Brand Identity Design: How to Represent Your Business

Using a signature color can help increase brand recognition by 80%.

A color palette is just one of many components that make up a brand identity. This, along with other elements will go a very long way to ensuring the success of your business, so understanding what brand identity is and why it matters is crucial.

For a rundown on brand identity design, keep reading.

What Is Brand Identity

Brand identity is the way a brand presents itself to the customer, establishing a sort of personality. This is done through the use of visual elements such as the brand logo, color palette, and icons. These all help to represent the company’s mission and values.

The best brand identities out there are ones that people can name even when not all elements are present. If the colors, fonts, logos, etc. can stand alone and still be recognized then you know you’ve made an impact.

Brand identity and brand image are often thought to be the same thing, but they are somewhat different. Brand image is how the brand is perceived in the mind of the consumer. While you can have an effect on it, it’s more subjective and can vary from customer to customer.

Why Is Brand Identity Important

Becoming a household name is one of the main goals of any business. Reaching that level of success is incredibly difficult but can result in your brand being a leader in your industry. Almost all of the biggest brands in the world have a brand identity that is known globally and is unmistakable to almost everyone.

At a much smaller scale, building a brand identity can be very helpful when a business is first starting out. New companies have new teams, so it’s beneficial to make sure all team members know what the brand does and what it stands for.

Even before a brand identity has been established, the process itself can prove helpful. While building the brand identity you and your team may come up with new ways to make your brand stand out. Looking at the brand identity of competitors can help you spot things that you’re missing, which you can then adapt as best suits your company.

The Main Aspects

It is important to set out the key components you need to work on. While these are separate, they will all come together to form your overall brand identity.

Logo

A logo can often be very simple yet it’s one of the most important aspects of your brand identity. Some are text-based such as Coca-cola or Netflix, some are image-based like Apple or Pepsi, and some are a combination of both.

The type you choose doesn’t matter as long as it stands out and fits the ethos of your brand. Some companies just use one memorable logo, while others have multiple variations which are used for different purposes.

Fonts

Most brands use a few different fonts for their brand identity. While some fonts may be ideal for some purposes, they may not be fit for others. Coca-cola’s logo font, for example, would not do well in longer bodies of text.

You should avoid using fonts that are already well-known components of another company’s branding. You want something that looks good and fits the theme of your brand, but it needs to be original.

Colors

With colors, you can choose to go for just one dominating color, or you can opt for multiple. Just bear in mind that too many may get a bit messy if not done right. When using multiple colors you want to make sure they go together, and that they incorporate well with your chosen fonts and logo.

Bringing these three elements together will create your brand identity. Some are more complex than others and may take some technical design work. If it helps you create a high-quality brand identity it may be worth hiring an image editing service to help with this.

The benefits of image editing include high-quality work, fast error correction, and a high degree of control. You can form a brand identity that stands well above the competition.

Creating Brand Identity

Even the most successful companies in the world are always adapting their brand identity. As markets and products change, your brand needs to change too.

Before reaching this point, however, you have to create your initial brand identity. You can follow a relatively simple process to do this.

Know Your Brand

Make sure you have a good understanding of what your brand does. This means the mission, values, and emotions you want it to evoke. You can base this around what your brand will do for your customers.

Know Your Audience

Understand who your customers are and what they want/need. Market research is essential for this. You can create multiple customer personas to help explore what they may want.

Know Your Competitors

There are always brands that you’ll be competing with. Study them and figure out how you can set your brand apart. This applies to products/services as well as brand identity.

Develop Your Voice

What are you trying to say? And How are you trying to say it? Your brand can come off in a number of ways (e.g. friendly, playful, authoritative, etc.).

The feeling you want to evoke will help form this.

Create Your Fonts, Logos, and Colors

These are the visual elements that everyone will see and think of when your brand comes up. Make sure it fits your brand well and stands out from the crowd.

Explain Your Brand Identity

Set up guidelines to dictate what elements are used for different applications. This means bringing everything together and ensuring your brand identity is well established.

Evaluate and Adjust

Once you’ve got your brand identity you want to keep an eye on how well it works for your company. Remember that there’s always room for improvement, so as time goes by you should make any changes that will benefit your brand.

The Perfect Brand Identity Design

To put it simply, there is no such thing. Some brands figure out a solid brand identity right away, and for others, it takes some time. One thing that’s true for all companies is that their brand identities change as their companies grow and develop, and yours should be no different.

You need to remain open to changing your brand identity design so that your company can keep up with a changing world. If you’re interested in more business-related blogs check out some of our other blog posts.