The company I chose for this project is a fitness and nutrition company with no brick and mortar location, only an online presence. They are currently a two-person private operation, but they have plans to expand by hiring more people within the next year.

Meeting Guidelines

What: Our goal today is to determine the essence of your brand.

Why: Your visual identity has approximately two seconds to evoke an emotional response before someone either continues to look through your information or moves on.

How: Today we will perform a few exercises intended to uncover feelings and guttural responses.

In order to create a safe space for honest discussion, and to keep us on task and on time:

Please refrain from using mobile devices and laptops in the meeting room. If you need to tend to an emergency, please excuse yourself and rejoin the meeting when you can.

Trust the process. When an exercise seems silly, play along and enjoy yourself.

There are no wrong answers, only different points of view. Encourage each other to share thoughts.

Please refrain from talking over each other. If I politely stop you, it’s because we need to move on, as I want to be respectful of your time.

Be mindful of contributing to a balanced conversation. If your tendency is to talk, please also let your neighbor be heard. If speaking up is uncomfortable for you, please try to challenge yourself and know that your voice is important.

Share your whys. Let us know why you feel the way you do about a specific topic. The reason for your opinion is as important as the opinion itself.

If your brand were a…

For this brand discovery meeting, I only met with one person – a man in his 40s who, in additiona to fitness and nutrition, loves cooking, travel, and music. I chose to ask him the following questions:

If your brand were a vegetable, what would it be and why?

If your brand were a supplement, what would it be and why?

If your brand were a city, which one would it be and why?

If your brand were a genre of music, what would it be and why?

Celebrity Comparisons

Because my client loves music, I decided to go with musician as my celebrity category. My questions were:

If your brand were a musician or band, who would they be and why?

What is their concert like?

What do they wear?

What is the lighting like?

Do they use special effects, and what kind?

Do they invite special guests? Who are they?

Do they play with a full band? Acoustic or electronic?

What’s offered at the concession stands?

What does the merch look like?

Either/or Questions

Because my client's business is a service-based business done entirely online, I decided that the most relevant info I needed pertained to his target customer's age, spending habits, media consumption, and lifestyle preferences.

Does your target customer spend more time on Facebook or TikTok? Why?

Do they listen to the radio or Spotify? Why?

Do they read paperbacks or audiobooks? Why?

Do they shop at Target or Wal-Mart? Why?

Do they shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s? Why?

Do they shop at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Why?

Do they read the newspaper or watch the news on television? Why?

Do they watch cable television or stream their favorite shows? Why?

Do they prefer to cook or go out to eat? Why?

Do they run outside or lift weights in the gym? Why?

Are they more likely to read a book or make art? Why?

Do they like to garden or lounge outside? Why?

Key Words

The top five key words my client chose for this exercise were down to earth, thoughtful, fun, forward thinking, and irreverent.

DOWN TO EARTH: BLUE
Other positive associations with the color blue:
peaceful, personal, communicative, spiritual, flexible, imaginative, nuturing, intelligent, confident, professional

THOUGHTFUL: PURPLE
Other positive associations with the color purple:
wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, magic, luxury, nobility

FUN AND THOUGHTFUL: YELLOW
Other positive associations with the color yellow:
joy, happiness, intellect, energy, honor, loyalty, cheerful, stimulative

FUN: ORANGE
Other positive associations with the color orange:
joy, sunshine, enthusiasm, fascination, determination, success, encouragement.

FORWARD THINKING: BLACK
Other positive associations with the color black:
elegance, strength, prestige, mystery, power

FORWARD THINKING: WHITE
Other positive associations with the color white:
light, goodness, innocence, safety, cleanliness, faith

I liked the idea of using a lot of colors, but I didn't want to go too crazy with it. I ultimately decided to eliminate purple, because the other associations with the words weren't as relevant as the other colors. The final palette I came up with was this:

Fitness and Nutrition Brand - image 1 - student project

Meeting Agenda

Brand Discovery Meeting
May 26, 2020
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Introductions (5 minutes)

Meeting Guidelines (5 minutes)

Exercise #1 - Key words (30 minutes)

Break (10 minutes)

Exercise #2 - Celebrity comparisons (10 minutes)

Exercise #3 - Either/or questions (15 minutes)

Exercise #4 - If your brand were a... (10 minutes)

Next steps (5 minutes)

Elizabeth Berglund

Designer. Illustrator. Goofball.

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