What is Visual Identity Of A Brand?

If you have just opened a company or a business, most likely you will have immersed yourself in the fantastic world of branding, that is the process that every company should undertake to define the image of its brand – conveying values, sensations and meanings recognizable by consumers. – and to make it distinctive from that of competitors.

An important part of this process is the creation of the brand’s visual identity , also called visual identity

Visual identity definition

To explain what the visual identity of a brand is, we can start from the definition given by the Business dictionary, sounds like this:

They are the visible elements of a brand, such as colors and shapes, which incorporate and convey symbolic meanings that cannot be imparted only through words. In a larger (corporate) example, visual identity can include elements such as building architecture, color schemes, and dress code.

In short, the visual identity of a brand is the set of those graphic and visual elements that make a brand recognizable and that at the same time convey its values.

The visual identity is a very important part of the branding strategy, so that companies have in place usually of a visual identity manual that serves as a veritable “instruction booklet” for both the offline communication (for example to create paper letterhead, business cards, packaging, etc.) and for online presence (website, newsletter, blog, social channels, etc.).

But what are the main elements of a brand’s visual identity?

• The logo
• The color system
• Typefaces

All these elements are carefully studied to create a clear and unique visual identity that must be consistently declined on all communication channels used by the company , including the website.

To create and manage the elements of the visual identity of a brand it is important to turn to figures such as graphic designers , able to interpret the needs of the client / company and to create effective visual communication.

The creativity and skills of these professionals, however, are unfortunately often underestimated by those who commission them a job. Don’t run into this mistake too! In fact, in order to make this profession, in-depth studies and a lot of commitment are required.

Now let’s see in more detail the elements of the visual identity of a brand and some tips to convey it online too.

The logo

• Wordmark / Logotype: is a text-only logo. Famous examples are the Coca Cola logo and the Google logo.
• Lettermark: it is always a logo made up of text, but in this case only a few letters are used, typically the initials of the brand. Examples are the IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) and CNN (Cable News Network) logos.
• Iconic logos: consist of a symbol, without text. Among the most famous are Apple’s apple and Nike’s “swoosh”.
• Combined logos : consist of a symbol chosen to represent the brand and a wordmark and lettermark. Some examples are the Burger King and WWF logos.
• Badges or emblems : these are logos made up of both text and a symbol, but in this case the text is incorporated within the symbol or icon. Famous badges are those of FIAT and Starbucks.

The color system

Even the colors are an important component of the visual identity of a brand. Each color, in fact, communicates different emotions and sensations , so we can say they are what gives a brand personality.

When choosing your brand colors, therefore, take into account their meaning:

• Yellow: expresses cheerfulness, happiness, fun, creativity and optimism.
• Orange: expresses vitality, energy, balance and courage.
• Blue – expresses the idea of ​​cleanliness, calm, peace, security, reliability and trust.
• Red: expresses the idea of ​​action, adventure, courage, passion, rebellion
• Green: expresses the idea of ​​hope, freshness, fertility and nature.
• Purple: expresses nobility, spirituality, elegance and style.
• Black: expresses luxury, refinement, importance and mystery.
• White: expresses purity, cleanliness, simplicity and goodness.

The colors will not only be used for your logo, but also for all the communication channels of your company. In fact, both on social networks and on your website, it is important to use colors in a strategic way to make it clear to users who visit your social page or your website that they are in a clearly recognizable environment that can be traced back to your brand.

Typefaces

The choice of typeface is just as important when creating the visual identity of your brand. The character identified, in fact, must be used for all texts related to offline and online communications. For this reason it is better to focus on a font that is clearly readable by consumers. To be clear, a calligraphic font can be very beautiful, but it requires a greater effort of concentration when reading, especially in the case of long text. We recommend that you choose a typeface belonging to the Sans Serif category ,ie “ sans serif ”, with a cleaner appearance.