Introduction;

The brand identity of your product or enterprise is the magic ingredient of your company that distinguishes you apart from every other Tom, Dick, and Harry, Inc. in the neighborhood, much the same as your personal identity makes you uniquely you. What about your logo design? It’s what gives your business its personality.

What is the concept of brand identity?

The combination of all aspects that a firm generates to project the correct and required image to its clientele is referred to as the identity of the brand or business. Although these particular terms can be used colloquially, brand identity is distinct from “brand image” and “branding.”

The promotion and marketing activity to improve specifics of a brand. for example is referred to as branding. The corporate image or brand is how the rest of the world understands or perceives it.

Your corporate brand image is what makes your clients recognize you right away. Your viewing public will correlate your corporate identity with your product/ service, and that identification is what creates a bond between you and your clientele, promotes and fosters relations with the customers, and impacts how they feel about your brand.

Be absolutely sure of who you are: The following crucial factors make up who you are as a corporate brand;

• Your rationale (your “why?”)
• Your diverse approach that distinguishes you from the other competitors in the market
• The personality and identity of your brand
• The rhythm or tone of your brand’s communication
• Your unique values on the individual and personal level

The above mentioned characteristics identify and create your brand, and it’s paramount to study and comprehend them all before you begin developing your brand identity.

Raise the following questions and find solutions;

• Why did you create this company in the first place?
• What does your clientele anticipate and demand from you?
• What is it that you excel at that nobody else does?
• What truly distinguishes you and your enterprise?
• What are the ideals and ethics that you, as a firm, hold dear?

It’s essential to construct the right corporate image that will drive your brand towards life and show who you are to the relevant people, namely your customers, after you’ve determined who you are as a legit company.

Design: the bedrock of your brand’s commercial and corporate identity;

Your design and layout will help in establishing your company’s brand identity. The tangible aspects that will affect how your brand is regarded are your innovative business design components. This includes branding, your logo design, webpage, social media visuals, business and post cards, or the attire your personnel wear. To put it differently, selecting an appropriate aesthetic and design implies capturing your brand identity, which further leads to developing a thriving enterprise that actually reflects who you are as a business or brand.

So how would you start creating your brand design and layout?

Before you start creating your design materials, you’ll need to figure out the fundamental components mentioned below;

Color Scheme;

Then there’s color. Humans, together with your targeted consumers, have cognitive associations to various colors and hue combinations, therefore, effectively employing marketing and logo design shades can have a substantial effect on how your corporate brand image is seen by your core demographic.

A few colors, along with their characteristics and traits, are listed below;

• Blue: Universally appealing color in the spectrum, blue assists your product to come across as stable and trustworthy.
• Black: Sophisticated and also very modern, one can never quite find anything as graceful, classic and intriguing as black.
• Green: It can be employed in just about any type of product or service. Culturally, though, when anyone sees this color, they usually perceive two things: nature and money.
• Pink: Pink is particularly tied to femininity, targeted towards females. A perfect color for brands with a luxurious or soft base identity.

Form & Shape;

A certain understated but effective aspect, it can be used to emphasize and encourage the intended and appropriate client attitude and response.

Here’s how various forms and formats might significantly affect and influence your brand persona;

• Feeling of warmth abounds in round forms such as circles or ovals. Circular patterns in branding and design can evoke sentiments of cooperation, solidarity, and compassion. The curved edges have a feminine feel to them.
• Straight edges, as with square, rectangle, or triangle, inspire feelings of force, authority and precision.
• The straight-forward lines convey a sense of security and dependability. Straight lines have their own interpretations: vertical lines imply dominance and resilience, whereas horizontal ones insinuate peaceful and serene sensations.

Font Rendering & Typography;

The typeface (or type) you select for your promotional materials is termed as typography. It’s especially vital to set the right and relevant logo and brand fonts.

Typography is classified into four major categories;

1. Serif typefaces (such as Times New Roman) feature an anchor (or, to some, small feet) at the end of each character.
2. Sans serif typefaces (like Helvetica) have seamless borders and allow brands a more elegant, modern vibe.
3. Script typography is designed to seem more like cursive handwriting. These fonts (like Allura) might help you give your business a more opulent or feminine feel.
4. Display fonts are in another class altogether. Every display style has a unique feature, such as a unique letter form, outlining, shadows, or a more stylistic edge (imagine Metallica’s bolt of lightning font). If you really want to make a definitive statement, this is the way to go.

Creating your Corporate Image and Brand Identity;

It’s time to work with a graphic design artist to make your brand identity into a reality and convert who you are as a business entity into actual design elements you can use in your brand management and promotion once you’ve mapped out the framework of your company’s aesthetic layout and design. Any number of aspects can be used to showcase your corporate brand image. Depending on the type of your enterprise, some of your assets may be more significant and integral than others.

The following are some examples of brand identity components;

Logo Design;

Your brand’s logo is the bedrock of your enterprise’s identification and persona. Here are some things to think about;

• Communicates with clarity who you are and what you value as a corporate brand
• It should work in sync with your industry’s standards
• It should make a vivid and lasting impression on your core demographic.
• It must be classic, not trendy: your logo should not go out of style in the short term
• Should be appealing visually: simple, neat and uncluttered.
• The design should create a lasting impression on your clientele

Packaging for your product;

If you’re selling a tangible commodity, packaging design of that product is vital and advantageous when you want to draw the relevant customer base. Never undervalue the importance of good design and style in enhancing the customer experience, encouraging brand commitment and retaining your customers. Product packaging is a fantastic tool for your aesthetic and design to make an impact.

Website;

One of the most visible components of your brand identity is your digital platform. Customers will surely peruse over your web page before opting to do business with your company, specifically if you’re managing an internet business store or promoting sales of a digital product.

Email formatting and layout;

Correspondence via emails is a helpful tool to stay in touch with customers and increase sales. Unfortunately, since most people’s inbox folders are full, you’ll need the optimal design approach to stand out from the crowd if you really wish to develop your corporation through electronic mail. For starters, just ponder over your  ‘objective’ and ‘mail recipient’ when sending the email.

Visiting Cards;

Visiting cards are used to facilitate advertisement campaigns of your company. You’ll want a stockpile of your business cards if you’re developing any form of business growth strategy. A very well designed visiting card offers a great opportunity to promote your preferential image in the minds of prospective buyers and consumers.

Write a Style and Layout Guide for your corporate brand;

You’ll need to be certain your graphic design elements are employed precisely in the most appropriate way once you’ve obtained them, which is why you ought to prepare a brand style rulebook or guide. To build a strong and viable brand persona or image, you have to be consistent and precise. You don’t really want your brand to appear on social platforms in a different perspective and appearance than it does on your e-business webpage. Visitors would be confused, and your product would seem less reliable and qualified as a consequence. As a matter of fact, remember to always adhere to and implement the brand guide rules that encompass all areas of your corporate brand identification.

Conclusion: strong and stable brand image/identity;

Your brand identity as a corporation is what distinguishes you from the infinite stream of competing companies, demonstrating who you really are and what they might anticipate when entering into a business interaction with you and your firm. It’s also critical to chisel your brand identity and produce designs that effectively convey who you are to your clients if you want your business to be regarded as being positive and professional.