One night I dreamt of a 6-feet beautiful gift box. It was standing in the middle of a living room, wrapped up in shiny, red paper with a red ribbon on top.
I was delighted and quite impressed until I opened it up…
… only to discover it was empty.
Brands speak the language of dreams.
Both use symbols and images to tell a story and deliver a message to us.
Both speak to the ancient part of our brains that existed prior to the use of words, in which “An image is indeed worth a thousand words”.
Like dreams, brand images are symbols not immediately obvious to the conscious mind, but with a bit of effort we can figure out the hidden meaning behind them.
However, many people make the mistake of looking at a business on a surface level: the logo, colors, fonts… and think that is a “brand”.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It would be the same as believing that just because I dreamt of a big red gift box, there was a real box waiting for me in the living room.
The deeper meaning behind a logo
Before you can craft -or hire someone to design- the visual part of your brand, you need to ask yourself these questions:
- What is the message you want to share?
- What does your business stand for?
- What makes your work unique?
- What is the promise that you bring?
And only when you have enough clarity around these questions you can decide on your logo, images and color palette.
Otherwise you could end up spending tons of money into a design that won’t attract the type of clients you enjoy working with!
Ouch!
Why dream interpretation leads to better brands
Learning to interpret your dreams will help you craft a better brand for your business. It will increase your understanding of symbols and how they work to convey the right message.
Follow these steps to gain a better understanding of your dreams (and your brand)
Step 1: Write your dream with as much detail as you can.
For your brand: Write your brand promise, what you want to be known for, what makes you unique and what your clients can expect from working with you, in as much detail as possible.
Step 2: See the dream images as metaphors.
Following
with the example above, “a big, beautiful gift box that is empty
inside”, would be a metaphor for, “something big, that looks impressive
and beautiful which is apparently very valuable but there is nothing of
value in it.”
For your brand: Think of your logo as a metaphor, what symbol would convey your brand message more accurately?
Step 3: Put the dream in context to your current life.
Ask yourself: What is going on in my life that reminds me of this?
In the example: what is it in my life now that is big, apparently valuable and beautiful, but in reality has nothing of value in it?
For your brand: Put your message in the context of your clients’ life and the services you are offering.
Ask yourself: What is going on in my client’s life that my services can be of help with? What services and products will then make more sense to offer now?
When I had that dream, I was doing numerology readings for fun. Still mourning my lost career as an architect, and trying to find a new direction for my life, I was considering numerology as a new pathway for me.
But something was off. I wasn’t 100% behind that service.
That dream told me my path was to be found somewhere else. But enough about me.
Now it’s your turn.
Have you had any