The terms “brand,” “branding,” and “brand identity” are sometimes treated as interchangeable, but that’s not the case.
- Brand is the perception of the company in the eyes of the world.
- Branding involves the marketing practice of actively shaping a distinctive brand.
- Brand identity is the collection of all brand elements that the company creates to portray the right image of itself to the consumer.
Your brand identity is what makes you instantly recognisable to your customers. Your audience will associate your brand identity with your product or service, and that identity is what forges the connection between you and your customers, builds customer loyalty, and determines how your customers will perceive your brand.
Ask yourself:
- Why did we start this business?
- What are beliefs and values that are important to us as a company?
- What do we do better than anyone else?
- What makes us special?
- If we could describe our brand in three words, what would they be?
- What are the three words we would want our customers to use to describe us?
Once you’ve locked in who you are as a brand, it’s time to build the identity that will bring your brand to life and show who you are to the people who matter most: your customers.
DESIGN: THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR BRAND IDENTITY
Your design assets are the tangible elements that will determine how your brand is perceived. Things like your logo, your packaging, your web design, your social media graphics, your business cards and the uniforms your employees wear. Nailing your design = nailing your brand identity = building a successful business that’s an accurate representation of who you are as a brand.
DEVELOPING YOUR BRAND DESIGN
The building blocks you’ll want to determine include:
- TYPOGRAPHY
- COLOUR PALETTE
- FORM/SHAPE
- DESIGNING YOUR BRAND IDENTITY
- LOGO
- WEBSITE
- PRODUCT PACKAGING
- BUSINESS CARDS
- EMAIL DESIGN
- CREATE A BRAND STYLE GUIDE
Your brand identity is what sets you apart from the endless sea of competitors and shows your customers who you are and what they can expect from working with you. And if you want your brand to be perceived in a positive light, it’s crucial that you nail your brand identity and create designs that accurately portray who you are to your customers. This is where we can help…
