6 things about brand archetypes and how to use them
Brand archetypes help your business define a clearer message to the right people.
But first let’s look at the brand archetype wheel and get an understanding of what brand archetypes actually is.
image credit: march branding
Who discovered brand archetypes?
It was originally a personality archetype that was discovered by a Swiss psychiatrist named Carl Jung back in 1919. Since then, it has developed a variation of it which is now known as brand archetypes. Which is why you can also see how these can be used for personality types as well!
There are 12 brand archetypes
All of them consisting of their own values. The Innocent, Everyman, Hero, Outlaw, Explorer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Lover, Caregiver, Jester, and Sage.
Of which these are combined into 4 distinct groups with correlated values (i.e. provide structure, espiritual journey, connect to others, leave a mark).
Why do we use them to discover our brands?
Archetypes are essentially a framework that help you understand and determine your business values which in turn, you can use these to determine how you can best communicate with your audience to build greater relationships with your brand.
Your brand archetypes will also help us create a brand and design a brand experience that aligns with your values too.
How do i discover my brand archetype?
Generally at initial design stage before we get into designing the logo and creating the brand; we would get our clients to have a look at the brand archetype wheel.
Then assess which primary and secondary archetypes best align with their business.
Can i choose from different quadrants of the wheel?
Yes, you certainly can and it’s perfectly normal. Just because your top 2 archetypes are in different quadrants, does not mean that you have a conflicting business belief.
Every brand will have a secondary (supporting) archetype. Which is why we get you to pick 2.
Don’t get it confused with user personas.
Archertype are to represent the businesses’ internal belief, patterns, morals and values. Whereas personas is more of a representation of what businesses’ wants or believe their audience to would be.