Insights Fran Johnson
Fran’s specialist knowledge lies within the sometimes elusive world of brand strategy. Her expertise also spans brand design and business strategy - teamed with much wider interests such as politics, the arts and culture. Fran asks the right questions and often the hard ones. She understands the practical measures needed to form strong, smart brand foundations - and provides insights centred around ‘how you get the most out of your brand’.
Q&A WITH Fran
Brand Guidelines in practice
A logo or colour palette is just the start of a brand. What really makes a brand coherent over time is guidelines — the set of rules, principles, and tools…
Branding for Charities: Why It Matters, What Makes It Work
Effective charity branding is never about surface-level aesthetics, but about clarity, empathy, and long-term usefulness.
What business leaders should ask of designers
When leaders ask the right questions to designers, design can support and extend the core business / charity strategy.
Crafting a Personal Brand as an Academic: Why It Matters
How do you go about building a brand as an academic? Thoughts on brand strategy and brand identity using two case studies.
How brands can grow over time
Using Charnwood Brewery and its micropubs as examples, we look at how a brand can be flexible enough to grow over time and stay strong.
2024: The year of the maternity leave
If we’ve seemed a bit quiet recently, 2024 was quite the year for a dozen eggs. We grew in numbers, but not in the conventional business sense and found ourselves…
Our top branding agencies in 2023
Taking a look at the latest projects from the top branding studios in the UK and beyond. From packaging to signage and typography to illustration.
Day in the life of …
Once you have your persona, how do you work out how they'll want to be spoken to? The 'day in the life of' exercise is a great way to establish how you want to speak to your target audience.
Using brand words as testing devices
Establishing brand words is a useful tool to steer project direction, but it is also incredibly useful to then test any project outcomes.
You’ve got your shiny new rebrand, now how do you launch it?
Once you've got a shiny new rebrand, how do you launch it? This blog post takes you through some options and what to avoid.
How to design a logo
Do you want to know the nuts and bolts of designing a logo? From how to generate initial ideas to refining them and establishing a brand.
The brick wall of brand strategy
Brand strategy is hugely important. It is often the stage of the branding process that ensures a brand has longevity and can be created with growth in mind. However, as…