In a world full of different businesses, brand visuals are also growing by the number. As a business owner, you wouldn’t want to just be another one of the brands and businesses in the market. You always want to make a mark. And you can only do that if you can make a visual identity design that defines your brand and also sets you apart from your competitors. This article will help you in exactly understanding all about visual identity - its definition, its purpose, its elements, and the important considerations you need to think about when you are creating your own.
What is Visual Identity?
Visual identity is the collection of all the design and graphic elements that you create to represent your business. Your logos, color theme, brand name, etc. all come together to paint an image for your business. Visual identity makes your business stand out and be memorable to your customers. It helps you establish a certain look that will easily remind them of your business whenever and wherever. It solidifies your brand identity, and it heightens brand awareness and recognition for your brand. Your brand visuals consistency helps your customers’ familiarity with your brand and thus, they are more likely to continue to support your business in the long run.
In building your visual identity, remember that your brand identity should be its basis and cornerstone. You want to create a visual identity design that stands out but is still relevant to your target audience. It can be simple, yet it should also be flexible to the changing times. You would want your brand visuals to be aesthetically pleasing and emotionally attractive, but also you have to make them functional that you can easily reproduce and attach them to your products, packaging, and other materials.
Brand Visual Identity and Brand Identity
Think of brand visuals as the cover and physical of a good book, then think of the brand identity as the plot and storyline. This sums up the difference between brand identity and visual identity. Brand identity refers to the more intrinsic aspect of your business, such as your mission, your vision, your brand philosophy, and your advocacy. It is the foundation of your business. It defines your purpose. On the other hand, brand visual identity refers to the designs and symbols that represent your brand identity. It includes the logo, the typography, the color theme, and all visual elements that you use to represent your business. Your brand visuals are what you use to help your customers know and remember you. It helps you to leave a mark easily anywhere you take your business to. Much like a book cover, it is where your customers get their first impression of you. It is what makes them pick you up and start reading what you’re all about.
Creating Your Own Visual Identity Design
Now that you know the basics about brand visuals. Let’s talk about the most important elements that make up your brand visual identity. While you can think of more elements - graphics or designs, that you can integrate into your visual identity, these four elements are the basic ones that you should really include and give thorough thought and attention to.
∙ Logo
Your brand logo is the primary symbol of your business. A logo is a combination or a culmination of all your other brand visuals. It can include your brand name, written in your brand colors, and a kind of symbol or image or design. It is usually the key thing that describes your visual identity design. Be creative in creating your logo. It can be nothing extravagant, maybe even just a play around your brand name and other brand visuals, what’s important is that it truly symbolizes your brand identity. You can find programs and applications online to help you create the best logo for your business.
∙ Typography
Another important element of your visual identity is the typography. This refers to the font style, the font size, and the font arrangement of your text. If you are going to include your brand name in your brand logo, then the typography that you use there should also be the type you use in your other brand visuals. The shape and style of the text you used is vital because it adds to the aesthetics of your website, your products, and other assets that your business may have. It doesn’t have to be uniform all throughout your different assets, but it must at least be similar in appearance. Using different fonts and styles might make your visual identity seem messy, and you wouldn’t want that.
∙ Color Theme
The colors that you use are vital to make your visual identity a good one. Deciding on a certain set of colors that you will use all throughout your brand visuals can be challenging. Given the wide range of colors in the palette, it's difficult to find which ones go the best together. You can try finding help online in this aspect. The important thing is that you understand the weight you are putting on these colors. After all, these colors will and must be present in all of your other brand visuals. It can be from different parts of the color wheels, but make sure that they don’t clash and that they aren’t irritating to the eyes.
∙ Photography
The last element of visual identity that we will talk about in this article is photography and imagery. While it is understandable that your business might not be capable of getting professionals to take photos of your products and services, there are many photography tips and tricks that you can find online to help you get high-quality images for your business website and other advertisements. The important thing to remember is that it should be high quality and it can tell your brand story. It should be compelling and aesthetic. It might also be helpful to just follow one filter and style for your images so that it looks more appealing on your website or your social media feed.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Now that you know the distinct elements that your brand visuals must contain, we also want to give you some tips on what you should consider while creating each of these elements of visual identity. Here are five tips to help you get started:
- Be Clear On Your Brand Identity - Remember that your brand identity should be the foundation of your brand visual identity. Thus, before even getting started on creating your brand visuals, you should have a deep understanding of your brand identity. Being confused about any concepts within your brand identity would lead you to be clouded while you create any of the visual elements we mentioned above. And this might lead you to make mistakes in your creation.
- Get to Know Your Audience - Your brand visuals should speak to your audience. It must be understood by your target market for it to be appreciated and remembered by them. It should be relatable to them and it should also be appropriate for the platforms that you decidedly use. You can use customer segmentation techniques to get to know your target audience. Creating an audience profile would help you narrow down what you need for your brand visual identity.
- Research About Your Competitors - Benchmarking is not only useful to get to know your competitors' strategies and product offerings. It can also be useful in finding inspiration and finding the key to how you can stand out from them. If you have enough knowledge of the competitors, you have in the industry, then you will see what brand visuals already exist. Thus, you will know what you should include in your visual identity in order to stand out from the crowd.
- Match and Be Consistent - Your customers will appreciate and remember you more if you are consistent. That is, you can’t just blatantly change your visual identity when you feel like it. Remember that this represents your brand identity so changing it won’t make much sense unless time and growth has changed your business that it deems necessary. It is also much better to be consistent since your visual identity will have already stuck to your audience’s mind, changing won’t help you.
- Identify the Position of Brand Visuals - While creating your visual identity, keep in mind where you plan to put them on. Consider the products that you have and ask yourself if your brand visuals would look good on them. Think about your packaging and how you can integrate your brand visual identity into them. You should consider these kinds of things because if your brand visuals turn out to be too contrasting towards your products and other business assets, then it might not be the right ones for you.
5 Brand Visuals Made With Strikingly
These visual identity designs were all made possible by Strikingly. As you browse through them, take note how they designed their website. Note the logos they have designed and how they are very much representative of their brand identity. Also, pay attention to how they use their specific color palette and typography consistently all throughout their entire website. Try to find inspiration in them so that you already have an idea of how you will start and go about making your very own.
1. Fighting Pretty
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
2. Little Helpers
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
3. OOO Graphic Design
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
4. Pretty Olive Interiors
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
5. We Are Superheroes
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Much like you and your business’ purpose, your visual identity is bound to make a difference - both in your sales numbers and in the industry as a whole. Your visual identity will help you leave a stronghold in the market. It will guide you through success and ultimately help you conquer the world of business and entrepreneurship. Strikingly is one of the many tools that you can use to make this a reality. With a website made by Strikingly, you can showcase your visual identity and initiate long-lasting growth for your business. Sign up with Strikingly today!
