( direction · 04 / 04 )
Before anything gets made, we agree on what it is for.
Direction is the first of the four things EVOKE does: the idea, the tone and what people should feel when they see the brand, agreed in writing before the identity, the website or the film is made. It covers a survey of where the brand stands, positioning, messaging and a roadmap.
What direction is
The thinking that everything else hangs off. Who the brand is for, what it is against, what it should make people feel, and what the site and the film therefore have to do. Written down, short, and agreed before a single visual exists, so that every decision after it has something to be measured against.
The four parts
Survey: where the brand stands now, what the competitors say, what the customers think. Positioning: the one thing the brand is, said plainly. Messaging: the lines the brand will actually use, in its own voice. Roadmap: the order things get made in, and why.
Why it comes first
A site designed without direction is a set of tasteful guesses. A film shot without it is footage. The reason a brand, a site and a film from EVOKE feel like one thing is that they were made to the same page, and that page is direction.
How it goes
A call. A short written survey of the brand as it stands. A positioning and messaging document you can argue with. Then the roadmap, and the work.
The work
- Break of Dawna plant-based dairy brand in Mumbai
- Reckona diagnostics manufacturer in Vadodara
- Gathera day-use space in Mumbai
- KP Studiosan industrial designer's portfolio
- Hýdora hotel concept in Santorini
Questions people ask
Do I need direction if I only want a website?
The first call does the essential part of it for free: what the site is for. A full direction piece is for brands that are being made or remade, not for every site.
Is this the same as brand strategy?
Close. Direction covers positioning and messaging, which is what most people mean by brand strategy, and adds the tone and the feeling, which is what a film and a site need.
One call is usually enough to know whether it is a fit.