[DFTF] Building the Brand

[Basel A]

Two important things to note in building a brand and identity are simplicity and themes.

The best logo is simple and easily recreated. I mean recreated both physically and mentally. A simple logo is easily remembered, so people will remember your team. Note the logos of successful brands. You see an Apple with a bite out of it? Apple. A blue box with a white f? Facebook. Simplicity is key. Teams like 254 and 2056 have this down. Teams with logos like ours or 1114's are a bit harder to remember. Of course, as mentioned above, success breeds awareness, so 1114 hasn't had any at all problems being remembered!

Allow me to point out that both of the good examples used the team number as a major element while the latter examples did not. It's not necessary, but extremely useful. Even if your name is generic, your number is unique and, alone, can usually lead people to your team in particular. This is one way higher numbers are better: they're more unique. Try finding the Juggernaut's (Team 1) website if you don't know their team name.

Second, themes. These can be simple or complicated, but they define your team. A color scheme is a start and a unique one can be your identity (Think The Pink Team). Try linking everything you do with your team name (if possible) and logo. The Killer Bees exemplify this; you can see their honeycomb pattern everywhere from Chairman's Award presentations to robots, not to mention the antennae! This is even evident in robot design, from 254's West Coast Drives (though not the originators, certainly the most famous users) to 148's iconic sheet metal. Make these themes patterns and use them consistently. Eventually your team develops an identity around those patterns and are remembered by them.