Branding Essentials: Presenting Design Work to Clients like a Pro

1. Introduction: [MUSIC] I used to be really shy and introverted as a kid. Presenting my creative work to anyone seemed like a nightmare. But as I developed my passion for branding, I started building with confidence in the work that I love to do. I simply shifted my perspective and to seeing it a storytelling. Telling a story seems much less doubting than the word presenting. Frankly, it's much more compelling to the person in front of you. Hi, I'm,Khadija but everyone calls me Dija. I'm a top teacher here on Skillshare and a freelance graphic designer based in Cairo, Egypt. I worked at a leading branding agency for three years and I've been a full-time freelancer for two-and-a-half years now specializing in branding, packaging, and a little bit of animation. Being skilled and a great designer is only half the work, you also need to be a great communicator and storyteller. Being able to present a client is a crucial skill in order for your designs to get approved and showcased out there in the real-world. We'll go over the reason why we present our work in the first place and how properly curated, articulated presentation can greatly impact your design process. We will then dive in a real-world plan presentation of which I will take you through tips on how to design your template, and how to structure it like a professional. You'll also learn how to showcase your sketches, create a buildup to your logo and brand identity, then finally top it off with relevant polished mock-ups. Throughout the class and when we dropping some tips and valuable insights along the way on how you should articulate yourself, whether it's an online presentation, or an in-person one, how to handle and share feedback and overall how to be the primary driver of the conversation, building a great client relationship. Now for this class, you're going to need a branding project that you've already created as material to present. For the presentation portion of this class, I'm going to be using Keynote. But no worries if you don't have a Mac, or you don't have Keynote, you're still going to be benefiting a lot from this class and the tips I'm going to be sprinkling along the way. They're totally applicable and transferable to other presentation software like Google Slides, or Canva, or PowerPoint. This class, believe it or not, is for everyone, whether you're a beginning designer, or a working professional, or a students, everyone should be able to learn and polish the skill of presenting their creative work as part of their journey. By the end of this class, I believe you will not just have the tools to be able to present your work, but also feel more confident to be able to articulate your ideas, whether it's to a client, or in a school project, or when presenting your portfolio and overall increase your chances of collaborating with future clients demonstrating yourself as a confident, approachable, and skillful designer. I was in your shoes once and I went from being extremely shy of presenting to looking forward to presentations and gladly stepping up to take the lead. [MUSIC] I'm so glad you're here I'll be with you in every step of the way and I can't wait to get started. 2. Why Do We Present?: [MUSIC] Why do we even present our creative work in the first place? We can just do the work, put it together in a PDF, send it by email and wait for feedback, right? Wrong. When you're working on a brand for a client, you want to think of it as you're building and nurturing their vision, their years of thinking of an idea and heavy investment. Your presentation is the meeting their vision for the very first time. They're also nervous and they probably have a lot at stake. It's your job to make this process as easy and smooth as possible. Instead of bombarding them with chunks of work and endless brainstorming ideas, you want to curate a skillfully prepared presentation that tells the story of their brand and articulates your rationale behind your design decisions so they can understand it too. Now, building brand identity is all about offering solutions to a problem. But presenting your work is not so much about presenting solutions, but it's about a collaborative journey. The journey to an end product may seem obvious to you because you maybe spent hours, days, maybe even weeks reaching the final result. But more often than not, your clients are not designers. You need to be able to paint this picture for them, tell the story and take them step-by-step on how you reach to that result at the end. This builds trust and demonstrates your confidence in your new work and their confidence in you as a designer, which is great for long-term client relationships. Remember, when you're presenting, there is no really right or wrong outcome in your design. It's more about the what, the why behind it and how you deliver that. Now, in the coming few lessons, I'm going to be walking you through a sample real client presentation of mine so you can see how I present, how I structure my presentation, what my presentation looks like, and tons of valuable tips along the way. 3. Presentation Template: [MUSIC] This is what my template looks like. There is no right or wrong here you can be as creative as you want to be with your template, but make it yours. I will just be dropping some tips and hints here and there on the overall aesthetic feel of what your presentation should look like. If it's your first time ever using Keynote and you're just getting started into making your own template. You can just go up to file here and click on "You" and you're going to be presented with a bunch of different themes over here on the left. But I personally just like to click on the basic one and make sure your screen ratio is wide so 16 by nine because that's the presentation size and just click on "Create". You're just going to be presented with a basic type of layout, something that looks a little bit core pretty. I personally like to just select all of this and delete it. Then you can start here on the right-hand side where it says format at the very top, to select your background colors so you can click on here and you can choose any color from this palette, or you can click on the "Color wheel" and you'll have a bunch of different palettes over here. If you want to color, pick a specific color from a reference that you have, you can just color pick that like you have on Illustrator and Photoshop and you can play around with the colors here. That's for the background. Then if I want to create a text, I'm just going to write hello and it's just really easy. You just go to texts here you have a bunch of different fonts, the sizes. You can play around with texts, colors, spacing, and all of that fun stuff. You also have the option to animate your slides here so this is just really basic you can add certain effects to your slides. But you're going to find that in my presentation. I just like to keep