Apr 25, 2024
There is absolute sea out there in the market today. A million products doing the same thing. A million people making and selling the same thing. And out of these only one or two make it to a consumer’s attention; and when that happens, that creates brand loyalty, which can last generations. There is so much competition for the top spot. And all of this begins with brand design.
A brand’s success rests directly on its ability to stand out and resonate with its audience. When a brand makes a splash, it creates larger opportunities of brand discovery and carving for itself a loyal consumer base, and brand design becomes the first step to an elaborate plan of brand establishment. Brand design is a harmonious blend of visual aesthetics, strategic thinking, and emotional storytelling that breathes life into a brand’s identity. This blog will delve into the multifaceted world of brand design, exploring its components, importance, and the profound impact it has on forging lasting connections.
Brand design is the cumulative work that goes into creating the overall aspects of a brand’s identity. When you look, touch, feel, or even hear about the brand, know that this identity has been painstakingly built brick by brick, layer by layer to create the final product/brand structure. It is every visual element, and every sensory touchpoint that has been curated specifically to attract a consumer. This means that brand design goes beyond logos, colour palettes, typography, imagery, packaging, website design, and how the brand on a whole communicates to a consumer. It is all this and the complete embodiment of a brand’s ethos, values, personality and offering to its audience.
There are various aspects to brand design, creating lasting impressions and fostering customer loyalty can be as strategic as they are emotionally bound, it moves from analysing data of human behaviour and consumer attitudes and transforming the same data into a brand that embodies values, personality and promise thus forming an emotional connect that binds your consumer to your brand.
So, these aspects or components of an all-encompassing brand design can be mainly, first impressions, visual storytelling, building trust and recognition, curating a USP, maintaining consistency, adapting to change and creating long-term goals. When broken down and when done right, a branding agency builds a cohesive brand that has the ability to make an impact in the market.
· First Impressions matter, be it when you present yourself for the first time in front of an audience or whether you present your brand. Often first impressions of a logo or a colour scheme or even an impactful tagline can rewire the brain of your consumer to look at your product in a new and different light.
· And how do you go about creating a lasting first impression? By visual storytelling. Not just visually appealing aesthetics, but a striking visual identity. Storytelling communicates the essence of your brand. To evoke the emotions you want from your consumer, your brand design agency needs to build a design language, one that can effectively speak the language of the common man.
· Familiarity is a brand’s best friend, because in brand design, familiarity equals trust. A brand’s logo or colours should be memorable, they should be stand-alone elements that can be recognised without each other. A logo recognised without its logotype is the epitome of a brand’s success.
· To build familiarity, a branding agency will always look to make a product stand out, giving it a USP that can effectively create the emotional connect that is so essential to branding design. A great example can be the golden arches of a famous fast-food chain of restaurants.
· In design, consistency is only noticed when it is absent. It is a cornerstone, usually not in the frame and yet a vital part of the brand’s identity. Consistency in design shows professionalism and attention to detail which builds the very important trust and trust leads to credibility.
· The bottom line in branding design is that a brand can be as rigid as it can be fluid. Brands that last generations always have one thing in common, they are ever-evolving to fit the brief of the current trends of the generations. Think of Coca-Cola, an iconic brand which remains consistent at its core and yet its design elements have evolved through the years.
· This brings us to the last point, long-term goals. A strong brand makes itself a dominant presence across generations and borders. And brand presence such as this cannot be achieved overnight. It is built over years of trust, customer loyalty and maintaining the core quality of the product.
There are certain elements of brand design commonly used by a branding agency while carving a niche for a business or product. These elements work together to communicate the brand’s essence, personality, offerings, values to the designated consumer.
The logo is the face of a brand. The very first element that introduces the brand to the consumer. And as the brand progresses, it becomes the point of identification and familiarity with which the consumer will associate the product with.
Colours when used effectively can evoke the emotions you wish to arouse in your consumer. It subconsciously conveys the brand’s message and creates a bond with the consumer.
Fonts and typography set the tone and style of a brand’s message. Whether the brand presents as modern or classic, playful or professional is determined on the choice of the font.
To resonate with a target consumer, the images and graphics a branding agency uses must align with the overall theme of branding. It should pair well with the colour palette and the typography. Thus, setting the desired tone of the brand.
