Tony Gibbs
Brand Designer based in the UK, Sheffield.
Learn more about branding at @letsmarque on Twitter and/or Quora.
Location UK
Activity
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
It was a pleasure interacting with you all on this course! Easily one of the more interesting and useful online courses I've experienced. Thanks to everyone that put it together for us to engage with and learn from. :-)
If anyone wants to continue the conversation I'd love to see what you get up to. Feel free to say hi, and drop me a connection request or...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I've enjoyed the journey, but if I had to pick something in particular it's been great engaging with the comments. Seen a lot of insightful stuff from nearly all of you. The course asked thoughtful questions and prompted interesting answers from us.
I ran out of steam a little in the last couple of weeks—I think I was getting more out of it when I was...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Matthew Banwell
It's hard work to get a foot in the door for everyone Matthew. Funnily enough, my mentees tend to say similar things, and they're usually university 3rd years. I think although it's absolutely tough as nails, the grass is always greener and there are opportunities for most of us—no matter what stage of life we're at.
I hope this isn't just me being naively...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Alibaba springs to mind as a brand that's gone its own way. Rather than copy Western brands, the founder Jack Ma leaned into China's culture. That's resulted in a shopping experience that's less like eBay and more like traditional Chinese markets.
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@MatthewBanwell BJ's an interesting one because he's pretty much made a career on being 'that bumbling silly one'. But now he's PM he seems to be trying to tone it down. I suppose it's all been serious topics recently though!
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I like the idea of 'fun, not anger' but I doubt it'd work in a political setting. It's a really serious job by nature, so taking a more carefree approach could backfire in my opinion. Saying that, not that anger is the way forwards—I just wonder if there's another good option.
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I've enjoying reading your thoughts from week 1 Matthew—be good to see what you get up to on Twitter if you're on there?
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Maybe M-B are looking to expand their reputation and be seen as both?
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Really interesting read! Coincidentally I recently put together a pdf to help small businesses try to 'visualise' their branding. I came up with a solar system model, with the sun representing the business or person at the centre of the brand.
I had the surrounding planets represent their brand's presence on and offline. I think considering it's a little...
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And not only the customers, but the employees too. Win-win for everyone.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Victoria Rossique
Adobe is an interesting one. Definitely product-led in my eyes too, looking at the huge range of apps they have.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Seeing that initial statistic made me wonder what's stopping the competitors in becoming brand-led too (82% of brand-led businesses outperform their competitors).
That said, I understand that being brand-led wouldn't suit every business out there. My three:
Microsoft: Product/Technology-led
Innocent: Customer-led
FutureLearn: Purpose-led -
Tony Gibbs replied to David Campbell
I love Monzo as an example. Even their app update text is friendly, human and customer-facing!
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Quite possibly—we can empathise with children too as we've all been one. Most project innocence, and we recognise the situations they find themselves in are often through no fault of their own.
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Haha thanks, Robert!
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Really good point with the website—the UK one at least has lost everything that makes the identity special. Just been reduced to black text on a white background. Unfortunately, once we hand the stuff over it's up to the client to maintain the look and feel of everything.
If they fail to do that, there's not much we can do!
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In what context @StevenDolby? Are you looking to redesign it, or going for a job with them?
It's always nice to start with a positive, regardless of whether it's horrible or not. Anything it does well will do—should demonstrate you have good intentions.
From there, if you want to provide some constructive criticism try and remove the 'I' tone of voice...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Thoughts: Sounds like AOL was in 'crisis' mode. The two weeks turnaround is nothing short of staggering. They must've had to pay a fortune!
This seems like the opposite of the 'container' approach to logos. That being a logo containing a background, and this a background revealing the logo. Quite interesting to reverse the concept and seems like a brave...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
The Typography looks very friendly, approachable and accessible. It has a childlike quality to it—looks like it could have been made of paper or something. I think the missing counters reinforce that, I can imagine it having been cut out with scissors.
The Tone of Voice sounds optimistic and hopeful, as do the colour choices on everything we see in the...
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And the public! It raises the question of where the money is going.