it simple. The last thing I want to show you is that you have on your left-hand side here your slides. If you want to duplicate a slides, you just select the slide that you have. Press on the "Option" or "Alt", keep pressing it and then just drag it down and it will automatically duplicate it. Then if you want to create chapters like the ones I have here in my presentation, all you need to do is just hold it down and drag it slightly to the right and then just drop it and it will create this chapter for you. This just makes everything a lot more organized for you and for the viewer that's about to see the work. Now if I go back to my presentation, this is what it looks like. The brand I'll be walking you through today is a skincare brand called Nude. Right from the start you'll see that I'm using extremely neutral colors like cream and black for my header slides and for each chapter over here. I do this because I want the presentation aesthetic to be as neutral as possible because my personal opinion, if you over saturate your presentation with your personal branding, it can sometimes influence the actual design you're presenting or overshadow it so my advice is to always keep it simple. The only thing that I've added here is some flavor to the choice of type and my titles. I just wanted to have a little bit of personality in my typography instead of using something like Helvet [NOISE] ica, for example so it just doesn't look like a sample presentation that someone downloaded off the Internet it has a little bit of me into it. Like I showed you before, I organize my presentation into chapters like this one. Each chapter contains a section of the presentation and this is what we'll be going over in the lessons. Now going back to my cover page over here, you'll see that I have like specific format. I always include the brand name as the main title of the slide, and then a subtitle underneath it of what I'll be presenting on that day. This can differ from other phases in the project, whether I'm fine tuning or presenting feedback changes, then automatically the subtitle will typically change. I also include the day, the month, and the year here at the bottom to keep track of the timeline of the project and that's it. It's a very simple layout with no tricks and frills. I do this on purpose so I can make the actual work I'm presenting shine. I keep all the attention and focus solely on that. 4. What Makes Up A Brand?: [MUSIC] This is something I always like to include in any new presentation with any new client and it's called what makes up a brand. Think of it as a mini crash course for clients, for them to learn about the different factors that make up a brand. For example, logotypes, what colors mean, and what their psychological impact is on brands, typography, imagery style, illustration, and brand experience and etc. This is really important. They can be educated and they can be collaborative partners with you in this presentation, understanding what all of your terminology means exactly and for them to really understand what makes a really strong brand that will stand the test of time. Before diving into what makes up a brand, I like to include an index in the beginning of my presentation so the client knows beforehand what they can expect to see in the presentation. I then express my excitement on the work I'm about to present. I say I'm very excited to present to you this and this and this today and at this point, you can kindly ask them to let you go through the entire presentation and keep feedback until the very end. This is important because questions in the middle can sometimes cut your thought process and it can throw you off a little bit. It's totally okay to announce this in the beginning and it shows that you are the one in control of the piece and the flow of the conversation. Extra points for confidence. This is just the index of what I would be typically walking them through so they just know the steps at hand. Then we move on to what makes up a brand. I start off by having my main characters of branding. The brand name, colors, the logo, the typography, the imagery, and the brand experience. Here I explain how important it is not to stress on one factor alone to carry the brand, but instead embrace the saying, divide and conquer. If we use all elements in a brand that serves it in the best way possible, we'll end up with a much more powerful brand that stands the test of time, than for example, creating a killer logo but neglecting the rest. I then go through each one. One by one, highlighting the element I'll be talking about and graying out the rest. I start with colors and I demonstrate this color wheel. I just grabbed this off of Google, and here I like to say that I never choose colors based on my own personal preference, but rather than what each color can psychologically impact their brand by trying to be as objective as possible. I go through what each color can potentially mean. For the sake of example here, blue here exudes trustworthiness, calmness, and credibility. You're going to find a lot of financial brands like banks and fintech startups leaning towards this palette to establish credibility with their audience, whereas red is a much more passionate and stimulating color commonly found in fast food brands and so on and so forth. This from the get-go will make the client very interested in your process and slowly starts to feel more at ease and more confident in you as a designer. I then move on to the logo. I explained that there are two different types of logos, of course, there are much more but for the sake of their time and yours, I just stick with the two most common ones, which are icons and word marks or a combination of both. For icon logos, I place three of the most famous brands to explain what an icon really is in the first place and I tell them the meaning behind each icon and how simple and clean the outcome should be in the end. I do the same for the wordmark here. Three examples of three famous brands, and the concept behind each wordmark and why a wordmark was the better option for that brand specifically. Many clients are well-versed with these brands and maybe aspire to be like them, but have no idea why or how their logos were created, and what they mean. Many of them enjoy learning in this part of this presentation. Lastly, a combination of both a wordmark and an icon. Of course, this is the most realistic route for a new brand coming out because they cannot just exist with an icon like these famous brands here, because they have already established huge brand equity and no one needs to know the name of the brand to recognize their logo, but if it's a new brand that ideally you'll need at least a wordmark and an icon or both, so consumers can recognize this new emerging brand in the market. Again, in this slide, I'm explaining the concept behind each logo very briefly and how adding an icon to the logo here strengthens it and serves the brand