Your brand’s visual identity is one of your most valuable assets. It’s what die-hard lovers of the world’s most famous brands, like Harley Davidson or Nike, will get tattooed on their bodies permanently.
No, really.
The visual language of your brand is just that – a language. If you don’t put the same time and care into developing your brand’s visual identity as you put into your preliminary branding process, your audience won’t be able to recognise and understand your brand when they see it.
Your brand identity will follow a strong branding process, which we have covered here.
But to create top-notch elements of design for your brand, you will need:
- Purpose: Why does the brand exist?
- Positioning: Where does it sit within the marketplace?
- Personality: What would it be like if you took it to the pub for a couple of drinks?
You need to get clear about why your brand matters, who it is serving, and what makes up its personality.
These three pillars must also shine through in your brand’s visual identity. And to help you do that, we’ve decided to reveal the 10 most important elements of brand design.
1. Logo
Your brand’s logo resides in the images, text, and shapes that help your audience identify and recognise your brand.
A logo is a key part of brand identity, but it is certainly not the only part. Indeed, we recommend against getting too obsessed with it. Pick what you like and move on.
2. Strapline
A strapline (often referred to as ‘tagline’), is a phrase that sums up your brand’s essence, culture, identity, and personality.
Sometimes, straplines will be used for one campaign or season and then changed, but the best straplines last for many years and become more and more recognisable over time.
Every little helps, right?
3. Look and feel
When you establish your brand’s look and feel, you’re creating and sticking with certain parameters and requirements around your brands logo, colours, and design.
‘Look and feel’ covers every single point of contact within your brand, from digital experiences to physical objects to in-store services and more.
4. Brand guidelines
Your brand guidelines serve as a map (or a ‘manual’, if you will) that details the exact colours, typefaces, logos, and design assets that must be used in accordance with the brand.
If you intend to work with any external resources, a brand guidelines document is vital, but it’s extremely useful for new employees too.
5. Flexibility
Flexibility refers to how much and for how long you’re willing to bend your brand guidelines, if at all.
For example, are you willing to incorporate festive colours into your social media posts or product packaging when Christmas approaches?
Or does the thought of that make you feel queasy?
Discussing flexibility of your brand with the team will help resolve these kinds of questions.
6. Primary colour palette
Speaking of colours, your brand’s primary palette is the small number of colours that will remain consistent across every aspect of your visual identity.
Think of the iconic red and gold of McDonald’s or the classic Ford blue. As soon as you see those colours, you know which brand you’re approaching.
7. Secondary colour palette
Your secondary colour palette includes any additional colours that help you build up the visual world surrounding your brand.
It’s generally a good idea not to have too many primary or secondary colours so you can remain strong in the few colours you do choose.
8. Typography
Typography helps the words we read on the page sing. Simply put, typography is the way text appears or is styled.
Typeface choices are a major part of the typography of a brand’s visual identity design, and it’s worth spending more time than you think on choosing the right fonts for your brand.
9. Brand images
Brand images are the consistent elements within your brand’s photography.
Brand images may include people, places, objects, animals, or anything else that represents your brand and shows up in the design.
Don’t skimp here. Stock photography is no substitute for stuff you’ve paid a professional snapper (or designer) to create for you.
10. Production and implementation
In this context, production and implementation refers to the methods by which the design elements of your brand are executed.
Sounds boring, but it is super important. The production and implementation of your brand includes the design programs you use and the steps your designers take to create brand assets.
Need more inspiration for your brand? If we’ve raised a few more questions for you above, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Be Smart team.
