How to Harness the Power of Visual Branding To Create a Memorable Identity

“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible." Don Norman

Do You Agree?                                                 

If not, then let’s delve deeper into this. Tell us your favorite brand. When you think of it, what comes to mind?

I bet the first thing you will visualize is the logo. You could also picture the elaborate packaging design if attractive packaging pulls you. Or it could be other things, like patterns and shapes specific to the brand.

Do You Know What You Are Doing Exactly?

You are picturing how the brand presents itself to the world, visual identities, i.e., something that helps you associate the brand with those elements.

This article will help you understand everything about a brand's visual identity, how it is important, and how you can work towards creating a memorable one for you.

What Do You Mean By Visual Identity?

Visual interaction plays a major role in our perception of the world. It stands at the heart of our contact with other things—features or characteristics that come to mind when we think of our favorite place, movie, person, etc.

It Makes Things Familiar, Relatable, And Memorable For Us

The visual identity of your brand functions the same way. Color, font, pattern, shapes, images, etc., form parts of this structure and help people connect to your brand.

Think of it as a system or language that speaks what your brand communicates. Over time, your visual elements become synonymous with your brand, helping reinforce the brand identity, mission, values, and everything that makes your brand truly unique.

Is Brand Identity The Same As Visual Identity?

No. Your brand identity includes everything about your brand, whereas your visual identity is elements of your brand identity that people are able to see.

Some of the examples of brand identity that are not part of visual identity are:

• Brand values
• Brand statement
• Blogs

Your visual identity helps solidify and reinforce your brand identity to help people connect and remember it better.

Understanding The Basics Of Visual Branding

Visual branding is more than just having a stylish logo. It encompasses every visual element associated with your brand, including colors, typography, imagery, and even the design of your website. These elements work together to convey your brand's personality, values, and essence.

Choosing The Right Colors And Fonts

Selecting the right colors and fonts is crucial. Colors evoke emotions and can influence how people perceive your brand. Fonts, on the other hand, convey a sense of style and professionalism. Choose a color palette and fonts that align with your brand's personality and the message you want to convey.

Creating A Consistent Brand Image

Consistency is key in visual branding. Ensure that your logo, website, social media profiles, and marketing materials all have a consistent look and feel. This consistency reinforces your brand identity and makes it easier for people to recognize and remember your brand.

Why Is It Important?

Let’s find out why visual identity is important for your brand development.

It helps give your brand a life and a personality. You can use visual elements to showcase your brand's personality (authoritative, fun, and serious) and way of being.

Your brand will end up in all sorts of mediums (print, social media, digital). Working on a strong visual identity will provide the necessary thread in connecting all the marketing efforts as part of your brand.

It can help you communicate the core values of your brand to people.

It can help people remember you as a brand and think of you at the time of making purchases.

 What Are Its Elements?

These are the elements that together complete the structure of your visual identity -

• Logo

You can’t be everywhere to give an introduction about your brand or enter your logo. Being one of the most recognizable parts of your brand, you use it in many ways and applications like packaging, print collateral, product, PowerPoint presentations, websites, digital media, etc.

You can go for a word mark (no symbol) or use symbols, colors, typeface, taglines, and shapes in your logo to create a powerful and memorable logo.

• Typeface

Also known as a font, typeface plays an important role in unifying the brand, whether used in company logos, marketing signage, or internal presentations. 

You can use fonts from existing libraries or create a custom typeface, as done by Apple (San Francisco) and Uber (Uber Move).

• Color

The color palette is an entire world in itself, and your website, logo, presentations, flyers, etc.everything makes use of colors. You can demonstrate what your brand denotes by your choice of colors. For instance, blue denotes trustworthiness, purple stands for sophistication, orange denotes excitement, and green shows growth.

Also, decide on your colors with the help of the color wheel. You have complementary, analogous, triadic, and monochromatic color combinations, and generally, an option of three colors is great for your color palette.

• Shapes

Shapes, too, communicate your brand value. You can come across shapes in print materials, packaging, logo shapes, websites, etc. 

Each shape depicts something. For instance, circles are gentle and inviting; vertical lines denote power; and squares and rectangles show professionalism and stability.

• Imagery And Graphics

Imagery is another element that you can use to reinforce your brand’s image. Imagery, including product images, brand ambassadors, and videos, should be an extension of your brand message and identity.

Graphics are designs and drawings used by the brand to accentuate its image. 

A particular pattern that a company uses on social media, animation patterns in videos and GIFs, line drawings representing your product or service, etc., are all part of graphics and can be used to unify your marketing efforts.

• Customer Interaction

Things like signage, uniforms, fixtures, etc., that people see when interacting with your brand also help enrich your brand image and are an extension of your visual identity. 

