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What makes the brand unique?
Every brand needs a recognition to make a mark on the customers. Brands such as Apple, Nike and Google were able to win user with their strategic brand identity and ever since their launch, users love using products introduced by them.
Designing a brand identity for a business is a strategic story play.
A well-executed identity design helps brands drive several customers in a short span and shape a strong name for themselves.
If you are searching for ways to create a strong brand identity with design, here’s what will help you.
Special attention to Typography
Choose elegant looking fonts that convey messages with flair. The font you choose has a huge impact on the message you are trying to convey.
There are 4 major types of typography used to design brand identity.
- Serif fonts: Popular Serif fonts- Times New Roman and Garamond fall under the Serif fonts and work perfectly well in designing websites that want to showcase trust and tradition in their brands. The sharp edges of the Serif font do exactly that and get the right kind of feel.
- San Serif: San Serif is the counterpart of the Serif font. Fonts such as Helvetica and Franklin Gothic fall under this category. The reason why this font is named as san serif because of its smooth edges and lack of anchor. This type of font can be used to give a more modern feel to the brand.
- Script: Remember what they taught you in elementary school about all letters in cursive handwriting slant? Script is a font that emulates cursive handwriting. Allura or Pacifico fall under the Script category and it gives them a luxurious feel. Apart from that, the Script font is also used in brands dealing in kids accessories and clothing.
- Display font: The display fonts do not belong to any league and are statement fonts which can be adjusted according to a brand’s requirement. The unusual shape and bold appeal of these fonts makes the message loud and clear in the customer’s mind, leaving an everlasting impression. Recall the Metallica’s lightning bolt font. Don’t you find it unusual and statement-making?
Selecting the Color palette
Though there is no particular order of selecting a color, visual designers prefer choosing color after the selection of the right font combinations. And the reason for this is simple: once you have decided what you are going to say and how choosing a hue becomes much more meaningful.
To understand color theory it is important to know what colors represent.
Here are few colors that brands prefer using while designing their identity:
- Red: The youthful and energetic color red is perfect for brands that want to showcase passion and excitement. For a fact, red and white form a perfect unison of a bright and loud brand identity.
- Orange: Another fun and vibrant color which you can use if you don’t want your brand to seem aggressive. It is calmer than red and one of the most friendlier color in the hue. Again, its combination with white looks stunningly pretty.
- Yellow: A total standout color that must be handled with care. There are some shades of yellow that can make your brand appear attractive, fun and appealing but if you miss the right color in the palette, yellow can be accused of making your brand look tacky and unappealing.
- Blue: The color of the sea, the color of trust and reliability, blue is the perfect choice to communicate trustworthiness and security. Apart from this, it is an optimum choice for the marine industry.
Fun trivia: According to a 2010 profile from the New Yorker, Facebook’s main color is blue because Mark Zuckerberg has a red-green color blindness. Blue is the richest color for him.
- Green: The versatile green color is a great choice to inspire the creativity of a designer. Being more closer to the nature it becomes a relaxing and calming hue that loosens up the stress muscles. This is why it is mostly used in branding healthcare websites.
- Black: The classic black might seem a little overwhelming but it is one of the best colors while branding websites with photographs. Taking advantage of the stunning representation of black, it is a popular choice in photography websites to bring out the vibrant colors in the pictures.
Forming/Getting/Cutting the Right Shapes
The visual representation of your brand promotes possibilities of beautiful graphics. Other than the voice of your brand, it is important to consider what shapes you use while designing the brand identity.
Round shapes: Shapes such as circles, ovals, and ellipses give a more community feeling to the brand. When brands use round shapes the customer senses love and unity and connects with them instantly. This is why rounded edges on buttons increase the probability of clicks.
Straight-edged shapes: Shapes such as rectangles and triangles exhibit power and strength of the brand. When brands advertise using geometrical shapes it illustrates reliability and the strong features of your service. However, if not used strategically, squares and rectangles can come through as serious, lowering their ability to connect with the audience.
Choosing shapes and forms is all about how brand owners want their brands to come across to the customers. The more they connect with the feeling, the more they connect with the brand.
Designing a brand identity
Your brand identity, in the bigger picture, is the perfect unison of font, color, and shapes. Once you are set on the right path of analyzing these elements individually, you can work on adjoining them to build a strong brand identity that leaves an everlasting impression on the customer’s mind.
Here’s how you can start designing an identity for your brand:
- Designing the logo
Designing a logo is no less than a challenge. It’s like getting a tattoo. You want it to represent your true self. Same goes for your brand logo.
Declutter elements to form a logo that represents you inside out. The more relatable the logo is to your business, the more people will connect with the brand and remember it.
When working with a logo designer, here’s how you can set an aim:
- Dig up the industry standards.
- Be classic, not trendy. Trends wear off.
- Your logo should be communicating.
- Don’t clutter it with too many elements.
- Choose elements that are easy to remember.
- Building a website
Your website becomes the face of your brand and helps you in engaging global audience. Building a website is a step towards expanding your business and let visitors know about your amazing work.
If you have figured out all the above pointers efficiently, you can design a beautiful website for your brand with help of the right web designers.
Conclusion
A clear design makes a better picture in user’s mind and when your brand conveys a message to the customers without a copy, you are on the right path. Think about what you want that message to be and how you can use design as the medium to convey it to your customers. If you want your brand to be acknowledged, create a unique brand identity that stands out and separates you from the competition.
Once you find the right people who can help you with the job, things get pretty much clear, creating endless opportunities.
Author Bio:
Sanchit Thakur is the director of ILLUMINZ a digital solutions company in India providing web development, Mobile apps & Online marketing.