We just finished up some brand development work for a corporate training company called Emerald City Enterprises. Going through the process has reminded me of how much I like simple brands. Not that there isn't a place for brands that are more...whatever they are, but I like simple, timeless brands like the Gap, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, etc. What's interesting about a lot of the brands I would call timeless is that they have no logomark.

Recently we've been providing some business/brand strategy consulting to an Internet startup. A non-disclosure agreement prevents me from revealing anything about the company/idea, but I think some of the principles of branding that have been discussed in our meetings might be of more general interest, and therefore I have published here some of the advice I've given to this client.