Tips to Create a Powerful Visual Identity and Ace Your Marketing Efforts

Now that you know the basics, let’s go through some principles to help you create a powerful and memorable identity that helps you build on your marketing efforts.

• Simplicity

Simplicity resonates at another level with the human mind. Simple designs make it easy to associate the design with the brand or to remember it. Several elements or colors in a design can feel a little noisy. Also, simple designs optimize negative space, bringing notice to just the right things. 

Think of Apple’s logo or the slogan ‘A Diamond is Forever’ by De Beers Group. These icons are universally recognizable, simple, and elegant - all at the same time. 

• Purpose

Each brand has a certain purpose or vision that it intends to fulfill. The visual elements are there to propagate that further. Think of your brand identity as your north star, around which everything else is created.

For instance, if you want your brand to appear trustworthy and reliable (for example - American Express and Facebook), the color blue and shapes of squares and rectangles would be good. Similarly, if it is power (for example, Adidas), you would want to use black and bold vertical lines.

• Familiarity And Consistency

If you see a bohemian dress, you will instantly think of something beachy and travel-like. That’s familiarity. Things that you see help you associate them with a certain person, place, or mindset. In marketing, that’s consistency. 

Your brand should invoke familiarity and consistency across every touch point, and that’s possible by maintaining a constant and coherent theme. An example of Coca-Cola is apt here with its familiar red color palette and iconic font. 

Be consistent across all your platforms (website, social media, print) and incorporate unified communication for the success of your visual design.

• Research Competitors And Audience

Yes, you want to stand out and look different from your competition. But it’s wise to study your competition to get hold of the best marketing practices and eventually learn how you can make it better. Examine them well to see what similar companies are doing and how they use their visual designs to hit the mark. 

It will help you strategize and be better where other businesses lack. Conduct thorough market research, competitor analysis, and potential customer surveys to tailor your strategy feasibly.

For instance, brands in natural organic businesses use green to denote nature. So, analyzing and studying your environment will help you in filtering faster.

• Uniqueness

There is a surge in online content, and with that, in ways to keep your work unique. There are so many podcasters/YouTubers that have certain tunes at the beginning and end of their show that only they can use. 

Try to create designs that are unique, aseptically appealing, and time-resistant. Though brands constantly redesign and redefine their visual elements as time passes. A few examples are Starbucks, Street Rebel, etc., which are well-known for their distinct visual design.

• Colors

Choosing the right color combination for your design is tricky work and might require some research. You will want to have a general color theme depending on the emotions and message you want to relay. But be mindful of saturation, blends, tints, and shades when using the colors for your design.

Also, remember to be mindful of the cultural significance of the chosen colors. Use color wheel theory to opt for the best color combinations. 

• Fonts

Fonts, too, have certain personalities to them, evoking a certain kind of feeling when you look at them. Certain fonts like Comic Sans appear a little fun and lighthearted. Then you have a typeface like Times New Roman that’s more serious. 

Be mindful of your brand messaging when choosing your font. Something simple and time-resistant is a good choice to make your design elegant and classy.

When delving into the world of design, the choice of fonts plays a pivotal role in conveying the essence of your message. This impacts on the fonts on design, recognizing that different typefaces carry distinct personalities. Fonts, like design elements, contribute to the overall aesthetic and tone of a visual creation. Some fonts, such as Comic Sans, inject a sense of playfulness and lightheartedness, while others, like the venerable Times New Roman, exude a more serious and traditional demeanor.

For optimal brand messaging, it's crucial to align your font choices with the values and personality of your brand.  The thoughtful selection of fonts ensures that the visual language harmonizes seamlessly with your brand identity, enhancing the overall impact of your design. To read more about graphic design and discover valuable insights on font choices, visual aesthetics, and brand messaging, visit GFX Maker, where the artistry of design is explored and celebrated.

Style Guide

No single person works on creating the visuals for your brand. You have an in-house team across different departments and people outside (outsourced). A style guide will help everyone stay on track and coherent with their design ideas (across all mediums.

Your style guide includes guidelines like:

• Brand colors (with their six-digit hex keys)
• Logo treatments
• Guidelines to use the brand typeface
• Guidelines for stock images
• Standard brand patterns
• guidelines for Looping videos

Feedback

Now that you have everything in place, it might seem like everything is perfect. But it would be wise to test run to figure out any flaws. Run surveys internally (colleagues and team) and on social media to find what works and which part needs corrections. 

It will help you optimize your marketing budget as well. 

In a Nutshell

Visual communication has been central to our evolution (cave paintings of earlier humans). You can peek into people's cultures through clothing, jewelry, body art, and similar things. The same is for brands. These tips are provided to help you curate your visual design library and ace your marketing agenda.

Be mindful of elements that form a part of visual language and use them to further your brand message.