When most people think about a brand’s identity, they usually think about the name, the logo, and maybe the tagline. But it consists of so much more: It includes typestyles, colors, symbols, attitude and personality, brand voice, visual style, sound and other mnemonic devices, characters, and spokespeople, product design, package design…
Brand Architecture
Some brands use a brand structure of one parent brand and individual subtends who target different consumer need segments.
Brand Naming
Your brand’s name is often the first component of your brand that customers will encounter during the brand awareness stage. It is extremely important that the name is distinctive, authentic, memorable and resonates with your target audience. A strong brand name is vital to establishing a strong brand reputation.
Naming Decision tree
Brand Logos
When designing a logo we strive for both maximum readability and memorability. It is also important to integrate recognizable icons shapes type fonts and colors into a logo design.
If you look at the logos created during the era of big department stores which were designed as signatures to fit on sides of buildings,. These logos tend to be more square, or boxy.
Today logos must be designed with the understanding that they will be used in many print and digital environments. That means colors, animation, and audio should all be considered.
Importance of Color
Color has a significant impact on people’s emotional state. There is some evidence that shows color and packs people’s ability to concentrate and learn. Many of these effects are psychological, physiological, and sociological.
For instance
- Non primary colors are more calming than primary colors.
- Blue is the most calming of the primary colors, followed closely by a lighter red.
- Test takers score higher and weightlifters lift more in blue rooms.
- Blue text increases reading retention.
- Yellow and vokes cheerfulness. Houses with yellow trim or flower gardens sell faster.
- Reds and oranges encourage diners to eat quickly and leave. Red also makes food more appealing and influence people to eat more.
- Pink enhances appetites and has been shown to calm prison inmates.
- Blue and black suppress appetites.
- Children prefer primary colors.
- Forest green and burgundy appeal to the wealthiest 3% of Americans and often raise the perceived price of an item.
- Orange is often used to make an expensive item seem less expensive.
- Red clothing can convey power.
- Red trim is used in bars and casinos because it can cause people to lose track of time.
- White is typically associated with coal, clean, and fresh.
- Red is often associated with Christmas, and orange with Halloween and thanksgiving.
- Black is also associated with elegance and sophistication. It also seems mysterious.
Favorite colors of American consumers
- Blue
- Red
- Green
- White
- Pink
- Purple
- Orange
- Yellow
Colors also have a functional impact on readability, eye strain, ability to attract attention, ability to be seen at night. This is important when choosing colors for signage, website, print ads, and other marketing collateral.
- The most visible color is yellow.
- The most legible of all color combinations are black on yellow and green on white followed by red on white.
- Black on white is the easiest to read, both on paper and on computer screens.
- Hard colors, such as red, Orange, and yellow, are more visible and tend to make objects look larger and closer.
- Soft colors, such as violet, blue, and green, are less visible and tend to make objects look smaller and further away.
Tools to maintain brand identity consistency
Consistency is key when it comes to maintaining a brand identity.
Publish brand identity standards and systems, these standards usually include brand architecture, brand style guides, naming conventions, brand photo library’s. Brand messaging guidelines are usually divided into dues and don’ts columns.
Style Guides
A brand style guide is used as a rulebook on every aspect of the look and feel of your brand. A brand style guide is mainly used internally, but can be shared with partners, media and agencies to brief them on how to communicate your brand properly and consistently.
Brand guidelines
A brand guideline goes into a little more detail then the brand Style Guide. It also includes the brand strategy. Anyone reading brand guidelines should have a clear idea of how a company wants to speak, interact and look both internally and externally at customers.
So brand style guides are good for everyday use and brand guidelines are good for working across teams.
Contact us if you need a brand Style guide or guidelines for your company.
That concludes our series Designing the Brand
Designing the brand
