How to Turbine the Visual Identity of Your Brand

Having a strong and powerful visual identity doesn't happen overnight. Simply select some colors and put a logo on your products or services is not branding. To stand out, you need to gather critical thinking, research and creativity to effectively portray the brand to your target audience, provoke the right emotions and be reminded with the impression you want to leave. 

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Contents

• What's a branding visual identity? 
• Difference between visual identity and branding
• The 4 key elements of visual identity for brands
  • 1. Logo
  • 2. Colour palette
  • 3. Fonts and Typography
  • 4. Photography and Images
• Do an analysis of the identity of your current brand
• Meet your audience
• What's the purpose of your brand?
• Use storytelling to provoke emotions
• Identify competition to stay in the game
• Conclusion

In short, it is a set of characteristics that define the appearance and feel of a brand on all channels. Including: logo, colors, typography and images. 

Visual identity is what makes products or services of a single and recognisable company among competitors.

If your company uses a carefully developed and coherent design, the public will associate the brand with its offer and values. It is the first interaction of business with the consumer and therefore it is important to create a positive and lasting first impression. 

The term “mark” comes from an expression used from the beginning to refer to the action in which the cattlemen “mark” their cattle. Over time the idea of a professional “brand” evolved to cover much more than just a name or a symbol.

It is important to understand that a brand is a resource or set of resources that distinguishes one organization from another. Brand identity, then, is the branding aspect that focuses on your brand's personality and also on the values you want to pass on to customers. 

Many confuse branding with the brand's visual identity and for this reason end up not passing the right message when putting it into practice. Although one is contained in the other, the two concepts are not exactly synonymous. 

Get this straight:

• The visual identity defines the guidelines that promote consistency in the use of visual elements of a brand, including logo, colors, images, fonts and other marketing-focused elements. 

• Branding it is a strategy linked to the process of creating a brand, from the definition of its values and archetypes to the development of the brand voice, communication strategy, visual identity, etc. Depends on the size or size of the company. 

One of the main focus on building a brand is to design the visual elements that align with your business and transmit your values and personality.

At the heart of this visual identity will be: 

1. Logo

It is the visual representation of the brand and a graphic symbol of your company and its identity. The brand’s “log” must consist of images that are memorable and remain in the mind of those who see it. You must also convey what your company does.

This is one of the components of visual identity that can evolve as your business grows and can contain the brand colors, typography and graphic design elements.

Investing time and money in logo design ensures a professional visual presence that gives visual consistency and consistency to your business across all platforms.

2. Colour palette

For up to 90% of consumers, brand color plays a key role in their purchasing decisions. The color palette should suit the emotion and message that the brand wants to convey – financial companies can incorporate green and gold, while silver, black and gold are suitable for brands that sell luxury items.

When creating a brand color, it is advisable for companies to start with just one color and apply similar tracks of this color so that the content looks consistent for different purposes and platforms.

Coca-Cola, for example, uses the colors red, white and black very well in its visual identity. The red color arouses confidence in the person who drinks the soda, while the script font is about fun. 

3. Fonts and Typography

The source and layout of your text affect the visual identity of your brand and how it impacts consumers. The best known brands tend to keep their printing simple, but they also consider the emotions and personality that each type of letter transmits.

The style of typography, the weight of the lines, the curvatures and spacings reflect and define the personality of the brand. Names of brands written in capital letters without a serif will provide a very different visual sensation from the typography with a tiny screenser or script.

In addition, unserphed sources surrounded by white spaces and clean illustrations seem very sophisticated, modern, and minimalist. Pairing of sources serifed with equally traditional visuals may end up looking very rigid and characterless.

In both cases, the emotions you're trying to evoke with your colors should be aligned with the style of typography

Learn more about brand typography, source personality and emotions in our article entirely dedicated to sources.

4. Photography and Images

Brand photography is a set of images that represents your business and provides another element for your visual identity.

The photograph must fit with the rest of your brand's identity, colors, logos and messages. The brand's photography may include photos of your company's products, your team, workspace and other things relevant to your company.

Follow below the main tips that can help to boost the visual identity of your brand or business: 

Are you going the right way? Even if your business is still in the early stages or in the phase of over-reform identity, you need a complete assessment of the current state of your brand and how that identity can be adjusted to align with your business goals in the future.

You need to understand how your brand is perceived by your team and your target audience. Those who are outside have a critical or unattended look at the business and this can help in the improvements. Getting a precise and honest reflection is the only way to understand where you failed, where you succeeded and the next actions or definitions to be taken. 

There is no other way out: your brand's visual identity needs to talk to your audience, who you seek to attract to become a consumer, user or customer. Knowing who your audience is, what their pains, desires and personality can help you build a visual identity with which they can truly relate. 

The results of what you search and discover with your audience will inform you about the factors that affect their decision to use your products or services or not. Another tip is to analyze your competitors and the audience that are attracting to investigate how they react to your offers. 

To find the right audience and make the look of their brand positively impact, define a buyer person analyzing these aspects: age, gender, income and level of education, job description, lifestyle, interests and values. 

Here you should consider the roots of your business and think about why you have established your brand. What purpose did you accomplish? 

Setting or redefining the long-term direction and goals of your business can provide a valuable insight into the essential qualities you would like your brand visual identity to have.

When reflecting on this, try to answer the questions:

• Why do you offer your services? 
• What short- and long-term goals of your brand?
• How does your brand and solutions help consumers or customers?
• What mission, goals and vision do you adhere to?
• What visual elements, such as colors, images, and typography, reflect this purpose?

Text sources used, for example, evoke certain personality traits of the brand: bold and unserifed sources evoke the feeling of modernity and are suitable for companies that use technology in some way, while handwritten sources reflect the most personal nature of business. Run A/B tests to understand how your audience reacts!

A brand history can be a powerful tool and help you evoke an emotional appeal with your customers, thus setting the standard for your visual features and images.

Storytelling allows you to connect with your target consumers in a way that is meaningful to them and beneficial to you. The brand history communicates values, challenges and development of your business that are received by the target audience as something that is close to their experience.

To tell the right story of your brand that will serve as the basis for visual identity, try to answer these questions:

• What's the story of my brand and how does it connect to customers?
• How should customers feel after interacting with their brand and discovering their history?
• How can you apply your brand history and what is your customers' emotional response to your visual identity?

Answer the three questions and especially the last one, should inform the direction that your visual identity should follow and the personality and emotion that your designers will implement in their images. 

We often approach this here in the Blog and it is not by chance: building a brand identity is making your brand, above all, stand out in the market. 

And she must be impactful, relevant and unique. However, if you haven't done a survey yet and haven't managed to understand your market and your competitors, it's easy to lose to the game's master. 

It is of paramount importance to understand who your competition is and how your brand compares in terms of perception and presentation. See how competitors present themselves in terms of visual elements, which websites offer internet users, what trends are applied, specific visuals linked to the business sector, brand personalities, etc.

Creating the right visual identity for your brand brings many benefits. It is an essential part of a general branding strategy of any company and also the most immediate aspect with which consumers come into contact.

Creating a memorable brand requires consistent use of type, color, images and language, but it is worth it. When consumers instantly recognize who you are and what you represent based on a logo and with a relevant message, you become more than just a name and a symbol.

Needing a diagnosis, starting from scratch or redoing the visual identity of your brand or business? Talk to me here.