, big chunk of ice gets in the way, Leon DiCaprio and the ship sink slowly to the ocean floor. You know the story. The villain in that movie was the iceberg which, considering the possible outcomes, the ship’s captain obviously didn’t respect enough to slow down and consider. It wasn’t the part of the ice he could see that did them in, it was the 85% that’s beneath the surface.

That iceberg is a good analogy for your brand. The graphic elements like your logo, ads, brochures and website represent the most visible part. They provide the visual indicators of the personality, scope and category of your company … the elements that can be easily seen. But its all those other aspects of your brand, sales and marketing, workforce, customer relations, products and services, response and delivery time etc. which represent your entire brand.

With this in mind, it is important to consider this “total mass” when developing design for a brand. Good brand design hinges on a clear understanding of how the product or service works, the primary audiences and how they make their purchasing decisions, how the sales cycle works and a complete comprehension of what the company stands for, its mission and purpose. In other words, before starting the work of design there should be a lot of “looking below the surface.”

What about the competition? Who are they? How does your company, product or service differ from others? How are you perceived? How do you want to be perceived?

By taking the time to reveal all of this detail, you have given the design team valuable insight to help them design an identity that best represents your total brand and speaks to your most critical target audiences. It helps avoid the painful rework that is inevitable when information is shared randomly during the design process. And most importantly, it will help give that other 85% of your brand more buoyancy, strength and longevity.