We at FHOKE create brands and enjoy working with the brands that we create.

Using a brand that you have created is easy - you have chosen the colours, fonts and imagery and come up with a style that you feel suits. It is to your taste and therefor you click with it and understand how it works.

Often we as designers are required to work with a brand that is not exactly to our liking, this can be extremely difficult as everything you do with it tends to throw up barriers and goes against the grain, for example: Sometimes you are presented with a logo that is an awkward shape and looks uncomfortable wherever you seem to put it. The colours used and it’s complimentary palette is a little garish and not very easy on the eye, the suggested imagery is a bit cheesy and you just can’t ever see it working, what do you do?

A lot of the time you try your best to tone down the garish colours with slightly more subtle ones and manipulate the logo to fit where you think it works best. You even find similar fonts that are easier on the eye and replace the cheesy imagery with a more modern approach. The problem with doing all this is that the client rarely ever appreciates what you are trying to do and to be fair if a third party starts tinkering around with your brand how would you feel?

In our experience the only option is to run with it, absorb yourself in the brand, use their colours, fonts and imagery - Ok, you don’t really like what you are doing and you probably never will, but remember; this is not your brand!

The brand has been created for the client, it represents what they do and who they are, they sell it every day in everything they do and they are happy with it.

When working with an awkward brand you need to push through the barriers and use the brand in the way in which it was designed, the outcome will be far better and your client will love the result.