Brand Identity is any sensory input that humans receive from your business. Your logo, the colors you chose for your signs, the font you use on your business cards. It can expand even further to help immerse people into your brand but we will cover that on part 2. Now Part 1 – the Basics.
The basics of brand identity are Logo, Font and Colors. It’s the things that we most associate with a business when we think of them or look for their store. The consistency among these three basic elements is what will create a feeling of familiarity with your customers which will help increase their trust.
Logo Your logo is the visual identifier of your business. You want to make sure that you use the same logo consistently in every place a customer might come into contact with you. A logo family can also be used (i.e. a vertical and horizontal version) but make sure they have enough in common to easily tell that they are related.
Colors The colors that you choose for your business should be written down and used consistently. For instance you have chosen Red as your main business color. You should choose a specific red and find out the CMYK value, Hexadecimal value and even Pantone Matching System value if you want to be real specific. Red, for instance, can be very subjective so it can vary greatly when a vendor is told that you want something red. If you instead go that vendor and give them the CMYK, Hex or PMS number, they will know the exact red you want. Using the same colors consistently will make your business more recognizable. Think of Ferrari red, John Deere Green or Tiffany Blue. Each of these are a specific color.
Fonts You have lots of fonts out there to choose from, literally thousands. You should choose 3. I know, pretty hard, but it will pay out greatly when it comes to having a clean and consistent brand. You should find a good solid text font, something easy to read. I personally love Helvetica or Myriad for this. You should find a good solid headline font, something that matches the feeling of your brand, use this for headlines and emphasis. It should still be readable but you can have a little fun here. You should have a third that is the font of your logo or something similar. Sticking with only a few fonts will help keep that consistency across your cards, signage, website, and other marketing materials.
Look for part 2 where I will cover some more brand identity pieces that will really help you build that visual consistency in your business. If you have any questions on the pieces above or need help figuring them out for your business please feel free to get in touch.
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