in the best way possible. Moving on to typography, I like to include four examples of different brands using typography and their messages in a different way and I try to keep it as diverse as possible so clients can understand how different fonts can really affect their tone and voice, when they're talking to consumers. We have Burger King here, Apple, Nike, and the Mozart, which is like a boutique high-end hotel. These are four different examples that use completely different types of typography and I explain how different topography choices can really impact a brand. Then moving onto imagery, I like to describe imagery as anything visual in the brand. This can be photography, illustration, or graphic visuals. For photography, I've included the imagery style of a brand that I love called Billie. Here I like to explain their use of photography and how it's created a very approachable, relatable, and friendly perception of the brand, to what may be an intimidating product. I also like to stress on the color cohesiveness of the pictures and how they're carrying out their brand colors within the photography and it's not just haphazardly done. There's art direction and photography here, and that plays a huge role in the perception of a brand. Another example of imagery is illustration. It depends on where you are in the world, but where I'm from, sometimes clients fear illustration because they feel it will make their brand look childish. I like putting three different examples of three different brands, a Juice Bar, a mike marketing platform, and a seafood market. The illustration styles here are so different yet explain how illustration can humanize your brand and it can make it feel more approachable and it can really elevate your brand. Then third type of imagery is graphic visuals. This is anything visual that's not illustration or photography. They can be basic shapes you create on illustrator or funky pattern or an abstract artwork. I like to state that you don't necessarily need to include all three types of imagery in your brand. It can just be one or two or all three it depends on what the brand positioning is, what objective is it's trying to achieve, and what you as a designer feel is the best choice for their brand because your input also matters. Last but not least, is the brand experience. Here I like to explain that branding doesn't just stop at logos and colors these days. It's beyond anything you just see. It's everything you can hear, taste, smell, and touch too. Examples of this include restaurants curating a bespoke branded playlist for the restaurant or a cafe for example. The type of music can really affect whether customers stay or leave, or love, or hate or place. It has nothing to do with the logo, but it has everything to do with the brand. IKEA, for example, is meant to be a facilitator brand. It makes your life easier with endless solutions with their products. They created an augmented reality feature on their app where you can try on their products in your home, see what it looks like before buying. This makes people's lives so much easier and it pulls right into their brand promise. This is considered a brand experience. How you can apply all the keywords from brand story and brand vision into a sensory experience for your consumers. That basically concludes the little mini-course for clients of what makes up a brand. That ends our first chapter of the presentation and by this point, the client is getting a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more at ease now that they've understood, this part of the presentation and it really builds at this point, trust and credibility between you both. [MUSIC] 5. Brief, Tone & Story: [MUSIC] Next up is the brief. Now I don't go through the entire brief again because they'd have already seen it before multiple times. But this is just a very brief recap and a refresher to align on the overall objective of the project. Recapping the brief here, I just like to go over the background of the brand, who they are, what they do, what are their products, their target market, and just some basic information here. Then the next slide would include the objective. There are two objectives that I hammer on here; the broad objective for its consumers and my objective as designer towards this brief. Then I brush upon the brand tonality. The brand tonality is just basically the tone and voice of the brand. This consists of a bunch of keywords that client and I had already aligned again from the previous phase. I like to stop here for a second and tell the client that there are a lot of keywords here and some of them are not necessarily contradicting, but they're quite different. Something like minimal is different than bold, for example. I tell the client that this is the general umbrella of your brand's tone. However, each direction will hammer on a set of selected keywords, while the other direction will hammer on others, so it's not possible to have one direction that highlights all the keywords equally. We'll end up with a confused looking brand. Instead, I like to take some keywords and divide them across the logo, the identity, the messaging, the imagery, etc. The second direction will highlight other keywords. Now both directions will still be under the same umbrella, but they will lead two different directions. This is a very important aspect to explain because you want to announce this from the beginning, that having two different directions will help them make better and faster decision, as opposed to two directions that are very similar and end up being hard to choose from, and the horror of mixing things together. More on that later. After we're done with this, I like to go over to the brand story. The brand story is no surprise here, a short story of their business, why it started, what problem they're solving, and how it's perceived by their customers. It's meant to be an emotional based narrative written with emotions and feelings about how this brand is solving its consumers problem and how it will improve their lives. Having the brand story here in this particular part of the presentation is because it helps show the emotional side of the brand and it helps prime the next section for me, which are the design directions. I build my concepts based on the brand story because it just has a very humanized aspect to it, has lot of emotions, and that's a great way to start building your concepts from. In terms of the structure and the order in the presentation, having the brand story right before your design directions helps the client relate to those concepts that they just read here. Of course, this is a slide that has the most text in it, but I never read this out loud word by word. You'll want to rehearse a very short recap version of this brand story and explain it to the client with words, but they will read it thoroughly afterwards when they receive this document. But never read a lot of text out loud or read text out