Food for thought when people donate specifically with the intention of helping others.Unlikely they'd be happy to put their money towards the charity's rebrand.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I love stuff like this, it's awesome to see James' talk us through how they put everything together. Find it really cool to discover we're (basically) being taught by WO, who also designed the look of the platform we're using right now.
As for the question: Like James said FutureLearn is a digital platform first and foremost so I think they had that front...
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I've had a fair few people comment on my Monzo card too: 'Oh, you won't lose that!'. Really made them stand out among the giants. They do a great job of sounding (actually) human too—I don't think that's something the big banks have done well (or sometimes at all) so far.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I like their example of an airport. Most of the airports I've been in have felt like slow, dull experiences. Last time I got yelled at for not paying enough attention and joining a queue quickly enough.
Typically staff seem to be bored out of their minds and frustrated with the system/customers. Far from a nice experience, but I don't see it as anything...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I think design ought to play a supporting role to branding. I see so many small/medium/(and even) big businesses that have jumped in headfirst and commissioned graphic design, without a decent idea of their own identity. They rarely get lucky, often winding up with something fragmented, even ugly.
That's the entire reason I no longer call myself a Graphic...
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The Facebook like button is a really good example @PaulForbes. I've seen plenty of trucks/vans drive past me that have a 'Like us on FB' on them with the icon. It's almost like it's become a secondary logo.
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YouTube is full of free tutorials @StevenDolby, but you're quite right about most computer apps/ programs/ etc assuming you'll work them out yourself.
I think part of the problem is these things change so fast—there's no point making 'how-to' books because by the time it's out it's already out of date. Lots of these things are built for under 30's too, and...
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Love the idea of a tapestry James, and that it's a constant process of small improvements. I think you really hit the nail on the head here.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Great to see Batman as an example. The 2012 Olympics logo is an interesting choice too. It felt like the entire world was making fun of the look of it, but I don't remember seeing any info about the 'tools' it had available.
Maybe everyone was just too focused on the one thing to notice anything else.
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Tony Gibbs replied to James Brown
From what I gathered Thuy and Ann are Robert's students. Think Nick is an academic in the field? Could be wrong though.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
Thanks Steven, maybe! Although, if they've decided they need a rebrand, I imagine they've realised something isn't working with their previous efforts. It's probably different each time.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
Quite possibly Joseph—I could empathise with them wanting to get the problem fixed as soon as possible! Great example :-)
Out of interest how did the Architectural practice turn out—did you manage to help them turn things around?
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Really interesting giving the BF model a test run on Xbox's brand. The simplicity of it is fantastic—it allows us to go into lots of detail, but only focus on the key points that present opportunities.
I think that ideally, this new purpose would last as long as possible. No point in changing it often, because the brand wouldn't be taken as seriously...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Being interested in gaming, I decided to put Xbox through this process. They've been struggling to keep up with the others lately. So starting with what's wrong with the world (of gaming), one thing that occurred to me is that gaming is a sedentary hobby.
Fans like myself don't get any exercise, and it's addictive. Before you know it you've been sat in...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Stephen Sellick
Sounds wise. I'm curious because I have a similar (though smaller) business that shares the same problem. A lot of us seem to get too wrapped up in the day-to-day to look at the bigger picture.
In case it's of interest, there's a great book called The E-Myth Revisited (Michael E. Gerber) that tackles the topic. Bit of an eye-opener!
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Hah—I know nothing about football, but I think I get the picture. Touché!
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Tony Gibbs replied to Stephen Sellick
I'll second that Stephen. Out of interest, have you managed to work your business' W/H/W, or is that on the to-do list?
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
This seems like a great framework, like everyone else loving the simplicity here.
Interestingly I had a chat with one prospect who had worked out the upper wing all by himself. I don't think he had a solution to the bottom wing though, or was even aware he'd need one. I feel a little better equipped to help with this.
Really looking forward to...
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Awesome, I do give Stef a listen every now and then. Thanks for the recommendation Steven!
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Really like how Robert linked back to brand v2 + v3 in this. Helps to put things in perspective.
