What is Brand Designing?
Creating, refreshing, or redesigning a distinct identity for a service or product is known as
brand designing. Sometimes, this encompasses the total brand experience of an organization or
company.
Brand designing is one of the crucial marketing practices of creating the logo, design,
name, brand messaging and symbolic elements related to the brand to create a unique identity as compared to other brands in the market and supports product differentiation. It is one of the foremost
practices of the branding process and should be exclusive in nature.
The following design components should have the following brand identity elements:
Logo
Tagline
Website
Marketing collaterals such as leaflets and brochures
Product Packaging
Staff uniform
E-mail signature
Business card
Social media pages
Hoardings and billboards
Design-templates
Brand designing should start from scratch and involve all key members of the management
and marketing department so as to brainstorm together. This is because the finalized
design reflects the face of the firm and will exude a strong brand.
The overall brand design should align well with and complement the brand objectives,
ethos, fundamentals, and values of the company and carve a distinctive corporate identity.
The selection of message, story, colour palette, typography, and design strategy should
complement the business’s personality.
Brand designing is also associated with every expression of the brand, the way
management handles its customers and exceeds customers’ expectations. Brand
designing is one of the central aspects of the overall branding strategy.
How Is Brand Designing Important?
Lasting impression
It is important to present the brand design and the related visual communication aesthetically to the market. This ensures an instant registration of the brand in consumers’ minds as well as a lasting impression. This boosts brand recall factor.
Focusses on the business DNA
The brand design should match with the goals, objectives, ethics, and values of the
organization. The design elements and language of the company should reflect these
factors. When these aspects are taken care of, the nature, personality, and DNA of the
business are communicated professionally to the customers.
Intangible asset
The brand is an intangible asset of any organization because it is stable and constant in
nature. It offers long-term benefits to the organization.
Sets expectations
Brand design is the first step to introduce a brand to the market. When the consumers are
positively aware of the brand, the expectations are set. This establishes a stable
relationship between target customers and the company.
Competitive advantage
An organization can carve a distinctive niche in the market if it has an aesthetically
designed brand and attractive strategies. The organization, thus, gains a competitive
advantage.
Generates referrals
While designing a brand, it is important to remember that the customer is the best brand
ambassador. Keeping the customer happy generates referrals as well as ensures quality
leads for one’s business.
Emotional connect
A well-designed brand connects to the customers at the emotional level and creates a
positive perspective in their minds towards the brand.
Brand recognition
A good brand design registers itself in the consumers’ minds and creates a lasting impact.
The brand can be recognized through its font, logo, design, colour scheme, and the like.
Steps of Brand Designing
According to American graphic designer Paul Rand,
“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”
Nielsen’s Global New Product Innovation Survey reflected that nearly 59% of
people prefer to buy new products from brands familiar to them.
The brand designing process starts with making note of who one is marketing to and
understanding how to position one’s brand to attain the marketing goals. There are four
chief principles of the brand designing process.
The first principle – Brand Logo
The most successful brands have memorable logos that fit with their brand images as well.
For example, Apple’s logo suits its products that reflect ease-of-use and stylishness.
The different types of logos are Icon (Apple), Word Mark (Samsung), Combination
Mark (Icon & Word Mark, Huawei), Icon and Letter Abbreviation (IBM), Emblem
(Levi’s), and Legacy (KFC). The chosen logo should be eye-catching and represent your
brand accurately and following the latest graphic design trends.
The second principle – Color
Different colours represent different emotions. Green means sustainable, red means bold,
white means peace, and so on. Fast food companies use bold, bright colours. For example,
KFC and McDonalds. McDonald's also employs a clown mascot, Ronald McDonald.
Luxury brands use a subtler colour palette such as blacks, whites, and greys.
Colour consistency encourages brand trust, makes the brand appear stable and reliable,
and creates brand loyalty.
The third principle – Font
Your font choice adds to your brand’s personality. Fonts exude visual tones. There are
three types of fonts – traditional fonts (for luxury brands), modern fonts (for younger
audience), combination (for a broad target) and heavy fonts (for greater visibility)
The fourth principle – Imagery
The imagery selected is connected to the market selected. The types of imagery are
product in a scenario, product, lifestyle, and illustration.
Brand Designing Key Trends Set to Dominate
The following brand design trends will dominate web design, landing page, logos, packaging, and the
like.
Street Art Style
We are observing a surge of street-art influenced the design and retro-inspired graffiti. Young
designers are likely to advocate the DIY aesthetic of street art as design training and
education have become popular because of online channels. This line art is reflected in the business
card designed for Push by Mark Unger reflects this style.
Motion Graphics
The movement will shape branding design in the present in a sophisticated way. Branded animations is an influential way to bring a brand to life. Simple motion graphics are expected to be seen
evolving into a continuous animation sequence to capture interest. For example, live BMX
freestyle data visualization from designer Clever Franke.
Cyberpunk
Designers are likely to embrace a futuristic cyberpunk style characterized by bright,
luminous color schemes , oversaturated hues and color gradients. Hot pinks, magentas, and blue neons
will typically come into play. These colour schemes create an otherwordly, surreal visual
landscape like that of the sci-fi genre. For example, the latest packaging of Nitro tea and
punk-inspired Mayhem hair products.
Bevels and Chisels
The bevels and chisels trend finds a balance between skeuomorphism (making items
resemble their real-world counterparts) and flat design by creating 3D forms out of hard
lines. These design subtly resemble real-life objects. The final result is a flat image that is
real enough to touch. For example, the logo for the Twin Cities Bike Polo created by
Studio Day Job.
It is important that marketers know where the market is heading towards to keep their
brands relevant and modern. Knowing the brand designing trends is definitely a step in this
direction.
Bold yet Simple:
You be in any industry, IT, Logistics, Products based literally any... existing companies are re-branding themselves to fit into the concept of "Be Bold yet Simple" to be catchy and to be remembered easily. And startups are not an inch behind in designing their brand attributes to accommodate the concept of being strong and vivid. Be it a simple name card or the products on the shelf of the supermarkets.
Now, why is it so?
One of the possible reasons could be the current competition in the market where many companies work in the same segment of business and brand differentiation becomes all the more important and crucial to remain significant in the market.
Another plausible reason our conscious memory is short-termed and limited whereas our unconscious memory is unlimited, so clear & concise visual can be easily processed thus connecting easily with the target audience.
Minimalist Design:
These days the concept "Less is More" is trending in terms of designing ones brand attributes. This idea of brand design trend connects to the first point of being simple in the thoughts, whether it is easy navigation through the website or a simplistic Ad design. It should not be cluttered with much text, buttons, links or fails to sync with the brand colour combination.
Put forward what you want to communicate and leave behind what does not pass the message you are willing to deliver. Be it your logo, wordmark letterhead, corporate brochures, product designs, flyers, hoardings or banners, let a picture do most of the talks for you with minimal or no text.
Responsive Design:
The more the engagement level, the more successful is your brand. So why get stuck in a static phase, be dynamic and responsive. Especially your website and apps both in desktop and mobile version should have an interactive UX design. But do not overdo just for the sake of it.
Remember to be minimalistic!
Gradients are back!:
For more than a decade flat design was in. But now the right mix of flat design with a shade of bold colours has been the modern mantra to revamp and create brand designs. The transition of colour is adding depth to the look and feel.
With the right brand designing trends incorporated by the brand management team will improve your business growth, brand awareness along with social consciousness about your brand.
Hope you like the branding trends mentioned above. like and share the blog!