Every company has a unique brand. It’s what makes it stand out from the rest, and gives it an identity that only people familiar with its logo will know. Your corporate identity (or brand identity) design encompasses all the visual elements of your branding strategy. And when done well, it can create a unified look across all your marketing materials, from advertising to website to business cards. With clear branding as the foundation of any company’s public image, you’ll have more success in creating demand for your products and services. To succeed in the business world, you need a strong corporate identity design that sets you apart from your competitors and helps people understand your company through its brand associations and values. Read on to learn how to create a corporate identity design that drives sales and market share for your company.
Define what makes your company stand out
Before you can start designing your corporate identity, you must understand the difference between your brand and your products. You can’t design a logo that represents both your company and your products. Your logo must represent your company. Your products must represent their qualities and make the customer think of them as a product. It’s important to define the core features of your brand that will help people understand what you do and why it’s important. What sets your company apart from the rest? What values do your employees hold? What are your core strengths? What are your core competencies? You can define these characteristics through research, interviews, and surveys. The more familiar you are with your brand, the better you’ll be at designing your corporate identity.
Develop a brand identity system
Once you have a clear definition of your brand, you can start designing a visual system for your corporate identity. Think of a mood board. This will consist of your logo, typefaces, color palette and other visual elements that will bring your brand identity system to life. You can use branding software to manage your brand system. Adobe Creative Cloud has a range of templates that can help you create a unique system for your company. You can also use a third-party branding app that comes loaded with a variety of templates, like mapping out the visual elements of your identity system can help you better understand their function within your branding strategy. Once you understand their role, you can then make any necessary design adjustments to better serve your branding needs.
Create your logo, its variations and lock-ups
Now that you have a visual system, you can start working on your logo, its variations and lockups. Variations are your logo in horizontal and vertical formats, black and white version and the knock-out version (white). Lockups refer to your logo with its tagline or parent company/endorsement if applicable. Use your branding system as a guide for this. Start with your logo. What graphics, fonts or colors do you want to associate with your company? How will the logo be used (i.e. on uniforms, animated, packaging)? Does the logo work well as a small element (such as on business cards)? Keep these in mind as you design your logo. Once you’ve got your logo, you can start developing its variations and lockups. Remember that your company’s logo is going to represent you for a long time therefore its development should be taken seriously and not be rushed.
Develop other identities: typefaces, color schemes and product packaging
Next, you can start developing identities that will help differentiate your brand from your competitors.
- Typefaces: A typeface is a set of letters or symbols that make up your logo and markups. You can use a particular typeface for your logo and markups, and then use a different one for your company name or printed materials. This helps brand your logo and visuals as your company name, and not just as your logo.
- Color scheme: Your color scheme represents the colors and hues you’re incorporating into your visual identity system. It sets the tone or atmosphere of your brand.
- Photography style: Decide what type of photography is right for your business. These can be black and white, moody and dramatic, or light and airy.
- Packaging: The visual elements of your product packaging can be a great way to incorporate your branding system and help define your corporate identity.
Key Takeaways
Your corporate identity design is the collection of visual elements that define your company. You can think of it as your logo, markups, typefaces, color scheme, and branding system. Once you’ve got your logo and markups, you can start developing your brand identity. You can use your branding system as a guide for developing your visual system (i.e. logos and markups) and product packaging. Smart companies understand that strong branding can be the difference between winning and losing in the competitive market. A strong corporate identity design will help you create demand by creating brand associations and values that people will associate with your company. From logos to markups, typefaces, and color schemes, a strong corporate identity design will help you differentiate your company from your competitors.
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