loud, and read out to client from a slide because that will just deter their attention. Just have a nice little recap here, if you will. In general, you're going to find in the rest of the presentation that there is as minimal text as possible. Try to keep your presentation as visual as you can to help keep the person you're presenting in front of focused as much as possible and engaged. The first part of building of the presentation is done. In the next lessons we're going to be diving in the design portion of this presentation. [MUSIC] 6. Direction 1: Now, before diving into the design directions, I just want to pause here for a second and personally recommend to never present more than two directions. Because when we present clients with an array of options, an array of directions, it makes it so much harder for them to make a decision. What ends up happening is something that I like to call the confused salad. We don't want a confused salad. Which means basically that they like different elements from different directions and they end up wanting to mix and match them together. What I personally recommend and what you're going to see in the coming few lessons is to present two solid, upstanding, high-quality, fully fledged directions that have their own unique personality and persona. That way it's going to be very easy and very clear on which decision to make, this or that. Of course, there will always be room for feedback, but it's important to log down one specific direction and then see what tweaks and changes we want to add or remove from it along the way. Direction 1 starts with a visual mood board that the client would have already seen from the beginning and approved as a potential direction. I include in this mood board references of packaging or direction photography and lifestyle images. If you notice, I also make sure that there's a cohesive color palette here that I build my mood board upon. It's not just random pictures chosen. This is what inspires the color palette for the direction in general, but not directly color for color. Then I move on to a slide that briefly describes the concept of this direction. It's important to have a clear concept for each direction so that they're easily differentiated from one another. The concept here is about finding the highest form of self-care, bringing a spar into your home, and leading a minimalistic, calm, refined design language. The brown tonality here is quite clear for the direction from the highlighted keywords. Then I move on to my color palette. I like to include the color palette here separately so I can discuss my color decisions without the distraction of other things in the way. A major tip for you here is to name your colors with a relevant names to the brands nature. Customizing your color palettes gives a much more bespoke field to the brand you're presenting rather than just writing green, pink, brown, orange, and white. Because this is a skincare brand that value self-care, I've named the colors unique names like sage green, silk cream to reflect the velvety texture of the products. Pink salt alluding to the bath salts you might use in a bubble bath. Warm chocolate and fresh orange are both items that can be relevant to self-care and feeling good. Another tip is that I also present my color palette in percentage blocks. The dominant colors in the brand will have bigger blocks, like the green, the pink, and the cream. Whereas the secondary colors take up smaller blocks so they don't overshadow my primary colors. I also explain this to the client because they might fear the brown and the orange to be too aggressive for their brand. But I like to take a second here to explain that they're used in different percentages across the brand and they need contrasting colors to have visual balance. If these were all pastel colors, then you'd have no visual contrast whatsoever and it will just look flat. In the next lesson, I'm going to show you how I built up the logo for this direction. 7. Logo: [MUSIC] Right right the bat, I never ever showcase the logo and the following slide right away. I always create a buildup. A buildup is a series of pictures, descriptions, or graphic visuals leading up to the final logo. This is important for them to see how you arrived to the final result. Especially in this brand, for instance, the logos you're going to see are very minimal and subtle. In order for me to explain how I got there, I need to use visual aids. The first step in my buildup is this mood board that reflects the movement and textures of their products when they're being used on the skin. I'm describing here how I'm inspired by the movement of the lines, the smoothness, and the change in texture. I then start to show them how I visually translate such a concept. I laid over them these graphic lines that go from thick to thin, to thick again. Now, the next slide is something I always recommend and it's to show your sketches if you have any. If you've done any sketches for your logo, you should always showcase them. I just took a picture of this with my phone, so it's nothing fancy. Don't worry about making your sketches look too clean or polished. They actually want to be a part of the process and see your thoughts visually. This is also a great tip if you're putting together a portfolio for a project, I highly recommend putting in your sketches. If you're submitting your portfolio for a job interview, I can assure you employers are looking for the raw process more than a polished final outcome. After showing them my sketches and discussing my thought process when I was sketching these logos, I start to take them one by one and build up the logo in front of them. I start by using these two parallel lines that have the same movement from the reference images above. Then I slowly start to curve the ends of each line where you can suddenly start to see the formation of an n and a u. Then I complete those lines by two vertical bars where the n and the u are now perfectly symmetrical upside down. Then I finally showcase the logo. Then the logo with the brand descriptor underneath. Then by this point, I start to roll out the different colors of the logo with different background variations. I also show them what their logo could look like with different lockups. So one logo could have a more detailed descriptor above and below it, like here. Another variation can have a circular descriptor rotating around it. These can be great for circular stickers for example. Then I also created a logo sub-mark. It's not so much of an icon, but it's more of a sub-mark for the logo so it can collapse and be functional on smaller spaces. This consists of the two lines that I started with in the very beginning, and then I placed them inside an oval shape like this one. Then I crafted it to have the same design language as the word mark. Then I just play around with it and experiment with the sub-mark, and then I played around here and made it into a brown pattern. Later I'm going to show you how I explain to them how they can use this in a relevant context. But it's nice to show them how the sub-mark can expand into different functions. Then last but not least, I like to put a general overview slide of all the different logo variations like so. We have the logo in its simplest form as nude skin, then some variations with different descriptors, some variations with a sub-mark, and etc. That concludes our logo section of the presentation. 