As a brand designer, my craft revolves around the meticulous details that shape a brand's identity. It's not just about perfect kerning or pixel precision; it's about creating a seamless brand puzzle where every element aligns cohesively, from the tiniest nuances to the larger overarching narrative.

Yet, precision is merely the "opening act" in our brand design process. While we champion originality, fresh perspectives, and a unique brand voice, there's a twist. Our designs aren't isolated; they live and breathe in the real world, constantly interacting with modern people and trends. Straying too far from the pulse risks making your brand stand out awkwardly and feeling out of sync.

Navigating the fast-paced currents of the creative world poses its own challenges, especially when bridging the gap between brand conceptualization and execution. You need to stay ten steps ahead with one eye on the present and another on the imminent future. It's the delicate dance of staying ahead of the brand curve while ensuring our designs resonate with the intended audience.

My Foundation

Strategy comes before aesthetics in great design. The form should follow the function, with the goal of harmonizing the purpose with the visuals in mind from the beginning. You can have the most striking graphics, but without a strategic plan, your design campaign will fail to achieve its goals.

"Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union."
— Frank Lloyd Wright

That's why my design process always starts with doing a little research in Asana before I even open up Figma. This is no surprise since I am an Asana Ambassador; I use Asana for almost everything, whether for work or personal use. Asana helps me organize the strategy - clarify brand goals, and coordinate/communicate with team members.

Example Asana Projects:

• Brand Pillars (Value Props)
• Brand Content Audit
• Brand Competitors Audit

Through trial and error, I've found that nailing down the brand strategy is crucial before jumping into creative executions across visual identity, campaigns, websites, and other branded touchpoints.

Without strategic clarity and alignment to a core purpose up front, even the most visually compelling designs fall flat and fail to connect with the intended audience. Just looking nice simply isn't enough.

My process always uses Figma and Asana to ensure a solid brand foundation before getting distracted by aesthetics and graphics in Illustrator/Photoshop.

Defining the Recipe in Figma

In the same way that I use Asana as my source of truth for content and direction, I use Figma for visual assets and graphics.

My first step is using Figma to organize the already established visual identity system to inform all future visuals and messaging. This includes:

• Brand Guidelines
• Logos, Assets, Fonts
• Brand Color Palette
• UX Elements
• Marketing Elements
  

This comprehensive brand strategy provides me guardrails as I later design landing pages, ad campaigns, social content, and other branded collateral.

Managing the Project Plan in Asana

With the strategy and creative direction set, I then map out all the projects, tasks, and timelines in Asana. This allows me to:

• Assign tasks to myself and other collaborators
• Align on milestones across strategy, design and development
• Provide transparency for all stakeholders
• Stay on track as assets/campaigns come together
  

Asana keeps everyone on the extended team aligned with the strategic references driving each execution.

Uniting Strategy and Design

By putting in the work upfront to unite strategy and design, I ensure the final aesthetics fully align with the brand's purpose and goals. While each campaign or initiative may have its own unique personality, it always supports the larger brand story.

My secret recipe is building the strategy first so that the end result is much more than just visual appeal and surface-level branding. With intention and purpose wired in from the start, I can confidently design beautiful work, knowing it has the power to truly connect with its intended audience and move people into action.

Asana and Figma are the perfect complements in my tech stack - Asana handles the planning and coordination and serves as a reference, while Figma enables me to bring those plans to life visually. My recipe may start with strategy, but Asana and Figma help me consistently execute delicious designs from start to finish.

What strategies or tools do you use in your process to help strategically inform your creative work? I'd love to swap recipes in the LinkedIn post comments!