Branding for Beginners (Udemy.com)

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5 stars from me! The course is formatted beautifully with some great visual aids as well as exercises and templates that help you to learn as you go. I’ve picked up many insightful tips about branding that I wasn’t aware of before this course.

Ronny speaks clearly and explains complex theories and strategies about branding in a way that is easy to understand. Each lecture is packed with information and gets straight to the point.

I’m really looking forward to applying what I’ve learnt so far in this course to my brand, I’ve already got loads of ideas from this course.

Branding for Beginners

15 Steps to Create a Visual Identity that Inspires Trust and professionalism

Key details:

30 Lectures

2 hours

Skill level: No previous skills

Currently £11.99 (reduced from £19.99)

I state all the above as that is key when assessing the course – especially on a VFM (value for money) basis.

First I need to declare an interest in that I am an Udemy Instructor also and have Business courses on Udemy. My courses are not – repeat, NOT – in competition with this course as they are academic i.e. deal with A levels and other exams for the British education system. I also need to state that this review is written – I hope – in a constructive way, with suggestions. It ONLY covers the early part of the course but nonetheless is a long review. If you just wish to have the takeaway point then it is this:

BUY IT!

For 2 hours, this course offers a very useful, up to date introduction to Branding. It does what it says on the tin i.e. it instructs about branding for beginners. There are areas that – in my opinion – could be improved and also there are areas that could be expanded on. This would take time, quite a lot of time, and might lead to the price rising.

First sample video

I thought this was excellent. The Instructor introduced himself and described his background. This immediately personalised the course. However, I wonder if this would have been better as Lecture 1. I say this as sometimes people buy courses because of coupons or discounts and maybe do not look at the sample videos. By putting this – or even repeating it perhaps using a different background – as the initial lecture it helps the student keep in mind who the instructor is.

Lesson 1 – Influencing how the world perceives you

Brand identity is defined and explained

Immediately an exercise is given – excellent stuff. I am immediately involved. I dislike business courses that do not give examples. I am here to learn and I learn by looking at examples – it makes the course real; it makes me focused.

As this is for beginners though, I did find this presentation – though interesting – somewhat fast

Lesson 2 – your visuals tell a story

Practical example given straight away – this is excellent

I did find the use of the website Raymisa somewhat too fast and distracting

The Facebook background was interesting but again fast

Lesson 3 elements of the visual identity

Oxfam is used here as an example. So that is three different practical real life examples – very good

When using real world examples I would like to know the instructor’s opinion as to whether the brand image is coming through clearly

Lesson 4 why do you need a visual identity

Now I am finding the background examples too fast and too distracting – this is exactly an example of information overload the instructor is talking about!

Now I am getting tired. I would like to see a simple summary slide saying (for example)

Here is a simple list of items to include while building your brand’s identity:

• A simple colour palette

• A primary logo mark and word mark.

• A secondary logo mark and/or word mark

• Fonts

• Some sort of texture

• Tips for photography

Maybe copy a list from a website – and state the source. Give me further reading – I don’t expect this course to cover everything!

In which case to counter the above:

What Does My Visual Brand Identity NOT Need?

• Email Signature

• Headshots

• Backgrounds

Source: https://milesherndon.com/blog/branding-101-visual-brand-identity

Lecture 5 the benefits of a strong visual identity

Elements of this lecture, word for word, appear here: https://www.drimlike.com/en/blog/brand-identity-why-is-it-so.html

In which case the site could be linked to!

Perhaps there could be a resources sheet listing various websites (such as: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-characteristics-successful-brand-identity-steve-oakes/ ) and then commenting on them

Section 2 Lecture 7

This time we see the Instructor. I would have preferred to have seen him in lecture 1 introducing the course

Section 2 Lecture 8

Defining your audience

This lecture includes an exercise, which is good but ideally students could be asked to comment in the Q/A section. As a paying student I do not want this just to be a series of lectures that – maybe – I could find on YouTube. I want some sort of interaction. I want to be encouraged to ask questions, to be encouraged to put ideas out for discussion by others.

Section 2 Lecture 9

Define your unique selling proposition

Much of this lecture seemed to come from here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242070 I have no real problem with this provided information is then added to or interpreted or applied. Why not apply it to any business you know?

For example: we are asked why people will buy from us – the instructor could have asked himself the same questions and then explained his answer

Lecture 11 Visualise your brand personality

Reference could have been made to Dimensions of Brand Personality Jennifer Aaker of Stanford

Also linking to https://kinlake.com/brand-styling-101-making-a-moodboard/

Lecture 12

A lot of this lecture seems to have been based on https://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/building-a-brand-based-on-emotions-brand-strategy/ In which case why not give some practical examples and analyse – using the information in your lecture.

Exercise: write down five emotions you would like your brand to be associated with. The instructor has a business background – he is selling this course! What five emotions does he want his brand, his course, to be associated with?

Resources

Seven resources are included with this course. Taking one as an example, - the Mood Board Template – I feel it would be more helpful if the instructor slowly took the template and then worked through the example

It would have been useful – and interesting – if exercises had been set throughout the course and students asked to post their answers on Udemy. For example, students could have been asked to:

a. find a brand they are attracted to or repelled by

b. say why they liked/disliked it

Over time we would have seen the responses of other students and this would have added to the value and content of the whole course

Also have some slides, have links to other sites and maybe a couple of quizzes?

This review stops here. To go through and comment on the rest of the course would just mean this review almost became a course in itself! But I would add one more thing. Udemy courses are not just about watching a series of lectures. They are also interacting with the Instructor. So you also need to consider who the Instructor is and does he/she respond to questions. If you have not written a review yet – do so! But also ask the instructor questions (if you have them) and build his response into your own evaluation.

So, as I said in the beginning, everyone should buy this course, watch it, develop it with your own ideas, ask questions and make your own journey into the brand/visual identity world. I am sure Mr Hermosa will be there to respond to each and every question about this course!

Very interesting and absorbing! I enjoyed it very much, thank you!

Very effective course content!

Keep it up :)

For me, as beginner, it was qiute informative to start my eshop brand visualisation.

Great, comprehensive course on branding and visual identity. Great for beginners with tons of examples and some helpful exercises and course materials.

The course was really insightful, made me realize that we were not paying much attention to aspects like visuals. Everything explained in easy and simple way!!! All in all a great course!!!!

Ronny got the job done with this course!

High-quality content, and great way to explain it all: not too quick, not too slow.

Moreover - even though the topic is really specific - Ronny managed to keep an eye on the general "umbrella subject" of business (without losing track tho!)

Highly recommended!

Great course, very useful! It really helped me understand important things about the brand I am creating at the moment. Straight to the point, clear and pleasant. Outline of the course is very good and gives space to understand and integrate the business elements that needs to be expressed trough the visual identity of a brand. Clear steps to develop the visual elements, the ideas and feelings you want to communicate and consistency across different channels. I recommend it!

I found the course full of well-explained information.

He provided new knowledge broken down into small sections easy to understand.

It was nice to follow lists with bullet points because that made it super easy for me to take notes of what I was learning in each section.

I also liked to see so many different real examples of what to do and not to do.

Thank you!

I really enjoyed this comprehensive course! it covers not only about branding but also basic marketing as well.

As I am a graphic designer, this course gave me a great opportunity to review my previous branding and step back to the basic to think about why branding really matters.

I highly recommend this course not only for hobby learners, design students and beginners but also skilled designers to reconsider basic design strategy and how branding would be perceived from others point of view.