8. Brand Identity: [MUSIC] Now the brand identity in general is where you can go really crazy. I always like to advise anyone to keep the logo as simple as possible and imagine their brand identity as their playground and this is something I also tell the client. You have so much room with images, messages, graphic visuals, and illustrations to really showcase how far a brand can go. So stemming from the concept of the direction, the brand identity here also has a subconcept. The concept I mentioned before is about the highest form of self-care. The brand identity concept takes a deep dive into that and explores the concept of self care through a mirror. The best way to take care of yourself is to look in the mirror and visualize a better you. What does that look like exactly? I also use visual references here to backup my concept. I got these images from Unsplash or Pexels to ensure high-quality photos and get the look and feel I want to portray then I start showing them how I visually translate this concept. Using the same design language and the logo, my mirror here is a slightly slanted oval-shaped that has movement in its lines. Then I start to showcase different ways of how I use this mirror. So I can put messages in it and I can use it to frame people and imagery I selected. I also spend a bit of time crafting the messages and the brand identity. I never write Lorem ipsum or just write placeholder text. Make it personal, make it customized to the brand. So the messaging here, mirroring the best version of yourself reflects the concept that I'm presenting. Then because this is a packaging presentation, I'm also responsible for naming their products. The three products this brand offers is a shaving cream, body scrub, and a body cream. Instead of just writing that on the path, I thought it would be unique to give each product tailored name. I have these three references of three different textures to inspire the names. The satin fabric, a group of pearls, and a close-up of sugar grains and I gave these product names inspired by these textures. The body cream is meant to be a hydrating product, leaving your skin smooth, like the feeling of a satin pillow. Then the shaving cream is mentally via skin also smooth and free of bumps like the shine and texture of a glass pearl. Lastly, the body scrub has the same texture of sugar granules, so I named it sugar sand. When I alternate between these two slides, they understand how I arrived to this concept. Always use visual aid. Now you can see here I'm explaining this concept to you I don't actually write it in text. It's better to use visual images to convey your concept, and they will already be listening to you explaining it. Remember, this process of naming is also a part of your branding so it goes beyond the colors and the visuals it's all about the details and the customized thinking you put in your brand so that the consumer feels that this product is made just for them. Then I move on to the actual packaging. If you've taken my packaging design class before, you'll know that I always build some packaging system. It's almost like a mathematical equation a successful system helps the client easily expand their product portfolio later on. Before I jump into the more clips, I have to walk them through the system so they know it and understand it too. Remember, it's all about a collaborative journey. I start the system with the shape and an empty surface of the packaging box. I always do this in gray scale and introduce color at the very last step so they can slowly focus on the system I'm building. Then I slowly start to introduce another element in the system. In this case, it's the brand sub more cropped around 30 percent of the bottom of the pack. Then I introduce the logo placement, and this is where I'd put the logo at the very top. Then I start placing the product name in the center here and underneath it would be the product type. Then I would place an icon for which skin type this product is made for, this would go right in the middle here. Then I would show them what this all looks like, with their actual logo, their actual product name, and the text all applied still in gray scale. Then I show them how it will look like when applied with color. If there's anything that I need to highlight like this, can type icon for example, I would just magnify it to the side so they could see what it looks like on a bigger scale. Then I don't pride and some mockups. You see what a difference this has made instead of jumping right into mockups right away? It's important for you to walk the person you're presenting to step-by-step through your process because they have no idea how we got there. This leaves them with a much better impact and perception of the work and digesting a big bulk all at once. 9. Mockups: [MUSIC] Now is the fun part. From this point on, you're just cruising through the mockups. You want to present the best polish mockups to the best of your abilities. I always like to invest in my mockups from websites like Envato elements, for example or yellow images for packaging mock-ups. I first start with a single product so they can take it all in. Then I move on to showing them all three product types next to each other. A tip here to keep in mind is to move slowly. You have seen these backups one million times and it is their first time seeing their products come to life, give them time to take it all in. Don't rush through. I like to take a moment or two between each slide as I'm going through them and just briefly state what they're seeing in each slide. At this point, they're forming their opinion of the work on their head, so don't feel the need to fill in the silence. Sometimes silence is needed after a period of presenting and explaining. I just began to go through all the mall clubs and you'll see here that I'm trying to showcase the products from as many different angles as I can so that they can visualize it. Sometimes one or two mock-ups is simply not enough. Being generous with a way to showcase your work, even if it's a branding project and not a packaging one. Put as many mock-ups as you can that have relevance. Again, if your project is a packaging presentation, I highly recommend that you put a slide of shelf blocking like this one. Shelf blocking if you took my class before as the stopping power of grouped product on a shelf and merchandising. When they're grouped together on the shelf and there's a specific pattern repeated of some sort of grouping