I've seen these (or similar) questions plenty of times while learning about strategy. Most people seem to have their own take on it, but even then I think this is the recurring element. Seems they form the backbone of the rest of it—glad to see them crop up.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I think to work out which are more useful we'd need to establish who's using them first.
If it's shopfloor workers then a simpler solution should make the most sense—most won't understand a more complicated model. Internal brand teams, on the other hand, might find the more complex models more useful. I have a strong suspicion each model is designed with...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
In the past, I've often jumped into a project without much thought given to the process. I do think this holds me back sometimes, but despite that, I've not dedicated time to create a set-in-stone process of my own. I think this is partly because I've not 'found' the time, and partly because each project and client is different.
That said, this looks good....
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Have to agree, would've been nice to see freelancers and the self-employed get a little nod here and there. Don't want to moan too much, but I think we are pretty under-represented so far—it's almost as if we don't contribute to the bigger picture.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Really interesting to see these three triggers from my own perspective, considering I've worked on and for brands on a smaller scale. Makes me realise that most of my new clients are in the Start-Up phase, and most repeat clients are in the Life-Is-Good phase.
Can't think of any clients that approached me during a Crisis, which makes me wonder... Maybe...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Matthew Banwell
I agree that writing about subjects like this can be pretty fun. Just reviewed one other essay so far but planning on going back to look at some others—really interesting to see what others thought of the question.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
My gut reaction to the question is both are seeking mutual profit from the team-up.
On one hand, it provides a way for luxury brands to reach a new audience. On the other, the high street brands gain the potential for more sales, and a bigger cut of the profits.
I agree with others that there are risks for both parties: e.g. luxury brands associating...
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Good point in this day and age, with the reported decline of the high street and online alternatives.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Rob Howell
I think you're spot on that it would need to be obvious Rob. I'm envisioning something that's £300 next to a bunch of £30 alternatives.
As you touched on—the question then becomes: Are people looking for luxury items inside shops like H&M and Matalan? My guess would be no, I'd expect them to look in more obviously expensive shops.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Unlikely partnerships... I suppose any number 1 + 2 businesses from most industries. Number one wants to stay on top, and number two wants to replace them as the most successful company in that area.
Playstation vs. Xbox for example, or Coca-cola and Pepsi.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Paul Forbes
Maybe if BP did a complete 180 U-turn and ditched the oil? Who knows, maybe they will when it runs out!
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Tony Gibbs replied to Essi K
Burger King and McDonald's was the first thing that sprang to mind: It has been done, and it was for charity as you say: https://gritdaily.com/burger-king-mcdonalds-day-without-whopper/
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Tony Gibbs replied to Sarah Santos
Didn't even occur to me to frame the question around small brands—with a bigger word count the article could've gone on ages!
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No doubt! I found it interesting to hear about the big four swallowing up many of the agencies, considering how Mad Men ends.
Absolutely, but we can't refer them to this course in the hope that they see the value in it and decide they can afford to pay more. As an individual, I don't need many well-paying clients over the course of the year—just the ones...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Mark Wing
I don't think it would hurt to be entrepreneurial... For one thing it'd allow them to better empathise with the businesses they advise.
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Over time I've learnt that we can't really change the minds of others. If they want a logo for £100 (as someone did last week), I tend to politely refer them to one of those websites.
That way we're still helping them get what they want, but keeping our pricing and standards intact. Not everyone has budgets that small, so it's only a matter of time for...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
@MarkWing Good to hear from someone with a similar journey Mark! I'm trying to learn the ropes independently, outside of a job—though I'm sure your approach was far more efficient. Glad to hear we can get there through hard work, makes me optimistic for the future. Thanks for your input :-)
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Tony Gibbs replied to Mark Wing
Just the other day someone was telling me branding is a function of marketing. It seems like most of us think differently about the topic.
I agree with your equation :-)
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As far as I know, Uber drivers are actually self-employed. In theory, they could use that fact to distance the brand from things like that... Though I've not done any research to see if they are.
