What Is Brand Identity and How to Create a Strong One

What is brand identity?

Definition of brand identity

Let’s picture this: a company dealing with Gen Z-inspired merches have vibrant purple and black designs. From their logo to the design on social media handles, everything they sell under the sun has consistency. Consistency in terms of colours, tone of the message, typography, and many more. And this, the placing of different elements, is what we call brand identity. To understand it in simplest terms, brand identity refers to the use of tools and elements, visual and emotional, to create the face of the brand. A strong brand identity helps cultivate an image and changing how your brand is perceived, remembered, and connected with the consumer’s mind. To create a strong brand identity, one has to go through a strategic brand-building process that can help in the long term. 

Want to create an identity that resonates not only with your brand’s values but also distinguishes you from others? This blog covers important takeaways that you must know before getting exceptional brand identity services. 

A strong brand identity is…

Strong brand identity! What’s that? Well, every brand has its own identity. However, how they use the tools and elements to stand themselves apart is what makes them strong. And trust me, that’s where the brand goes wrong. Having a logo, color palette, typography, etc, doesn’t take you anywhere. But, a difference is made when: 

• Your logo speaks for your brand.
• Your color palette is consistently followed through all of the mediums.
• A typography that enhances understanding of the message of the brand.
• Slogans, catchphrases, or taglines that grab the attention. 

And that’s not enough. There is more to brand identity to make it more visually and emotionally appealing. Therefore, to ensure the identity is cohesive, it is vital to understand the elements necessary for brand identity. Here are as follows:

Elements of Brand Identity

1. Brand name: Brand name is the first thing that acts as a bridge between your audience and brand. A brand name must be something that is: 

• Easy to remember
• Aligns with brand values
• Easy to pronounce
• Considers cultural and social context

Need help with creating a brand name that stands out? We have you covered here with our brand naming services. 

2. Logo

Logo is another element that helps one memorize the brand. They are one of the most recognizable elements that says a lot about the brands. Take iconic examples of McDonalds, Nike, Puma, etc., where their logos are so identifiable that they are recognized even when the name is not mentioned. What makes a logo effective? Well, a good logo must be something that is not overly complicated. It must be something that must be flexible enough to be changed in any size and used in any medium for branding. 

3. Colour palette

Colours are not just about visual appeal but also hold meaning. For example, using green as your colour scheme signifies nature, growth, renewal, sustainability, etc., whereas using pink in branding signifies playfulness, feminity, and sweetness. As each colour holds a deeper meaning in branding, it’s necessary to use colour that aligns with your brand values. When we started working for Mauv, to capture the ethos of ‘free spirited luxury’ stood as a challenge. However, by choosing shades of purple, we managed to reflect its elegance, sophistication, luxury and creativity as the brand’s personality. 

4. Typography

Typography refers to the art of arranging text that involves choosing font, spacing, and alignment. They also play a pivotal role in evoking emotions. Take the example of Disney, where its typography shows it as a whimsical and fun brand. While choosing typography, ensure that they are versatile enough to look good on all mediums like packaging, social media posts, etc. It must be something that is easy to read and tells you more about the brand’s personality. 

5. Tone and voice

In simple words, tone refers to the attitude of your message, and voice refers to the expression of your message. For a good brand identity, the tone and voice of the brands must stay consistent. Does a brand sell cosmetics? Use a tone that is chic, playful, and something stylish! When you pass down a message, speak right- that’s voice. How you choose to speak to them is your tone! If done right, that defines everything about your brand. 

6. Shape

Now, this must look like something of lesser importance, but it’s not! Shape is something that tells a lot about your brand without saying anything. An experiment named the bouba/kiki effect was conducted, where it was observed how people associate certain words with shapes. 

Under this effect, people tend to associate ‘bouba’ with a round image while ‘kiki’ with a spikey one. Now, you get why we say shapes convey things even without saying it!

Steps to Build a Strong Brand Identity 

Wondering how you can make that difference? The difference in making your brand’s identity strong? Here are steps that can be followed while creating a brand identity that is ‘strong’ and leaves a lasting impression: 

1. Know your stand 

Before you jump into visual aspects, you must know this. A brand is like a house. Before decorating it, you must build it. How do you do that? By asking yourself what your brand stands for? What makes it different? If your brand was a person, how would it look? What will be the personality traits? Once you are done understanding your brand, you get to know the value proposition and the message you want to convey. 

2. Define your consumers

Now, once you know what your brand is about, understand for whom it is? Whom will you serve your service? Who will be helped? Who is interested in your service or product? Answering this question will help you know the major factor- the target audience. By knowing your consumers, you will understand their preferences and what kind of message resonates with them the most.  

3. Who’s the competitor? 

Well, by now, you must be clear about whom to serve. But the question arises: are you the only one serving your target audience? Certainly not! Then who is serving them? What is their brand identity? How did they use visuals to communicate? Having answering to such questions will help you analyze the market gap. Voila! Once you know the gap, you already have an edge to outgrow your competitors! 

4. Have a brand story 

Brand story? What’s that? A brand story is something that brings your purpose, mission, and values to your life. And this is something vital to reach out to your audience. You know where the brand comes from. But to ensure your audience knows the same, narration is required. Therefore, curating a compelling story becomes vital to ensure that every message has a flow. It also ensures that different designers working on different elements get the same motive to look forward to. 

5. Align all the elements

Once you have conducted thorough market research and decided on your brand’s motive, start creating elements. In the above section, we briefly covered elements of brand identity. So start creating creativity and ensure consistency throughout. Remember, visual hierarchy is the key! Visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement of elements in a way that attracts and guides the viewer’s eye. 

Importance of Cohesive Brand Identity

Now, as the brand identity development process stays clear in your head, do you wonder why it is so important? Why do you need to invest efforts in brand identity services? Well, it’s simply because it holds innumerable benefits. What are they? Here are the following: 

• First impression matters

As the saying goes,” First impression is last impression,” to make sure that first impression lasts, a brand identity is necessary. Because that is the way people recognize, resonate, and remember your brand. 

• Stand out in the market 

Remember how we mentioned getting the competitive edge? Yes, by knowing and filling the market gap. How do you fill the gap? That’s through solid brand identity that helps your brand to distinguish itself from others. A solid brand identity is not just a sign of thorough market research but also of how well you know your consumers. And one who knows and serves what consumers want is always the KING. 

• Creates awareness

When you build a strong brand identity, you effectively communicate with consumers, telling them what your brand is about. Thus, this raises awareness as people get to know what your company is about. It gets you exposure, audience, value, and name it; it gets you everything!

• Makes advertising effective

You know your values and stand. You have got a fantastic set of visual elements like logos, colour schemes, etc., through brand identity service. What’s stopping you from creating an advertisement that speaks volumes? Certainly nothing! When you seamlessly follow the brand identity development process, it gets easier to communicate with consumers through advertisement, making it crisp, on-point, and subtle. 

Wrapping up!

Now, that’s a wrap. If you are the one launching a new brand or thinking of revamping the existing ones, a brand identity can be a game changer. All you need is an identity that has clarity, connection, and consistency that makes people believe, ‘Yes! That’s them!”  So buckle up and conduct thorough market research, know who you are, define your audience, design excellent visual elements, and create a powerful voice. Don’t worry! If this sounds too much and feels overwhelming, we are here for you. With Madnext’s branding services and branding solutions agency, we provide the expertise that makes your brand shine, soar, and roar. Ready for the ride? Start brand development now.