How to create successful brand identity design
As we all know, first impressions are everything. Your Business Brand Identity or Brand Image is SO important in making that a positive initial experience. When a new potential customer discovers your business, you want them to feel a bond of trust, they need to feel you have credibility as a service or product offering before committing to engage with you.
Having expert and strategically developed graphic design contributes to expressing the personality of your brand, and as a result, attracts folks to what you have to offer.
Why is it so important to create a strong business brand identity? It is your brand identity that makes you instantly recognisable in a highly competitive business world.
If implemented correctly, it enables customers to gain a positive visual perception of your brand, thereby making your brand stand out from the competition. As a result, your customers will begin associating your unique brand identity with the amazing products or services you provide. Brand identity plays a key role in influencing customers, maintaining their loyalty, and improving rapport with them.
Let’s take a look at the steps involved in developing a strong brand identity for your business:
Understand Your Business
Know Thyself! To understand and define the tangible elements that will express your brand, you first need to define what your brand is about. You need to ask yourself searching questions to fully understand your brand “why” – why you actually exist. Visual identities are the essential medium to communicate these core values and help achieve the set business goals.
Research is vital to ensure you fully understand your audience, your business & your industry. There is a need to analyse, ask questions and listen to gain a deep understanding of your company, products, and services. So you clearly know WHAT you do and HOW you do it. Questions include:
What is the purpose of your brand? This is not what you are selling – but the bigger picture – how you affect positive change.
What are the core values behind the brand? People engage with values that resonate with them – your values will create a valuable emotional connection between your business and your customers.
What kind of persona do you want to convey through your brand? Think of your brand as a person, again – people are attracted to what they like. Who is your target audience, your business identity needs to appear and speak to them in their language/voice.
What is your value proposition? “We are the best” – Really? Yawn. Prove it… Why should customers go to you and not your competition? What makes you so special?
What is your strategy for differentiating yourself from competitors? The key to branding is differentiation. List your peer companies, stalk them, how are they talking to your shared audience? You need to find an ‘attraction’ gap that you can own and inhabit.
How would you like to reach out to your customers? What platforms are you using to speak to your audience? A strong, consistent brand identity can be used across LinkedIn, FaceBook, Instagram, email campaigns, etc. to reinforce your brand identity and messaging.
These are all the fundamental foundations required for building a strong brand identity. You need to have a comprehensive understanding of your business and an in-depth understanding of the customer’s needs and perceptions to design a brand identity that is relevant, unique, and attractive.
This is hard work. The answer to each question is not immediately obvious, you can arrive at an explanation through brainstorming with your key stakeholders and maybe your staff. You can 100% guarantee that every single successful business on this planet has worked through these fundamental questions. Download my free questionnaires HERE to get started.
Let the fun begin! – Design
A fundamental part of your brand’s visual design is how customers perceive your brand. Corporate design elements play a role in how consumers view your brand and it will thus shape a positive attitude towards you.
This may include items like vehicle wraps, uniforms worn by employees, business cards, social media graphics, web design, product logos, advertising, and packaging – the list is endless. Getting the design EXACTLY right is the key to forging a strong visual identity that will increase the chances of business success. If your communications look disjointed and shoddy – then the perception of your service will be exactly the same. People don’t trust poor design, because if a company doesn’t invest in its image, what else are they skimping on?
Hold on – what are you using for your design?
Before you can begin creating design communications for your brand, you need to define the visual ingredients used for the design. Here are the primary design elements that will define the core of your brand’s visual identity:
Logotype
A professional logo design should embody and imply your business goals and positioning, and address the end user’s needs and wants. And of course, look shit hot. Do not skimp on this! Invest a decent budget with a logo professional to define a unique, future-proof, strategic logo identity – a bit like these…
Brand Typography
Typography is the typeface(s) that you will need to select for your brand visual identity. Choose the fonts wisely since they are a key visual part of your brand identity. Typefaces have character and emotional impact. Bland, ubiquitous Arial, or Times New Roman will not help define and express your brand values and business personality. Choose a typeface with character, emotion, and nuance.
Brand Colour Palette
The colour palette is important since various colour combinations can create specific moods. Your choice of colour palette and font is necessary for orchestrating the exact mood that you are interested in creating. Look at your ten nearest peer companies. What colours are they using? Develop a palette that sets you apart from the competition and avoid the cliched, bland approaches. Impact is everything.
Forms and Shapes
Forms and shapes are other major factors in your brand’s visual identity. You can convey your core values visually to your audience through graphic devices and visual cues. Create advantage by defining design elements that are instantly distinguishable and effortlessly understood.
Photography
Images have a massive impact on audience perception, folks immediately connect with – or disconnect with imagery. Do not use cheap, bland stock images of grinning, posed, amateur models. Your audience needs to emotionally connect with your brand values. Choose images that are natural, and that express the personality of your brand. Images that your target audience can identify with, images that attract and resonate with them.
In Summary
Providing good graphic design allows you to communicate with your audience. It takes a lot of detailed thinking in order to create designs that potential customers understand. Everything including proportion, hierarchy, space, unity, and rhythm matters. Whether the design itself is complex or simple, the underlying message and brand values should always be clear. Your audience should know exactly what you’re communicating as they experience your designed brand touchpoints.
ANY QUESTIONS please don’t hesitate to ask. We want what is best for you and your business. Thank you for reading the above and we look forward to perhaps supporting your business soon.
