Music

Doctor Mix music branding series – Pt2: The strategic framework

Doctor Mix is a audio and music brand in London headed up by Claudio Passavanti. This article is the second in a series of films which provide a behind the scenes look into the Firedog Creative process. Have a look at part one, if you haven’t seen it yet!

In this part of the series, Cliff presents his research findings and strategic recommendations for the Doctor Mix family of brands. The process begins with the brand values, mission and positioning. This follows with the brand personification and also looks at what makes the Doctor Mix audience tick!

This process of cementing what the brand sounds like and what it stands for is critical in allowing business owners to both understand their offer and how to get it across in words and succinct messaging. The framework isn’t just boring text; design and concept cues are used in the framework to not only get the words and messaging across but also to inform potential future visual tone.

Claudio and Cliff also get to have a look at a bunch of design references via a process known as creating mood boards. This version below shows various illustration styles and symbology that Cliff proposes may be appropriate for the future visual development of the Doctor Mix brand symbol. A number of mood boards can be created in the creative process – Symbology, imagery, photography, colour and typography are all avenues to be considered. The process of creating mood boards enables the branding designer to go on a journey with the client – without having to actually get lost in creating ideas from scratch.

The early stage conceptual process starts with the brand designer spreading pages out in front of them and on screen whilst grabbing a pencil and starting to doodle initial ideas. This is a rapid ideation behaviour which allows the designer to quickly dump ideas and concepts on the page without the need to waste hours on trying to finesse an illustration on a PC or Mac.

Next steps, watch “Ultimate branding workshop for musicians” below:

For further examples of music branding, have a look at our case studies showing our experience in the musical sector. Also, check out our work on the Barbican Classical, Martin Audio and the BBC