Laying the Ground Rules

First off, welcome to my blog about branding. I have had this blog in the works for some time now, originally intending it to be a more corporate, more professional sounding thing than that to which I have resigned myself. I was planning to have this blog appear on the Jump Branding & Design Inc. website, but have since thought better of that idea, and would prefer to keep this somewhat personal journey through the murky waters of branding at arms length from my professional career. The reasons for this will become more and more obvious with every post that I write, but mainly I wanted this blog to be more of a conversation between myself and my devoted followers (Hello? Is anybody out there? Just nod if you can hear me...), and slightly catered to those who have a business but might not fully understand the world of branding and strategic design (Shame on you!). Just because you don't have a million dollar design budget doesn't mean you can't (and shouldn't) create a memorable and distinct brand. Hopefully this blog will help you to get there.

So, as promised, here are the ground rules:

1. Please keep the discussion to branding issues. I, of course, am exempt from this rule, but I am exercising my right to hold you all to a much higher standard.

2. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers (and very likely many more of the latter). This is a holdover from my teaching days, but is applicable here. If you read something that intrigues you, but I have not explained it to your satisfaction, please comment on it and I will try to clarify.

3. I reserve the right to blog at my discretion about branding topics, without forcing myself to go in any kind of order. A successful branding program is entirely dependant upon sound process, but I will not hold myself to following that process here. Having the freedom to mix up the issues that I discuss here will hopefully allow me to be a little more creative in my delivery...but no promises.

4. I have the right to create more rules as I see fit. This rule has only been instituted because those responsible for generating the rules can't think of any more rules right now.

So, without further ado, let's get right into it. I will be addressing many topics related to building strong brands, and other design-related issues. I hope you enjoy this, and get a little learning out of it along the way.