Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team

Product Information

Just like your Adidas built the brand identity of your middle-school-star-athlete persona, your design is what will build the brand identity of your company. Your brand identity is what sets you apart from the endless sea of competitors and shows your customers who you are and what they can expect from working with you. And if you want your brand to be perceived in a positive light, it’s crucial that you nail your brand identity and create designs that accurately portray who you are to your customers. And now that you know how to nail that identity, it’s time to start designing. You can choose your brand’s colors based on your preferences, but we recommend learning color theory before finalizing your brand’s palette. That way, you can feel confident you’ve made an informed and effective choice. Iconography

Red: Red is the color of passion and excitement. It’s the perfect choice if your brand identity is loud, youthful, and exciting. Orange: Orange is another high-energy color and is great if you want to appear friendly and playful. It’s used less commonly than red, so will also make you stand out. Brand design is a visual representation of a company’s identity. This brand identity includes a company’s objectives, values, and — of course — its product.

5. Business card designs

Straight lines also have their own implications: vertical lines suggest masculinity and strength while horizontal lines suggest tranquility and mellow vibes. Display fonts are kind of in a league of their own. Each display font has a specialized element, whether it’s an unusual shape to the letters, outlines, shadowing, or a more artistic/hand-drawn edge (think Metallica’s lightening bolt font). Want to make a bold statement and create a brand identity people won’t soon forget? A display font is a great way to do it.

Outline these goals before moving forward so that you can consider them as your brand identity is solidified.The typefaces used, along with how each one should be used. For example, it’s important to spell out which fonts should be used for headings vs. body text, the sizes, and styles to be used, etc. Your brand identity can be expressed in any number of elements. Depending on the nature of your business, one asset or another may be more or less important.

If you’re having trouble figuring out who exactly you are, don’t sweat it. Sometimes, all you need is a simple brainstorm to help you get clarity on who you are as a brand. With newer brands, it’s generally best to avoid a brandmark logo, as people won’t yet associate a pictorial representation with the company.Your brand identity should also reflect your company’s personality. Defining that personality can be done in a few ways, but one of the most effective is to simply ask key stakeholders to list words they associate with your brand. From there, you can see what key themes emerge to form your brand image. Script typography emulates cursive handwriting (so much for all those cursive lessons in elementary school!). These fonts (like Allura or Pacifico) can be a great way to add a luxurious or feminine feel to your brand. Your brand identity should work to support your business’s overall goals. Virtually every business has a key goal around earning revenue (even non-profits need to do this), but beyond that, what else does your brand want to achieve? Is it about changing the world? Becoming an industry leader? Having the best customer experience?

If you're designing for a client, freelance designer Katie Cooper recommends you ask your clients these brand discovery questions to better understand their brand goals and personality: Yellow: Yellow, the color of sunshine, is all about happiness. The cheerful vibe makes it a good choice if you want to feel fun, accessible and affordable. When creating a new brand identity design, it’s vital to consider your business’s goals and your brand’s personality. These two factors should determine an overall direction for your identity, and give you a jumping-off point.

Visual Brand Components

Every font has design elements that contribute to a different aesthetic. As a result, different fonts evoke distinctive personalities. For example, script-style fonts add a homemade, personal feel to a brand, while serifs appear crisp and professional. The good news is diverse fonts are accessible and often free, allowing you to mix and match before finding the right combination for your brand. Colors Illustrations can be a graphic interpretation of text, a process, a message, or a concept. These design elements add individuality, context, and uniqueness to your brand. Instructions for how to use the logo, including the minimum size, acceptable colors, and any necessary padding around it. It can be a good idea to include multiple versions of the logo, such as a wordmark, brandmark, and combination mark, and how to use each. Finally, you need to make sure you look the part. You save up your money to buy the new Adidas shoes everyone covets. You get a new haircut. You try out for (and join) the basketball team.