Customisation in a brand’s identity shows that it distinctly stands out from its competitors. Icons and symbols crafted uniquely for a brand, act as a visual net to capture an audience.
Packaging delivers brand experience. For physical products, packaging becomes the final step of reaching the consumer. Their tactile experience with the product starts as soon as they see and pick the product off the shelf. This is an opportunity that should not be missed.
Design in a website should open up the brand’s visual identity. As a point of contact between the brand and the consumer, the website should reflect the brand’s tone and provide for a user-friendly experience.
While posting on social media platforms to gain recognition, the brand’s identity should be consistent, this way the brand maintains its positioning and the consumer identifies and connects with the same.
Tone of voice for a brand, though not a visual element, works like one. A preset tone of a brand should carry through along with all the other elements of the brand. This works psychologically to connect the brand visuals with the tone to create a stronger brand identity.
The most important element in brand design is the brand’s digital kingdom. Where consumers come to interact with and learn about the brand. And so, creating an optimised and seamless user experience in terms of design and navigation is most important.
Carefully harmonizing with all these elements creates the perfect blend of a well-done brand design that speaks volumes about a brand and its personality.
There are four essential steps in executing an impeccable brand design. However, they should be seen as cornerstones and building blocks rather than the finished product. Breathing life into a brand happens when a branding agency creatively builds the brand’s identity on top of the elements listed in this article.
Begin with research and you will as a brand design agency know the path that should be followed to create a winning brand identity. Research forms insights on essential data which includes competitor market, consumer behaviour and design inputs. When you do deep research, it clears a path in understanding the brand’s landscape better and thus aids in building an effective strategy to begin the design process.
Build a design framework based on the detailed research of the brand. The strategy should address all the elements of brand design, even if in its initial form. This lets a branding agency have a path mapped out while navigating the branding design process. A well planned strategy defines the brand’s personality and tone, an important piece of the puzzle.
As is the organic flow of the branding process, once the strategy is mapped out, each element can be focused on where it takes shape and starts to form the rounded presence of the brand. Here, mold the brand’s individual elements and unify them into an aesthetic package that delivers the message of the brand successfully.
Set the brand’s guidelines, for future designers of a branding agency to follow. This way, even when the brand changes hands, its visuals remain consistent. Make the connection between the brand and the consumer as powerful as possible; the website, marketing collateral, signage should all play the part of telling the consumer exactly what the brand wishes to express.
In this section, take a look at a few favourite branding design examples that have followed the brief of creating something unique, making a mark in their respective markets.
Headspace is a meditation app that deals with reducing stress and anxiety. Naturally, this means that their design aims to effectively capture joy, peace and a sense of calm. Their toned down, pastel colour palette perfectly embodies their objective and tries to resonate the same with their audience. By using inspirational quotes, and simple illustrations, the app creates a rounded cohesive experience for their users.
Meow Wolf is all about art and creating immersive, interactive experiences focusing on entertainment and their brand presence makes sure to convince their consumers of the same. Their designs are bold, innovative, flashy and bright. There is chaos and movement in terms of animation and text used on the website design and a technicolor theme on their social media presence.
Maybe the most recognised brand on this list and rightly so since it comes with a 130-year design history. It is a global brand that is considered to have one of the largest market of consumers. It takes time to build a brand identity such as the one Coca Cola has built. Its visual elements, the logo, the typography, the symbols, the colours are all recognised as individual elements as well as when presented together. Its design strategy evolved with the times, moving with the pace of the modern world and yet resonated with its long history and legacy.
Because AirBnb positions itself as a people-centric brand, it is only natural that their imagery is people-heavy and adventure-centric as they cater to an audience keen on exploration and travel. Here the brand captures the essence of ‘living life to the fullest’ and the idea of luxury at an affordable rate. Their simple logo also features a bright red colour and a simple yet organic design.
Here are some final thoughts. Building a brand means breathing identity into a product, about making a connection that is memorable and fresh in a consumer’s psyche. It is an effective tool used by a business to grow and influence how the brand is perceived. A bridge between the brand, you and the world.
For a Brand Design Agency, creating a memorable design personality for a product can be an immersive and knowledgeable learning experience. What they build becomes the face of the brand, its identity and in turn that identity attaches itself to an agency’s capabilities to create a strong connect between the product and the consumer.