Brand Ideation

Brand Ideation

Generate and converge on brand directions before committing to identity work. This is upstream of brand-identity (the visual system) and brand-style-guide (the documentation). It is the divergent-then-convergent thinking phase where ideas are cheap and direction matters more than polish.

When to use

• Generating naming options for a new brand or product
• Exploring positioning territories before committing
• Building moodboards and visual direction options
• Drafting narrative or origin-story angles
• Helping the user converge from many half-ideas to one direction
• Stress-testing an existing brand idea before investing in identity work

When NOT to use

• The brand direction is already locked, the user wants logo and identity work (use brand-identity)
• Documenting an existing brand system (use brand-style-guide)
• Defining voice for an existing brand (use brand-voice)
• Initial discovery and audience research (use brand-discovery)

Required inputs

• The category or product type
• The audience (at least roughly)
• The reason this brand exists (the problem it solves or the gap it fills)
• Constraints (existing brand assumptions, parent brand, regulatory limits)
• Number of directions desired (typically 3 to 5)

If the audience is unclear, run brand-discovery first.

The framework: 4 stages

Brand ideation moves through four stages. Each stage diverges (generate options) then converges (pick a direction).

Stage 1: Positioning territories

A positioning territory is the strategic space the brand occupies. It is not a tagline. It is the answer to "what does this brand stand for that competitors do not?"

Generate 3 to 5 territories using these angles:

• Functional benefit. "The fastest way to X." (Risk: easy to copy.)
• Emotional benefit. "The brand that makes you feel Y." (Risk: vague if not earned.)
• Identity. "For people who are Z." (Risk: alienates non-Z customers.)
• Antagonist. "The opposite of [incumbent]." (Risk: defines you by them.)
• Originator. "The first or only one to do W." (Risk: must be defensible.)
• Worldview. "We believe V." (Risk: must be lived, not just stated.)

For each territory, write:

• Statement (one sentence)
• Why this is true (the proof point)
• What this rejects (the territory we are NOT going to)
• Risk (what makes this fragile)

Stage 2: Naming directions

Names cluster by approach. Generate names across multiple approaches, not just one.

| Approach | Description | Examples |

|---|---|---|

| Descriptive | Says what it is | "General Electric," "American Airlines" |

| Evocative | Suggests a feeling or quality | "Patagonia," "Oasis," "Stripe" |

| Founder | Person's name | "Disney," "Ford," "Tesla" |

| Acronym | Letters from longer phrase | "IBM," "BMW," "AWS" |

| Coined | Made-up word | "Kodak," "Häagen-Dazs," "Asana" |

| Metaphor | Borrowed concept | "Apple," "Amazon," "Twitch" |

| Compound | Two words combined | "Facebook," "PayPal," "Spotify" |

| Suggestive | Hints at function without describing | "Tide," "Sprint," "Slack" |

Generate 8 to 15 candidates per direction. Apply naming filters before short-listing:

• Pronounceable in target languages
• Spellable without confusion
• Available as a domain (.com or relevant TLD), social handles, and trademark
• Distinctive in the category (search the name + category, see what comes up)
• Stretchable (does the name still work if the company expands?)
• Free of negative associations (run it past native speakers of any major target market)

A short-listable name passes all six. Most names fail at least one. The bar is necessarily high.

Stage 3: Mood and visual direction

Generate visual directions BEFORE designing anything. Each direction should be distinct enough that a designer would produce visibly different work for each.

For each mood direction (typically 2 to 4):

• Mood adjectives (3 to 5 words)
• Color territory (warm/cool, saturated/muted, light/dark - not specific hex yet)
• Type territory (serif/sans, modern/classical, geometric/humanist)
• Imagery direction (photography style, illustration style, iconography)
• Reference brands or sites (3 to 5 that exemplify the direction)
• What this rejects (the visual territory we are NOT going to)

A mood direction is "Editorial sophistication: Warm cream paper backgrounds, classical serifs, archival photography. Think: The New York Times Magazine meets a literary journal."

A bad mood direction is "Modern and clean."

Stage 4: Narrative and origin

Every brand has a story. The narrative answers: how do we tell people why this exists?

Common narrative shapes:

• Founder story. A real person solved a real problem they had.
• Mission story. A bigger purpose drives every decision.
• Discovery story. We found something the world did not know.
• Heritage story. This has always been done a certain way; we honor or refresh it.
• Frustration story. The category was broken; we built the alternative.
• Vision story. Here is the future we are pulling toward.

For each candidate narrative:

• One-sentence summary
• The opening line (how the story starts when told for the first time)
• The proof points (what makes it true and not marketing puff)
• The hero (who the audience identifies with - the founder, the customer, the world)

Workflow

• Confirm the inputs. Category, audience, reason for being, constraints.
• Stage 1: Generate 3 to 5 positioning territories. Use the 6 angles above. Name what each rejects.
• Pick 1 to 2 territories. Move forward with the strongest.
• Stage 2: Generate 30 to 50 naming candidates across at least 4 approaches. Filter to 8 to 12 that pass the six-criteria check.
• Stage 3: Generate 2 to 4 mood directions. Each must be distinguishable enough to brief a designer.
• Stage 4: Generate 2 to 3 narrative shapes. Pick the one that fits the founders, the audience, and the proof points.
• Converge. Present the user with: 1 positioning, 8 to 12 naming finalists, 2 to 4 mood directions, 2 to 3 narrative shapes. Help them pick.
• Output. Use the template in references/ideation-output-template.md.

Failure patterns

• Generating one option and calling it "the answer." The point of ideation is divergence. Without options, there is no real choice.
• Skipping the rejection step. A territory that does not name what it rejects is not a territory. Same for moods.
• Naming before positioning. Names without positioning end up arbitrary. Position first.
• Falling in love with one name too early. Run the full filter on every candidate. The clever name that fails the trademark check is not a candidate.
• "Modern, clean, minimal" mood direction. Means nothing. Always require specific reference brands.
• Skipping pronunciation tests. Especially for international brands. A name that confuses non-English speakers loses search volume forever.
• Mistaking ideation for execution. The output of this stage is direction, not finished assets. Resist the urge to design logos here.

Output format

Default output is a markdown brief at brand-ideation.md in the project root. Includes:

• The chosen positioning territory (with what it rejects)
• Naming finalists (8 to 12) with notes on each
• Mood directions (2 to 4) with reference URLs
• Narrative shape (chosen) with opening line and proof points
• Open questions and decisions still needed before identity work begins

Optional: a separate naming-explorations.md with the full list of 30 to 50 candidates (the "kill file") in case the chosen finalists fail later checks.

Reference files

• references/ideation-output-template.md - Fillable template for the ideation deliverable.
• references/naming-evaluation-rubric.md - The 6-criteria filter applied with examples.