Your brand is more than your logo, more than your color palette or tag line, and more than your mission statement. It is, like a person, the sum of its parts. And like a person it needs some careful TLC as it grows!
6 Sensational Secrets to Successful Brand Design
#1: Your logo is not your brand – Let me repeat that: your logo is NOT your brand! A logo is just one part of branding. Imagine your company is a person. How they talk, how they dress, how they interact, what they do, the impression they make when they walk in the room – that’s brand.
#2: Color palette – To borrow a common euphemism, the curtains need to match the carpet. Your color palette needs to be consistent with your brand style and personality. For example, you can’t pair a pink and purple polk-a-dot design with a disaster recovery service or a party balloon shop with somber grays and browns.
#3: Simplicity – Less is more. If your brand was an outfit, adding too many accessories, hair clips, belts, bows, bobbles and jewelry takes what was an attractive outfit and turns it into a circus of competing elements. The same goes for your brand: keep it simple and clean.
Follow that tried and true fashion rule of thumb when you’re putting together your branding. When you’re done dressing–before you go out, take off at least one accessory. Two is even better. Then you’re done. In other words, take those third and fourth fonts off your logo and those fifth, sixth and seventh colors off your brand palette!
#4: Consistency – Your brand should look and feel the same regardless of the medium. Think Starbucks – the look and feel is consistent across their stores, even though each store is somewhat unique. Everything that represents your brand should feel like a natural extension without being too matchy matchy.
It’s like when you have a friend with a unique personality and you see something during your day and think “Oh, that reminds me of so-and-so…” Your brand (like Starbucks) should be able to strike that kind of familiar chord.
#5: Messaging – If the logo and color palette, are your brand’s external representation, your messaging is its internal value system. Just as the visual elements need to be consistent, your brand messaging should accurately reflect those core values. Always be sure to express those values in a way that supports your branding.
#6: Flexibility – Give your brand room to grow. Don’t make your branding so specific and narrow that your company can’t evolve or add other related product lines.
For example, When Nike started out they couldn’t have been more about shoes if they’d invented feet! But is their logo a shoe? No. It’s a simple dynamic, easily identifiable swoosh that could mean pretty much anything. Their tag line “Just Do It” urges athleticism, character and glory–nothing about shoes. Today, Nike makes and sells everything from running shoes, to full lines of sports apparel and urban fashion clothing.
Building a brand takes time. Take a deep breath and take it slow. Be thoughtful. What seemed like a good idea around the kitchen table may not translate directly to the boardroom.
Only time can give your brand the recognition that Coca-Cola and IBM enjoy. But avoiding some of the obvious pitfalls can give your brand the staying power to become a classic!
2 Comments
Great tips! especially #1, when I got into advertising that’s the same exact thing they drilled into our heads, to imagine the client’s brand as a person (brand voice) and I’ve applied those same principles to my own business model & it has worked fabulously. I also agree that the Logo isn’t the brand & that consistency is key, changing your logo/name constantly only confuses your customers and shows that you are not stable as a company and that is a bad image to display. Thanks for getting this info out there! Aida from cabecitas lindas (facebook.com/cabecitaslindascouture)
Fabulous! Exactly what I tell my clients who think their logo is the be all end all identifier of their business. Branding is so, so much more… beyond the visual. Thanks for sharing Lorie!