6 Characteristics of a Well Designed Brand Identity

In a previous Building The Brand Episode I emphasized the importance of great design, and how it can determine the success or failure of your brand.

Let’s now get a little more specific and talk about your brand’s visual identity.

A brand’s visual identity includes every graphic and image that a brand uses to express who they are to their customers and differentiate themselves from the competition.

It’s included in everything that a customer will see, from your logo, to your website, to your social media posts and email communications.

But it’s not just about looking good.

Your visual identity should be purposeful and communicate who you are and what you stand for across all your brand touchpoints.

An effective, and well designed visual identIty will create memorable experiences, emotional connections, and shape perceptions.

To help you better understand its importance, here are 6 characteristics of a well designed visual identity:

#1: Your Visual Identity is Flexible

When designing your brand’s visual identity, don’t just think about today.

Your designs should be able to grow as your brand grows.

Think about your brand’s vision, where do you want to be in 5-10 years? What new products or services might you develop in the future?
What additional industries might you expand into?

Make sure your visual identity supports the possibilities of your brand’s future.

#2: Your Visual Identity is Targeted

Creating beautiful designs and products won’t have any effect on the success of your business if you are not displaying them to the correct audience.

That’s why it is critical that you design all aspects of your visual identity with your target audience in mind.

You must appeal to them, and only them.

Be sure you have a well defined target audience before you begin the design process.

#3: Your Visual Identity is Purposeful

Your brand’s purpose is the reason why you exist, and your brand’s visual identity must always support this purpose.

It’s who you are, why you exist, your goals, your values, and why your brand is useful to the customer.

These characteristics should all be reflected in everything you design for your brand.

#4: Your Visual Identity is Comprehensive

Your designers and content creators should be equipped with everything they need to effectively do their jobs.

Your brand’s visual Identity is not just a logo.

It also includes your brand colors, typography, photography, imagery, icons, infographics, and data visualizations.

#5: Your Visual Identity is Intuitive

Your brand visual identity needs to be designed in unison.

It should be developed so that each component compliments the others.

If all your designs use different colors, random typography, and inconsistent imagery, it will not be memorable or engaging to the consumer.

#6: Your Visual Identity is Emotional

People are extremely visual beings.

What we see can be very powerful and evoke strong emotions.

So your brand’s identity should represent your personality and values.

It needs to produce an emotional response, whatever that happens to be for your specific brand.

So those are the 6 characteristics of a well designed brand visual identity. Keep these fundamental tips in mind while you develop your brand strategy.

To continue your training and dive deeper into how to design your brand’s visual identity, and what you will need to provide to your design team to ensure that everything you produce is consistent and recognizable, then check out my free 7 Day Brand Bootcamp by enrolling below or by visiting 7DayBrandBootcamp.com.

I’ll see you there!