Brand and identity design inspiration

The web is stacked to the gills with articles about great brands / how to build a brand / what qualities make a successful brand, and so on. And the examples cited are typically Apple, Virgin, Amazon, Coca Cola, Starbucks, Google ...the usual suspects. And you might also read more contemporary branding case studies of disruptive 'unicorns' like Uber, Spotify or Airbnb.

But what relevance do these stratospheric, multi-billion dollar brand icons have to normal businesses trying to build a brand?

"No use at all", is the answer to that rhetorical question. Often, the success of these global brands relies on colossal capital investment, massive distribution networks, unimaginable advertising and marketing budgets, or unshiftable market dominance. Typically it has little to do with creativity as you or I would recognise it.

Creative business names in the real world 

It's far more relevant (and I think more interesting) to look at the cream of creative branding being developed for normal businesses in the real world.

A good place to start is to check out this showcase of award-winning branding and identity projects, put together by Jessica Farris at HowDesign.com. 

If this creative and innovative selection doesn't get you inspired, nothing will!

Examples shown above are:

Ambit identity, by Philadelphia based agency 160over90
Fetcham Park identity design by Hint Creative, in Salt Lake City
Crop Salon branding design by Salem-based creatives, Device
Belize Tourism Board rebranding, by Olson in Minneapolis