“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business”
| Steve Forbes.
A powerful brand is about telling a story and creating meaningful connections with your existing and potential clients. It’s about the personality of your business, it’s a promise of your reputation and quality. Today, I would like to introduce you to the central point of your marketing – visual brand identity.
Before I talk about the main components of visual brand identity, let’s define what brand and visual identity really are.
A brand is a concept and foundation of your marketing and communication methods. It’s the relationship between you and your clients, it’s what distinguish you from your competitors and differentiate from other services, concepts or products.
Visual identity is a set of different components that capture the essence of the brand, such as website, logo, business card, packages, etc. It’s a foundation of customer recognition and loyalty. These are the elements that you use to present your company to the world and how you want it to be seen. It’s all about visibility, reputation and representation.
VISUAL BRAND IDENTITY ELEMENTS
So what are the main elements to that help your customers to connect with your services or products on a deeper level?
Logo – this is the foundation stone of your brand identity. If well crafted, it will help you to stand out from the crowd and establish a recognition of your business, it’s professionalism and confidence. It should be timeless, unique and appealing to your ideal customer.
Colour – a comprehensive brand identity has to take into consideration the importance of colour. It’s far more than a visual aspect, it’s the first perception of your brand. It’s amazing how the proper use of colour can transform your brand and bring it to a whole new level. The most important aspect of it is to remember that colour psychology can help you to create your brand identity triggering your potential clients to buy not only from you but also to buy into your brand.
Photography – beautiful and high quality images are a significant asset to your visual brand identity. The right use of photography makes the website, blog or social media thoroughly compelling. When selecting a photo look closely at the style, lighting, composition, colours, mood and overall feel. Always asks yourself: ‘Does it capture the essence of my brand?’ and ‘Does it tell the story of my business?’. You will be amazed how the right use of photography will help you to evoke all emotions associated with your business.
Typography – the most important power from using the right fonts is to increase the brand’s memorability and communicate the strengths of your brand. It’s an extension of your brand’s personality and voice. Whether you want your brand to be elegant, playful, serious or eccentric, the right fonts will help you to create the right atmosphere and make associations with your brand. If you are looking for a distinguished and elegant font for your business, you might pair a stylish and feminine font to your headings with elegant and modern typography for your body copy.
Brand icons – the power of icons lays in representing values and promise of a brand. It’s this extra touch that you might need to give for your communications. The correctly chosen icons, for example, social media icons, give visual character to your brand.
Pattern and texture – personally patterns and textures are one of my favourite elements of visual identity. They give this extra sparkle, element of style and very often play a vital role in making a brand more recognisable. They can be used on a website, in stationery, packaging, etc. If you love to use your imagination, you can mix and make different patterns, such as geometric shapes, polka dots, florals and ground them with neutral colours.
MAKING YOUR BRAND STAND OUT
Creating your stellar visual brand identity is not easy, but it’s definitely fun, inspirational, a careful and creative process, full of surprising moments. Moreover, there is also nothing more rewarding than seeing your brand developing and resonating with your ideal clients. The sum of the above-mentioned elements will help to start a process of making your brand unique and beautiful. Well put together, they will make your business stand out and give a great visual identity.
Do you have any questions about branding your business? Let me know in the comments below, I will be happy to help you.
Anna xx
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