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Course

Branding and Identity Design

DSGN-40002

Build Strong, Cohesive Brands
No Prerequisite | 10 Weeks


In today’s competitive market, creating a memorable brand identity is crucial to standing out and engaging customers.

Our Branding and Identity Design course offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practices that drive successful brands. From understanding brand strategy to developing cohesive visual elements, this course will give you the foundation to craft compelling identities that resonate with audiences. You’ll learn how to create branding systems that span across business applications, ensuring consistency and impact at every touchpoint, from logos to color palettes and typography.

Course Details

The course dives deep into the essentials of logo design and the design process, helping you understand how to develop strong, recognizable symbols for businesses. You’ll also explore the fundamentals of typography, creating type systems that enhance brand identity. The importance of color will be emphasized, as you learn how to create effective color palettes that reflect brand messaging and stay in tune with current trends. Additionally, we’ll cover the creation of brand guidelines, so you can establish clear visual and verbal messaging standards that ensure brand consistency across all platforms.

Through hands-on projects and real-world case studies of successful brands, you’ll see how branding strategies apply across various media—web, print, social media, packaging, and even clothing while considering the brand life cycle. The course also introduces you to the exciting world of AI in branding, with a focus on AI image creation, its implications for trademarks, and the use of AI tools and templates to streamline the branding process.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the practical skills and confidence to create a compelling brand identity that effectively communicates a brand’s essence and appeals to its audience.
 

What You'll Learn

  • Understand the foundations of branding and its role in business success.
  • Develop a brand strategy that aligns with target audience needs and business goals.
  • Learn how to conduct market research and segmentation to inform brand design decisions.
  • Create cohesive branding systems that work across various business applications.
  • Apply logo design techniques and the iterative design process.
  • Use typography principles to develop effective type systems for branding.
  • Build color palettes and models that reflect brand identity and stay on-trend.
  • Develop comprehensive brand guidelines, including visual identity, voice, and messaging.
  • Gain insights from successful brand case studies to inform your design approach.
  • Implement 360-degree branding across media platforms, including web, print, social media, packaging, and more.

Course Information

3.00 units
TBD
Notes: Quarters Offered: Spring, Fall
Equipment/Software: Adobe Creative Cloud for Students. Instructor will provide information regarding software. 
Flexible Enrollment: This course is a requirement for the Digital Design and Creative Strategy Professional Certificate but is open to all students, even if you're not enrolled in the Certificate Program. 
Academic Calendar: The Academic Calendar shows the open enrollment dates and term start dates for each quarter. Courses do not necessarily start on the first day of the term. 

Course sessions

Please contact the Arts, Humanities, Languages & Digital Arts department at 858-534-5508 or unex-digital@ucsd.edu for information about this course and upcoming sections.