We have noticed for some time that certain brands that were at the top of the podium thanks to their brand identity are honored and sometimes must even change their names and slogan. But what are the essential principles to respect?
The brand’s identity is a passport
This allows a brand to be recognized instantly regardless of the place where you are but also to be recognized by customers only when you mention your name or the vision of your logo. That is to say its crucial importance.
Any entrepreneur wishing to settle on a market must initially benefit from an identity for his brand which will establish it with the public in a sustainable manner.
Rely on values
To develop an identity, it is good to promote certain values. The company has a completely logical profit objective. Nevertheless, it remains a human activity which must be of meaning, internally as with its customers and providers. This can be sustainable development, innovation, authenticity depending on the activity practiced.
Make a simple
For an effective brand identity, it must be thought in terms of clarity. The ideal is that from the name, the public can already imagine the service offered, which has the advantage of immediately selecting a potential customers. This may limit their impact in terms of quantity, but each sensitized person will further memorize the identity conveyed.
Slogan or not?
Think about a slogan, a signature, is very common and often effective. However, the idea can quickly increase the visibility campaign. If the name of the company already announces the activity, or that graphically the message is already going well without slogan, we can do without it. Having a signature in mind to define identity does not necessarily have to make it include.
The visual
Graphic work is essential to any identity. Today the information passes quickly and captures the human eye less and less. You have to be impactful and original enough to stay in memory. A company will not save a graphically modern logo.
Which professionals to choose?
Great professionalization characterizes the communication professions. A designer-editor is not a graphic designer, a web designer is not necessarily a designer. Compared to the initial ambition and the supports intended to receive the identity of the brand, the entrepreneur will have to choose what type of professionals to address according to his needs, to avoid wasting time and/or being disappointed.
Coherence
The brand’s visual identity should not be thought only in a graphic way. However, this must meet a communication strategy. Should the activity indications integrate the design, should the name be entirely part of the logo, what colors will speak to the customer? All this depends on the market on which we intend to act and the competition which reigns there.
Think in time
A brand identity is attached to the company, of course. It is still necessary to take into account the need for evolution of graphics. Thus, at the time of its development, it is good to imagine what can be the perfectible elements thereafter, even if one does not provide for a change before long months. When, for one reason or another, the logo will be changed, we will already know what spaces can be malleable.
The usefulness of variations
In the same vein, it may be interesting to provide possible variations for the identity of the brand. For a company acting with several markets, or which may be led to do so, the logo must follow. Each trade (or support, depending on the destination of the variations) will be assigned a personalization from the same logo, which will attach it to the original company while recognizing its specificity.
Generalize its use
As soon as the graphic identity is defined, it must be used everywhere. It must resolutely attach to the company. Presentation pads, header paper, mailing signature, icons on social networks, it is at this price that it will be promoted, until it becomes obvious to the public.
Protect yourself from any legal failures
It is not necessarily obvious, but there are legal instruments to protect themselves from plagiarism. A brand identity is a work, designed from an idea and which is specific to the user. Even if the risk appears uncertain, do not hesitate to definitively attach this image to your business.