if you’re into branding, this book is a goldmine.

You designed the perfect logo…
Clean lines, cool font, mockups on point.
But nobody remembers your brand. Why?

Because a logo isn’t a brand.
It’s just the tip of the iceberg.

In Designing Brand Identity, they say:

“A brand is a promise, a reputation, an expectation.”
Your logo?
It’s the reminder. The trigger. The stamp.
But it only works when the experience behind it is real.
Think about Apple. Nike. Red Cross.
The logo works because the brand does.

So if you're obsessing over pixels before you clarify your promise you’re building backwards.

እስቲ ዛሬ አንዱ የሌላውን ስራ አይቶ ገንቢ አስተያየት የሚሰጣጥበት ቀን ይሁን

Rules

አንድ በቅርብ የሰራችሁትን ዲዛይን (logo, poster, etc.) ኮሜንት ላይ ፖስት አድርጉ።

የሌላ ሰው ስራ ላይ አስተያየት ስትሰጡ ደግ ሁኑ! "አልወደድኩትም" ከማለት ይልቅ "ምናልባት ፎንቱን ብትቀይረው..." እያላችሁ ሀሳብ ስጡ።

ቢያንስ የአንድ ሰው ስራ ላይ አስተያየት ሳሰጡ እንዳታልፉ!

Lets Grow Together! 💪 እስኪ ዛሬ ማን ነው ደፋር? የመጀመሪያውን ስራ እንይ! 👇

Here’s how I know a brand is working…
Even before I see the logo.

Story:
In the book, they say:

You should be able to cover up the logo and still recognize the brand.
That’s what look and feel does.
Typography, color, tone, rhythm all working together.
If you remove the logo, and it still feels like that brand
you nailed it.

Tribes of Tomorrow.

The industry giant’s branding rework and logo redesign has reportedly consumed upwards of half a billion Birr and was scheduled for rollout last week before CBE executives were ordered to cut short their plan by the federal government, according to the sources.

600million for CBE Rebrand what do you think let us know

Design Red Flags You Should Avoid

We’ve all made some of these mistakes (especially early on). But if you want your designs to feel professional and intentional, avoid these red flags:

1. Too Many Fonts
Using 4 or more fonts = chaos.
✅ Stick to 1–2 (maybe 3 with purpose). Hierarchy > variety.

2. Center-Aligning Everything
Centering headlines, body, logo, icons? It kills structure.
✅ Use left or grid-based alignment for cleaner, more confident layouts.

3. No White Space
Cramming everything into every corner makes your design feel claustrophobic.
✅ Let your content breathe whitespace is a design tool.

4. Overusing Effects
Drop shadows, gradients, strokes, bevels all at once?
✅ If you need 4 effects to make text readable, rethink the design.

5. Ignoring Contrast
Light gray text on a white background? No one can read it.
✅ Use high contrast for readability and visual hierarchy.

6. Stretching Logos or Images
Please, never. Ever.
✅ Always scale proportionally (Shift + drag, friends).

7. Using Trendy Fonts Without Context
Not every project needs that cool futuristic or hand-drawn font.
✅ Choose fonts that fit the brand/message, not just your mood.

A restaurant in Ohio reached out to me to design a tablecloth inspired by Ethiopian identity. This is the concept i created.

So this week I took on a project I didn’t have experience in: designing a Lottie animation for a website. I created the icons in Adobe Illustrator and animated them in Adobe After Effects.
For a first time, I think I did pretty well.

What do you guys think?

Happy New Year!🌼

Brand New Day

Fallen From the sky
@ankiyondesign

Looking for graphics designer who is skilled in Adobe Photo and Illustrator to design banners. Must have good eyes for design and detail.
The job is fulltime remote.

Send your portfolio on: @Nhatty_M