power, it binds them together on the shelf. That really creates an impact on consumer's decision in a matter of only three seconds. In this case, the shelf blocking power here is the brand icon, constantly repeated at the bottom. This creates this convex shape of lines endlessly looping together. This shows the client that you are thinking of their product beyond the pack and how it will behave on the shelf and strengthen their brand's image to their consumers. Then I move on to other products like the body cream and the scrub with the exact same structure and order. [MUSIC] Then I like to showcase how elements of their branding can be used using relevant mockups. In this case, I'm not putting their logo on a t-shirt. What will a skincare brand do with a t-shirt mockup? Think of relevant mockups that will strengthen the brand's image. In this case, I thought of a gift box. You can gift someone skin care. To make it extra special, I use the logo and the brand pattern you saw earlier as wrapping paper. Then I created a gift card with the oval-shaped concept and a message and then I use one of the logo variations and a circular sticker. A mock-up like this shows the client the different uses of the brand and gets them excited about certain ideas. You can think of different activation ideas for the project you're working on and think what would be something special that you can apply the branding on. Then through the rest of the slides, I start showing them how their brand imagery will look like. Keeping in mind the color palette and the overall tonality of this direction. Every image I chose for those brands imagery is cohesive with the other and I just tried to the best of my ability to make it look like one holistic brand. [MUSIC] Now another tip that I want to highlight here is that the images I find online are not readily customized for the brand I'm working on. You are a designer. You can customize the pictures you find and start playing around with them on Photoshop to help strengthen your presentation. For example this table here on the left, its original color was beige, but I wanted it to be the brand sage green color to match the picture on the right. I customize these images that I find and I recolor them to fit the overall color palette of the direction. Don't be afraid to experiment and really tailor your presentation material. The key is to find good high-quality images that are free of clutter to start with, and then you can start making it your own. Then finally, I like to place all the product mockups they just saw separately into a full overview of their portfolio. This makes it easier for them to visualize their entire line. I found this image online on unsplash of these three stands alone and then I started laying all my mockups on them on Photoshop. I even colored the stands and the wall behind them to match the brand color and the products. This would be you are directing the slide. Last but not least, I like to include an overview of what their social media posts could look like. Keep in mind, this is not a social media presentation. This is just a quick overview to help them imagine what they just saw in Instagram format. If I were to focus solely on social media, that will be a different submission with more detailed content. That's it for Direction 1. I just want to remind you here of what I said from the beginning of only including two directions because I really go all out fully fledged with my directions and I spend a lot of time on them and this would not be possible with say, four or five directions. Always go with the same quality over quantity. 10. Direction 2: [MUSIC] Now for the second direction, I won't talk you through each slide one by one as I did before, because I follow the same exact order, structure, and flow. This keeps everything organized and fluid. But I do want to show you how different it looks from the first one. Yet it still has the same tonality that the brand overall seeks to deliver. Again, we have our mood board, brighter, funner, bolder colors here. Then the direction concept, the name, and customized color palettes. Then the logo concept. This time there are no sketches in this direction for the logo because it has a different concept that doesn't need sketches. But I still do the same grayscale local build-up with little annotations on the side that describe what I'm doing. Then finally the logo. I flipped through the different colors. Then the logo sub mark and a fun sticker layout. Then I dump in the brand identity. As usual, we have the concept first for the brand identity, then visual references that translate that concept. Then graphic illustrative references that translate these images. Then the abstract line art that I did stemming from those references. These references help me establish what kind of line art I want to go for. And then this is me applying it with the brand colors. Following that, we start to go through the packaging system just like Direction 1. This time I have a specific system for the box and the tube inside. I start in grayscale building it slowly from the ground up until I reach the final result in a flat vector format. Then I just roll through the mockups exactly like the first direction. You will see here as I'm scrolling through them all clubs, that this is a much bolder direction with a more fun and daring personality. It's designed specifically in this way to challenge the narrative that's typically associated with the nature of this brand. It's meant to make skincare a lot more approachable and exciting than it is typically minimal like the first direction. That concludes Direction 2. I just wanted to show you how to directions can exist under the same brand, but can completely differ in color, personality, and overall field. This makes the client's decision easier with two distinctly different brands. As a final wrap-up, I always like to include a recap chapter. Then this recap, I just put an overview of each direction. This is a selection of the best images from each direction. It can be a combination of mockups, logos, or directed imagery, messages, and artwork. This is easier to look at and reminds the client of what the first direction looks like instead of having to go through all the slides above. Again, if this were an existing brand with an existing logo or a package that I'm redesigning, this would be a good place to put it before and after image so that it's easy for them to compare at the very end. 11. Way Forward: You're pretty much at the end of your presentation right now. Keep in mind, you could probably talking for about an hour-and-a-half or two hours if it's a long presentation. But the person in front of you or the client has been registering all this new information, all this visual content, and they've been digesting it all. Don't be surprised if they don't have an immediate initial reaction that's totally normal. But if they do, then take this time to completely listen and take in the