Slide deck for IGB virtual conference 2020, Rachel Presser of Sonic Toad Consulting presents how indie developers can level up their branding.

1. How Indie Developers Can Polish
Their Branding
Indie Game Business #PitchYaGame August 2020
Rachel Presser, Sonic Toad Consulting & Media

2. About Sonic Toad Consulting
 Business of games consulting
 Indie, III, and freelance
 B2B consulting
 Business education
 Game marketing and content strategy
 HubSpot certified
 Writing services
 NEW E-LEARNING STORE COMING SOON!!!
 Consult with me at clarity.fm/sonictoad
 Visit sonictoad.com to learn more!

3. Why Do Most Indies Struggle with Marketing?

4. Why Do Most Indies Struggle with Marketing?
 Information overload
 Marketing methods constantly evolving
 Not enough time to actively manage
campaigns
 Traditional marketing not always a good
fit for indie games
 Too many “wildcard” factors
 But mostly, the foundation is missing: a
solid brand

5. What Exactly is Branding?
 Dictionary definition: marketing practice
in which a company creates a name,
design, symbol, etc. that easily
distinguishes it from other products and
services
 Branding is an initial then evolving
process; marketing is more ongoing and
all-encompassing while advertising is
shorter-term

6. Why Should Indie Developers Care About Branding?

7. Why Should Indie Developers Care About Branding?
 Helps establish ownership of your work
and builds long-term value
 Demonstrates that you are invested in
your games and company
 Provides your audience with an idea of
what to expect
 Drives home the impression that you want
to give people about your productions!

8. Branding is Important for B2B *and* B2C

9. Where Does Your Branding Go?
 Website
 Game distributor pages
 Business cards
 Swag (tote bags, chip clips, pens, etc.)
 Official letterhead and documents
 Game trailers
 Box art
 Opening fanfare of the game and any
other appropriate points
 Virtually any other time you’re asked for a
logo

10. The Two Faces of Branding

11. The Goals of Branding: Business & Legal
 Your game and web content gets
copyrighted, your logo, slogans, and
other “marks” can get trademarked
 It’s a good idea to formalize and register
your business and make sure the name
and similar marks are not taken
 Branding and trademarks helps prove you
have a real business for tax and other
legal purposes

12. The Goals of Branding: What It Says About You
 What impression do you want to give?
 How do you want people to FEEL when
they visit your website, game pages, see
your logo, or hear about you?
 What do you want them to THINK when
they hear about your studio?
 What do you want to communicate with
your imagery, words, and other branding
elements?

13. The Elements of Branding
Logo
Language
Color Schemes
Textures & Shapes
Fonts
Audio

14. Logo
Memorable Punchy Evocative
 Logos foster brand cohesiveness
 The logo should say something about
your studio—or at least give the
impression it does
 How does your logo compare with other
devs?
 Why would someone want to check out a
game, webpage, etc. that has your logo
splashed on it?
 What makes your logo memorable?

15. Language
 Slogans: usually 2-5 words that are punchy
and easy to remember, make an emotional
impact
 Taglines: longer than slogans, catchphrases
of sorts
 Webpage Copy: who is the audience?
What impression should you give from how
you write about your games/IPs and studio
origins?
 What kind of information is being
communicated?
 Social Media and Email Communications:
how do you come across to your fans?

16. Forming a Brand Voice
 Language that informs versus language
that entertains and/or builds your brand
 Formation of a style guide
 Tone
 Verbiage
 Expected reading level of your target
audience
 Potentially taking on your game or game
world’s setting and characters

17. Color Schemes
 Colors make us FEEL things!
 What colors do you see in items, rooms,
and aesthetics that you like?
 What are those colors associated with?
 Why or why not would you want your
brand associated with that color or
aesthetic?

18. Finding a Color Scheme with Color Wheels
 Hue: a color and how saturated it is
 Tint: adding white to the hue
 Shade: adding black to the hue
 Complementing colors: opposites on the
color wheel, like purple and yellow
 Analogous colors: colors juxtaposing a
hue, like yellow-green and blue-green
 Try making a triangle, trapezoid, or
parallelepiped on the wheel!
 …or just say screw the color wheel and
go with what you think looks great!

19. Color Schemes

20. Textures and Shapes
 Shapes and textures make an impression
just as much as colors
 Geometric vs. abstract and free-form
 Outlines
 Bold texture or little to no texture?
 Too much texture can be distracting
 What does the shape(s) represent?

21. Textures and Shapes

22. Fonts and Text Styles
 Text types can make a HUGE impact!
 Line and character spacing
 Kerning
 Logo, headers, slogans
 How do you want the text to look? What
impression should it give?
 Text on your website, game pages,
physical branding (e.g. stickers, boxes)
 Readability and accessibility

23. Fonts and Text Styles

24. Audio
 Frequently overlooked aspect of
branding for indies and small companies
 Signature sounds
 Opening fanfare
 Voice acting

25. Audio
 Sounds can become just as iconic as
images
 Mostly for ad placements and trailers, but
an important part of your game’s
experience

26. Audio

27. Making it All Come Together

28. Making it All Come Together

29. Brands Evolve Over Time! EXPERIMENT!

30. Simple Branding Tools to Get Started
 Canva (disclosure: Sonic Toad affiliate
link)
 Krita
 PicMonkey
 Messing around with WordPress and
PowerPoint themes
 See if any graphic designers have
templates or kits you can start with

31. Thanks and Q&A!