| What to consider while designing brands and identities? |
A logo isn't your brand, neither is it your identity. The different parts played by Logo design, branding and identity design together form an apparent image for any business or product. There's been some recent conversation on the web about this subject, about your logo not being your brand. What is branding? Branding is clearly not a light subject. Complete publications and lots of books have been created on the subject, however to put it in brief you might describe a 'brand' as an organisation, product or service with a 'personality' that's formed by the perceptions of the fans. On that note, it should additionally be said that a designer can't make a brand only the audience can do this. A designer forms the bedrock of the brand. Many folks believe a brand only is composed of one or two elements some colors, some fonts, a logo, a slogan and perhaps some music added in too. In fact, it is way more difficult than that. You could say that a brand is a 'corporate image '. The fundamental idea and core idea behind having a 'corporate image' is that everything a company does, everything it owns and everything it produces should reflect the values and purposes of the business in total. It's the consistent performance of this core idea that is responsible to make up the company, driving it, showing what it stands for, what it believes in and the reason why they exist. It isn't purely some colors, some typefaces, a logo and a slogan. What's identity design? The identity or 'image' of a company is made of many visible devices: All these things form an identity and must support the brand as an entire. The logo nonetheless is the company identity and brand wrapped into one identifiable mark. This mark is the avatar and symbol of the business in total. What is a logo?
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