Inside the mind of our brilliant brand designer
Ivana Martinovic is the brains behind Broom & Moon’s much-admired visual brand. She’s also the first person we turn to when a client’s graphic design needs some love. In this interview, she shines a light on the creative process behind her work.
First of all, how do you define the word “brand”?
A brand isn’t just a logo! It’s the font and the colours and the style of the photography or illustrations.
But more than that — it’s all the touch points, whether that be the website or a printed brochure or how the CEO speaks to people on a video.
And it’s about the employees – how people answer the phone and how customers are greeted.
What’s your process for developing a brand?
It's always a rollercoaster! First, I look at the brief and think “oh, no, what am I going to do?!” and I just go through this immense self-doubt. I imagine a lot of people go through that. It’s wild.
But then I just spend as much time as I can thinking about the brief and searching for inspiration. I might look at some design blogs to visually stimulate myself, always keeping the brief in the back of my mind.
I’ll do some sketches and put mood boards together. I’ll start to group ideas together around certain themes or certain words that resonate with me and hark back to the brief somehow. Then I’ll look at the different mood boards and start to work on specific ideas.
Does AI have a role in creating a brand?
I use Chat GPT every day — it’s great as a springboard for ideas. I wish it was a bit more advanced, actually — I feel like it would help me be faster.
I also like Microsoft Designer. I used it the other day to find hand-drawn elements. It spat out maybe 20 different versions and I took snippets of each.
So you’re not worried about AI taking your job as a brand designer?
Not at all! As I say, a brand is more than just pictures and logo, which anybody can pull together and make look cool.
It’s the storytelling behind the brand and what you’re trying to say to people that matters.
When should an organisation update its brand? What are the triggers?
There can be few things. It might be that the brand has existed for a long time, and it just needs to get into the current world because it’s looking dusty and old.
Or it may be that the organisation has evolved internally so much — a merger, for example — that externally there’s a mismatch.
A crisis can also prompt a need to reinvent yourself. But if you’re going to do that, you really need to fix things internally. There’s no point looking nice and shiny on the outside if internally it’s still a mess.
What advice would you give to a start-up that needs a visual identity on a tight budget?
You can save money by doing a lot of the initial work. Start by taking an inventory of your competitors. Really look at their branding.
Are they all doing the same thing? If so, do you want to be the same too? If not, how can you be different?
From there, put together some initial ideas in Canva that you can share with a specialist brand designer. I’ve worked with people who’ve done this and it’s really helpful to see what they have in their minds so I can help them on the journey.
What's your favourite brand that you've created?
Actually, I think it’s Broom & Moon! It’s so different from what you'd expect for that sort of company.
It’s really unique — and it all started with the name.
