What Is a Brand Identity?

What Is a Brand Identity?

A common mistake most clients make is they think a logo is their brand identity. Branding is so much more than a logo and your stationary or website. A brand identity influences your customers’ experience,  it’s a way to differentiate yourself from your competition. It subconsciously affects how your customers view everything from your industry, to your relevance, to your trustworthiness.

In essence a brand is the total sum of how your brand looks, feels, and speaks to your customers — it’s the influencial elements that help them decide if they want to engage or buy from you.

Building a Brand Identity

Perfect examples of a successful and memorable brands are Apple, LEGO, Nike or Levi’s). These long established companies all provide us with a feeling when you think of each one. The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle; imagination; liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology. These are all brand traits that we feel when we think of Apple.

Building a brand identity is no easy task. You need a solid foundation and flexibility, an identity grounded in your roots and looking toward the future of your company.

It is a tedious process. It requires deep thinking and foresight, if you want to do it right and take your business to that next level. We’ve been through the process many times with our clients and our own rebranding, so we are well aware of what can go wrong—and more importantly how to make sure it goes right.

To demystify the process for you, we’re sharing our creative approach to building a brand identity, specifically the visual elements of a brand identity. If you’ve never been through the process before or think your brand identity could use a little updating, take note.

Keys to a Good Brand Identity

A logo alone is not make a brand. A good brand is well thought-out to, below are some features you need to consider when creating your own brand identity.

• Distinct: It should stand out among your competitors and catch your audience’s attention.
• Memorable: It makes a visual impact. (Think Apple: They only include their logo—not their name—on their products.)
• Scalable and flexible: It grows and evolves with the brand.
• Cohesive: Each piece complements the brand.
• Easy to apply: It’s intuitive and clean for any designers to work with.

When we begin a branding project, our approach is from a philosophical standpoint. We need to inspect, poke, and prod until we get to the real core of the brand. It always begins with Research & Discovery:- this takes time, energy and people power. It is crucial to build the foundation upon where the visual language will stand. Here, we learn everything we can about your brand. This research creates a brand persona, a comprehensive picture of what the brand is.

Building a brand identity is about being different, relevant, and unique. This research is vital to understand not just who the competition is, but how the brand compares both in presentation and perception.

We believe branding is like building a house. Each element is built on top of the other.

Brand identity is all about introducing yourself to your audience, so it’s important to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience.