The public's perception of a company, or of an organization, is extremely valuable to the company if it is to succeed in the marketplace. So, it is very important for a company to define itself, develop its mission and then to create a perception (or brand identity) for itself that it can deliver to both its target audience - and to the general public. Branding can be put in place for the company itself - or for any of its parts, products or services.

Our assignment was to produce a brandmark and a brand identity for Sylvionics Inc. a company involved in music education. Sylvionics develops and delivers music education workshops, which are energetic, highly interactive, practical and inspiring. They are built around a creative arts approach to choral performance and general music classes. Using contemporary songs with versatile accomplishments these workshops are designed for use with ages nine through adult. The integrated approach to education makes for a deeper and more personal learning experiences. Using music and literature, children dramatize the story before working with text and written language. Once they have explored the story through the arts, they are ready to make the leap to literacy. The benefits of the Sylvionics approach is that all of the students senses are used to explore and experience language. Students struggling with traditional teaching styles respond keenly to this approach. It allows these students to move, talk, sing, create and play with concepts before they are required to produce a formal product (such as a story or a poem). This approach is fun, inspiring, and successful for children at all levels of learning.

In order to develop the company's brandmark we began by looking for images and symbols that had some connection to music and/or education. After a while we had several symbols that we felt would work for this particular client. Then we began to narrow down the options until we finalized our attention on the clef note, because the clef (from the French for "key") is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. It is placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff and it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. And, the line then serves as a reference point so that all the other pitches fall into place according to that line. But, as with any basic symbol there are countless ways in which the clef note can be used and adapted as a graphic tool and still be recognizable as a musical symbol. We developed a great many variations using the clef note as our prime design motif and finally created a new image by putting several of the clef notes together into a circle pattern. In this way we formed a new symbol which worked perfectly as a brandmark for our client.

Upon completion of our new design we presented the brandmark along with our rational to our client. We received immediate approval and began to apply the brandmark to a number of items that the company was developing - including, brochures, teacher's aids and workbooks. Through branding the company the company's target audience began to differentiate Sylvionics from all other companies in their particular marketplace.

The greatest exposure that can be developed for a company (or an organization) within its marketplace is generally in the form of exciting graphics for promotional matertials which can be used for marketing, advertising and direct mail materials - both printed and electronic. DesignMarks.biz began creating this branding system with that in mind. Obviously, the key component to the branding identity was the brandmark. A new brandmark needs to be relevant to the company as a whole and to all of its parts, products and services - and it needs to be developed using strong and appropriate graphics that will allow for instant recognition when using both print and electronic communication.

Obviously the aim of branding, marketing and advertising is to put companies in front of their target audience – as often as possible – and within budget. Having a good product or service does not guarantee sales and certainly is not a guarantee of success. The Company still must get the word out to people (as often and as well targeted as possible) in order to create a sales interest. DesignMarks.biz has been developing marketing, and corporate and identity programs for a wide range of corporations: multinational to local from its beginnings. May we develop a brandmark or branding campaign for you? DesignMarks.biz is an experienced firm that has dealt with a wide variety of companies in many industries: service, manufacturing, retail, financial and entertainment. Please review our website at www.DesignMarks.biz and contact us to see how we can help you increase your business visibility.