feedback, maybe jot it down if you can. If the feedback is initially good or if they don't have any initial feedback, you can go ahead with showing them the way forward. The way forward is basically the next steps after this part of the presentation. What you need from them, what's going to happen next, and the step after that and the step after that. Now, I find this typically important to put this chapter in this presentation, because when clients see the road ahead and the next steps that they have to do, they typically have an easier decision to make than to just sit there feeling so overwhelmed with the amounts of information they've just been registering. Always include the steps ahead very briefly, and the person in front of you will feel like they have a solid roadmap ahead of them. The way forward is just a list of the next steps after this presentation. I usually always ask my clients for written and compiled feedback. I advise them to take a day or two and sleep on it and group all their feedback in written form, so it's clear for the both of us. Then after working on the feedback, they would select one direction and give a final approval of it with all that it entails. Then I begin working on final files and I ask them for a priority delivery list. This differs from brand to brand, but usually clients need some time, certain things first as a higher priority than others. Because I like to take my time to diligently put together final files for them as this is what is going to be printed and produced, I like to work in batches. I work on the highest priority batch first, this could be the logo files on the colors for example, send this out, then the next priority, and then the next until they have all the files they need. This is faster for the both of us and more efficient. Like I said before, having this chapter here helps them imagine the next steps and it makes their decision easier when they see a clear path ahead with specific steps lined out. Then finally, your last slides should always be a thank you. Thank them for their time and patients throughout the presentation. You can include your personal logo at the end here as you are finally done, and this is the time to ask them if they have any initial thoughts or feedback and be prepared to jot down any raw thoughts they say, as this will help you capture those first impression moments. When you're done and you're ready to export, you just go to File, Export To, and then you have a bunch of different options, PDF, you can transfer this as a PowerPoint presentation, a movie, an animated GIF, images, and so on, so forth. I just pick PDF when I'm sending this as email. You have here the option of image quality. Keynote does a pretty good job of compressing and optimizing the images without making it pixelated. As an email version, I would say go with good because it exports it as a low size document, which is good for email. But if you're using this as a presentation document instead of Keynote and you're just going to present with a PDF, then I would recommend going with the best in all cases. But for email purposes, good is just fine. I just keep it as it is and click on "Next". It will ask you where you want to save and how you want to name your document, and then click on "Export". Voila, you're done. That's it, you're pretty much done with the presentation portion of this class. However, I've included a bonus lesson for you and is to prepare you for a Q&A. Amidst presentation, sometimes you might experience certain questions that'll make you feel uncomfortable or there have been vague, or you don't know how to answer them and you feel stuck and you feel like you don't know what to do, so I've included a lesson where I've encountered or experienced a couple of these questions before and sample answers of how you should be able to handle that situation. You might or might not get asked these questions, but it's just important to feel equipped and confident that you are prepared for any unpredictable scenarios that may come up your way. Because remember, it's essentially your role to be able to successfully communicate as a designer and not just present the work and leave. 12. Bonus: Q&A: [MUSIC] Okay. One of the questions I get asked sometimes is, which one would you choose? This is a very typical and common question because at this point the client or whoever you're presenting to, does not feel fully confident or they feel like they have full ownership over the brands yet, and it's your job as a designer to instill that confidence and to instill that ownership and to make them feel like they're part of the brand just as much as you are. I never present directions that I don't full-heartedly love and really root for. So only present work and directions that you absolutely love and encourage equally. This is what I usually say is that I encourage them equally. But if I feel like as a designer based on the brief and the strategy that there is a specific direction that will serve the brand the best, then I will push for that direction and I will also say why so they can understand the reason behind it and it's not based on a personal preference. Always push for the direction that will really serve the brand best and will stand the test of time. Now the second common question I get asked is, I don't like this. Can we change it? This is very common and the initial feedback of a presentation that I get, they immediately blurt out the first thought that they have in their mind, which is good. You need this raw initial feedback but it is your job to be able to really transform that raw feedback into constructive feedback. Because more often than not, sometimes we expect constructive feedback to come to us in a very professional and natural way but actually, most people do not know how to construct their own feedback. They blurt out feelings and emotions and thoughts that come to them and you need that raw material to be able to work it out. When something like this gets asked to you, you need to break it down. Take them through it step-by-step. What don't they like about this certain thing? Why don't they like it? What if they saw it in this way? What if they saw it in that format? You're going to see that after asking a series of many questions, you're going to find that there's more to the feedback than just, I don't like it. Can we change it? I always suggest and recommend to keep asking them many questions as a goal to really get more constructive feedback out of them and you really understand the root of why they don't like a certain thing and they may have to discover that the solution is really simple in the first place and there was no reason to changing it. Another tip is, never agree to changing something on the spot. Always say that you're going to take some time after the presentation and after hearing all the compiled feedback to really assess what needs to be changed and what doesn't need to be changed. Because you don't want a