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Good choice @JasmijnTuit! Haha.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I think franchise businesses like McDonald's are really interesting—definitely top-down. Tend to run like well-oiled machines using systems, so almost anyone could build and learn to run an identical business. As far as I know, (and I could be wrong) employees have little-to-no freedom in their jobs—as there are instructions and procedures for everything they...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Looks like the management job is shifting from a 'do things my way' role to a 'let's work collaboratively' role. I'd expect this is changing because it has to—after all, 'if it isn't broken, don't fix it'.
My guesstimation is people are more receptive to the idea of working together than being told what to do. I don't know if there's more to it than that,...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Sarah Vranckx
Good to know @jacquelinejervis, I've never bought any of his stuff so I'll have to take your word for it :-)
Haha, fair play @StevenDolby! It's both rewarding and very hard work from my experience.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
Thanks for the insight Jacqueline—maybe you're right, time will tell.
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I know people that love their vegan sausage roll, and aren't actually vegan! Great example.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
'As the champions of meaning and purpose, and the posers of ‘why’ questions, brand managers are almost the philosophers of their organisations.'
Very interesting, and yet that's a subject I've never looked into. Maybe learning about philosophy would make me a better brand designer.
Coach/teacher is another good point, even for individuals like myself...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
It seems to me James' overarching goal is to keep the overall Virgin brand intact and consistent across all the businesses under it's 'umbrella'. I noticed he said he spends a lot of time sharing ideas with the other businesses, which makes me think he spends a lot of his time in a consulting role, advising and suggesting ideas.
He's also (one of?) the...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Sarah Vranckx
Richard Branson is clearly the guy we all think about when we think of Virgin—he's the visible 'face' of the company. He's often representing it in the news and has written loads of books about it. That said, I doubt he gets involved too much.
For one thing, Virgin is huge and spans multiple businesses. Presumably, no one person can constantly watch over...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Where do I fit in? As a former graphic designer, I'm trying to bridge the gap between strategy and design. Easier said than done though—attempting to learn strategy through books, courses and a mentor and it became clear early on that most people have different methods and approaches to the subject.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Sarah Vranckx
Sounds like you're thinking of personal brands Sarah. As I see it they can still use the brand to their advantage (e.g. to sell stuff), like David Beckham for example, who sells cologne under his own name. I imagine celebrities like him use big agencies to help sell their products, but I'm not certain.
If you're looking for a little more info on personal...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
@StevenDolby Thanks Steven!
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Tony Gibbs replied to Tony Gibbs
@UChristineKuenkel I think the value of (maybe almost) anything is in the eye of the consumer—a red shirt can be worth a lot to one person, and very little to another.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
So far so good. Bring on week 2.
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Tony Gibbs replied to J S
I agree there are two sides to every story, good and bad. That said a negative impact is still an impact and adds to the whole.
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Amazon is an excellent shout, can't believe I didn't think of it myself! A lot of brick-and-mortar stores feel it's pushing them out of business so it's certainly changing the landscape.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Commercial Impact: Microsoft and Apple are obvious choices for me. Microsoft has massively influenced the business landscape over recent years. More recently Apple has taken over with smartphones, though sales have reportedly been falling. Maybe this is due to change.
Social Impact: Facebook springs to mind—not so popular with young people anymore but over...
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
If brand loyalty is on the decline, maybe that will inspire the creation of a new 'brand V6'.
I'd wager that more and more people understand the basics of branding than ever. Not only are most businesses out there aware of branding, but years ago I saw a documentary on TV, making the case to the general public that paying more for a brand name often isn't...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Simon Stewart
Good to know, sounds like your trust in them is backed up by proof :-)
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Tony Gibbs replied to Sarah Vranckx
If countries aren't challenging them on their failures I imagine it's because there's money involved somewhere.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Essi K
I think Gillette had such a backlash that they dropped this campaign after a sharp drop in profits. Would make an interesting case study.
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Tony Gibbs replied to jacqueline jervis
Speaking of supermarkets they were also making the news pre-pandemic for using less plastic. I imagine they feel more of a need to be helping than other companies because they're so reliant on the public.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
I think as a general rule: The bigger the company is, the more pressure it feels to be visibly helping in some way. Big companies that fail to help risk being 'outed' which would probably lead to a bad reputation.
