Beyond The Logo: Let’s Talk Brand Identity Development

Brand identity = logo, right? Sort of. Your logo is a part of your brand identity, but it’s definitely not the whole story. Distilled down, brand identity can be described as the outward expression of your brand’s personality. Are you bubbly, playful and quirky? Are you thoughtful, earthy and wise? Are you sharp, cutting edge and dynamic? Branding is the way you convey your brand identity, or brand’s personality, through visuals and written/ verbal communication.

Brand Identity Viewed As Personality

In a nutshell, you can think of your brand’s identity as its personality. Building a solid brand starts with a solid understanding of your brand’s personality- diving into the why, what and who of your business. What is the story behind your brand? What are your mission, values and principles? What services/ products do you offer? What do you have in common and what sets you apart from similar businesses? What type of customers do you want to appeal to?

Exploring these questions, with the guidance of a brand strategist, will help you solidify and establish your brand’s personality and create a consistent through-line that will guide your visual identity and communications.

Dress For Success: Creating a Visual Identity

Once you have a solid understanding of your brand’s personality, it’s much easier to create a visual identity. Just like peoples’ personalities guide their fashion choices, your brand’s personality will guide the curation of your brand’s visual identity: your logos, brand colors, brand fonts and other branded collateral.

Does your brand wear bright, fun colors in unique cuts and fabrics? Does your brand have more of an earth-tone, natural fabric, utilitarian cut kind of personality? Maybe your brand is all about sharp, clean power suits and slicked-back hair? Picking the right outfit, or in this case, developing a consistent and authentic visual identity all starts with a strong understanding of your brand’s personality. Without a deeper understanding of the why, what and who of your brand, creating a logo and visual identity is like going to a thrift store and putting together an outfit blindfolded (that could be a fun start to a date night though, eh?).

Public Speaking, Do I Have To?

Well, no, you don’t have to jump up on stage in front of millions unless you want to…  but your brand does have a voice, and it’s an integral part of your brand identity. Just like with your visual identity, understanding your brand’s personality will help you curate a consistent and authentic brand voice that strengthens your overall image.

The more you weave your brand’s personality into all aspects of your business, including written and verbal communications, the more professional, authentic and trusted your brand will be.

Putting it All Together, aka Creating A Brand Guide

Once you develop a strong brand identity, it’s time to put it together into a useful guide. Enter the Brand Guide. Brand guides (branding guides, branding guidelines, style guides…) come in all shapes, sizes and added content, but at their heart, they lay out the essentials: who your brand is, what your brand looks like and what it sounds like.

Having a brand guide is important because it acts as a reference for consistency and keeps your brand identity on track. With a brand guide, there is no question about what colors, fonts and tone should be used in your latest social post, advertising campaign, event poster, product packaging or fancy billboard.

Consistency is key. The more you weave your brand’s personality, aka brand identity, into all aspects of your business the more professional, authentic and trusted your brand will be. That means good things like more customer engagement, higher review ratings, stronger sales… SUCCESS!

I’m In, So Now What?

We work with new and established businesses to dive into their why, what and who and develop authentic brands that drive business forward.

Are you ready to build a strong brand that people want to engage with? Visit our branding services page for packages or contact us to get started.