box yourself in a specific place of changing something when it doesn't really need to be changed. Never say yes or no to anything immediately on the spot. You can always say that you can assess later after you've both slept on the presentation basically. Now the next question is a follow-up to the first direction, and it's, I love both directions. Is it possible to take an element from here and put it there? Remember what I talked about the confused salad, sometimes it happens and this time I want you to stand your ground a little bit. Being a confident designer is knowing when to stand your ground and when to give a little leeway and to agree on certain changes. Here, you're acting as a consultant to the client basically and you're literally consulting them and advising them not to do this. Because when we mix and match elements into certain directions, like I said before, you get a very confused looking brand because you have elements that were not meant to be there together. Instead of saying no, this cannot be done, you want to offer a different solution. Different solution would be is to see what the direction is lacking essentially and we can start to fill that gap with other elements or even new elements but not take elements from the other direction, if that makes sense. Fill the gap in a way that makes sense for that direction only if they like the majority of a certain direction. The last question that I've included here is, I don't like anything at all. Can we start from scratch? Now, I just want to say that this happens very rarely and it's not going to happen often if you do all the steps from the beginning of the process correctly in terms of how the detailed brief, strategy, mood boards, and you're aligned in all the steps. There's a reason we do all of these steps in the beginning in order to reach this part of the design presentation and get an immediate approval or an approval with minor feedback but not changing the entire direction, not liking anything at all. This is why I stress upon really putting a lot of effort and time into the first phase. However, let's just say that this happens. Again, you need to understand the root of the problem and the root of the question. I always like to refer them back to the beginning phase of this project and we discuss again the mood boards, and the brief, and all the factors, and all the information details we aligned on from the beginning and then I see and assess if the problem is in this area that got affected by the design or do we need to change the brief and change the whole mood board and basically start from scratch from this board. Then the clients would be informed that this would mean starting a new project from the beginning. Or scenario B, you could revisit that part of the project over the brief again and the strategy and the mood boards, and then the client would discover, okay, that makes sense. I see why you did this and this and this and that. But perhaps can we maybe change this to here and then you flip the question to not liking anything at all, to liking something but wanting to change a specific factor after seeing that part of the presentation. You have several parts to go about it, you just need to understand the root of the problem. The final tip I have for you is to never take anything too personally. I understand that in design, we pour a lot of ourselves into our work and it is personal at the end of the day. But when it comes to presentations and conversations with clients or in a professional environment in general, don't take things personally because at the end of the day, this is a service, a solution you're offering to a problem, and it is your job through discussion and communicating to solve that problem. It is not a reflection of you as a person, it's a reflection of the work, of the brief, of the brand, of the process in general. Try to take a breath when you're talking to a client, speak slowly, speak calmly, speak confidently, and your tone of voice really matters because then it will put them at ease and you'll find that it'll be a very smooth and fruitful conversation. That's pretty much it. These are just some sample questions. If you have any more questions that you got asked or you think you might get asked, please post them in the discussion form below. I'd love to chat about them with you. [MUSIC] 13. Class Project: Now that you've had a comprehensive walkthrough of what a professional brand presentation looks like, now it's your turn. I want you to pick any projects you've done before, any branding project, whether it's a passion project or something for a real client or for school, and I want you to structure a professional brand presentation for it. When you come to upload your presentations on Skillshare, you have several options here. You can export your presentations as JPEG images and then upload them in their respective order. Or you can export your presentation as a video, upload it to Vimeo or YouTube and copy paste the link here. Or you can upload a link from any other source. If you're using Keynote like me, then you can either export as JPEG images, but because the presentation is quite long, I would recommend exporting as a movie. Then you can control here how many seconds you want it to wait before you go to the next slide. Then export, then upload your movie on Vimeo or YouTube, and copy paste that link. If you're using PowerPoint, then you can go up to share here. Then click on "Copy Link " and paste that link in the other link box on Skillshare. Same thing applies to Google Slides and Canva. Click on "Share", copy link and copy paste. Don't forget to upload the cover image of your presentation here. Write the brand name and the project title and a little description on the brand and any thoughts you had when creating the presentation. But remember, your class project doesn't just end here. It's really important to rehearse and apply the tips by actually presenting your work, whether it's to a friend, to a family member, or to a real client in order for you to really reap the benefits from this class. I'll share with you the resources a presentation template similar to the one you saw in class so you can keep yourself on track and a recap of all the tips I've sprinkled along the lessons, so you have them on hand in case you need a refresher. Good luck. I'm sure you're going to absolutely nail it. 14. Thank You: [MUSIC] Thank you so much for taking the time to take my class. I hope you enjoyed it and you found it helpful in any way. I just want to say that the more you do this and the more you practice and the more you present, the more confidence you'll be and the more that it'll feel like second nature to you. If you found this class helpful in any way then I would absolutely love it if you left a review because it helps my classes so much, and it also gives new students an idea of what to expect from this class. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one. [MUSIC]