That said I've seen more and more small ethical businesses crop up in the last ten years, most of which seem to have a focus on recycling (e.g....
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Tony Gibbs replied to Nick Thomas
Out of interest Nick do you pay more at that shop than you would do otherwise? From my experience supermarkets are usually cheaper but feel 'hollow' compared to local shops.
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Tony Gibbs replied to jacqueline jervis
No worries @jacquelinejervis, and that's ok—everyone's at different levels. I feel the same way every now and again. On the bright side, you might get more out of this than anyone else!
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Tony Gibbs replied to Mark Wing
I'd agree that brands play more of a supporting role. Making money is easier through marketing, but...
Marketing + branding = make more money.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Simon Stewart
Out of interest Simon, how long did the fakes last? I'm curious to hear whether they were built as well as the real thing. (Not that I've ever got more than 6 months out of Converse.)
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Tony Gibbs replied to jacqueline jervis
Almost there but it could be the other way around Jacqueline—I read in a book (The Art Of Persuasion, Bob Burg) we buy with our emotions first, logic second. So more likely you buy with your heart first, then you justify the purchase to youself in your head, maybe even talking yourself into it.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
The last few things I bought:
• Access to an email mastery course. I think I'm on the right track with my newsletter, but I want to learn how to draw an audience better to fast-track my success. (Looks like I bought this as an investment for future achievement).
• An old video game—a modern remake is out, but I didn't want to spend the full £40 on it given... -
Tony Gibbs made a comment
As others have hinted at below, I'm not sure there's a 'correct' answer for dominance here. I agree that V5 is huge and has almost reinvented the wheel, but I do think there's a case to be made for V2 being massive too. In the West we can't start our day without being surrounded by brand marks—they're on toothpaste, shower gel, hairdryers, umbrellas, breakfast...
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Tony Gibbs replied to Joanna Debenham
@JessicaShaw Hah, great example. I think they've moved onto Nike and Adidas nowadays.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Matt Collison
Great books.
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Brilliant thread, and great points made by everybody. In Graphic design 'less is more' (a.k.a. simplicity is better), and it has been for as long as I'm aware. I see branding and graphic design as being very closely related so I'd argue that simplicity in branding is 100% important but nothing new.
To summarise I don't think a simple & different brand is a...
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There are agencies out there just exist just for that purpose Will, so I doubt you're the only one.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Personally I'd like to get more ideas around, and ways to analyse brands. In short, I'm hoping it'll help with content generation. Besides that everything practical mentioned sounds excellent, I'm excited to get into it.
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Hey, I'm Tony.
I'm a Brand Designer based in Sheffield, UK.
It's a pleasure to be here, I'm looking forward to learning with you all :-) -
Absolutely, they need to fulfil a purpose in the first place to even get noticed. Good point!
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Big Apple fan here too—I share your appreciation Charlene. That said I don't follow the new releases, so maybe you're higher up on the 'true fan scale' than me :-)
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Tony Gibbs replied to Matt Collison
Well put Matt. I agree that it does close some doors, but often opens others.
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Well said Travis, I think the more reasons you can give them to love your brand the better.
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Tony Gibbs replied to Anu S
I agree with you Anu. Which things do you think in particular? Their favourite brands, or their view of branding in general?
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Tony Gibbs made a comment
Q & A:
• Surprises – Little surprised to see Post-Its on there, but I can appreciate favourites can be functional as well as enjoyable/entertaining.
• My Fave – Big fan of video games and Playstation's specifically. They have all the exclusive games I'm interested in, and the products are affordable while offering great value (106 hours spent on a recent £20... -
Tony Gibbs made a comment
My takeaways from this video:
• Branding has the potential to be effective across the world, regardless of culture.
• Some brands have been favourites for a long time—certain people grow up with a brand and their appreciation grows stronger as the years pass.
• Once people experience a great product they come to associate that past success with the...
