Slidegenius, Inc.

Reinforcing Your Brand Identity

You’ve probably heard the terms “brand identity” and “brand image.” They’re both important. But do you know the difference?

Your brand identity is how you want people to perceive your brand. Brand image, on the other hand, is how people currently see your brand.

At SlideGenius, we’ve spent years making sure that our clients are presenting themselves in the best possible manner. Each client gets their own dedicated design team.

If you’re a bit uncertain about telling your brand identity from your brand image, we have a few ideas for you.

Form Your Visual Signature

Humans are visual creatures. Our memories are deeply tied to what we see. We associate moments and feelings to colors, images, scenes. So, usually, when we talk about brands or companies, the first image that comes to mind is the logo.

Your logo will be an intrinsic part of your identity. It will appear on emails, stationery, ads and anything that connects to your company.

It must reflect the personality of your brand. Is it fun, creative and active?Or is it more subdued, minimalist and classic? Take the time to conceptualize your logo and, if you are able, hire a professional to design it.

Take note that your logo should reflect the company’s colors and your chosen typeface.

Choosing your company colors is as important as conceptualizing your logo.

Most people base their decisions on emotion. Apart from this, color psychology has been widely used in branding and marketing.

Consider what emotions you want your target audience to feel. Make sure that the chosen emotion also fits your brand’s identity.

The other element of your logo is the typeface.

Fonts carry layers of subliminal communication and meaning, much like color. Do you want your brand to exude strength and power? Consider a typeface with sharp and angled edges. Soft and graceful? Cursive might work well. Make sure that, like color, your chosen typeface matches your brand’s identity.

As a final touch, create your company’s tagline or slogan. Your tagline must be short, simple, and consistent with your brand’s identity.

If you’re having trouble with the design, consult with SlideGenius today. Branding is one of the areas we specialize in.

Content Is King

Once you have formed your visual signature, another avenue to reinforce your brand is to create a steady stream of content on all your company’s channels. Content is essential in your public relations, enabling the audience to know you better through blog posts, articles, white papers and other media such as videos and photos.

To create quality content, you have to determine your brand’s voice first. Is it friendly? Professional? Technical? Like your visual signature, your brand’s voice must match your brand identity so that your target market can relate and trust you more.

Once you have decided on a voice, use it to create your content, whether it be written, photos, or video. Keep it relatable but significant, whether in inspiring brand loyalty or upselling your services.

Social Expression

Finally, utilize social media to closely engage with your audience using your brand voice. Imprint your brand identity on your social media accounts. Utilize your logo, tagline, colors. Write and promote posts that align with your identity. Use your brand voice to converse with the audience.

Social media allows you to encourage conversation, providing a platform to promote and reinforce your identity to the world.

Find a Design Agency that Supports Your Brand Identity

Remember that you are telling your brand’s story. Integrate the elements of your brand’s identity in everything you do, whether it be on social media, presenting to a client, or talking to a large audience. Consistency is important, and in time your brand image will develop organically and inspire a loyal following.

At SlideGenius, we help businesses reinforce their brand identity and shape their brand image through presentations, content, and imagery. We have helped thousands of people create dynamic PowerPoint presentations that bring your value to the forefront while elevating your brand identity. We’ve helped people raise more than $500 million over the years. We can help you, too. Reach out to find out to find out if you can help.

3 Tips to Powerful Logos Based on Design Principles

A company logo is crucial in representing your brand. An excellently made logo will increase your brand recognition and help to make your business easily identifiable, representing your brand professionally and encapsulating its image.  For this reason, we’ve collected three points you need to remember in creating your brand’s logo:

1. Design Appropriate with Your Message

Your logo is a crucial customer touchpoint, and will form the initial impression people have about your brand before they even make a direct transaction. Choosing the right design means giving your logo your brand’s identity. For instance, are you aiming to be serious and formal? Or fun and approachable?

Tailor your logo to your message and mission without being too direct or obvious. You can include your company name in your logo, or just leave powerful icons that matter to your brand.

For example, Apple uses an apple as their brand logo. Attributed to graphic designer Rob Janoff, the Apple logo has undergone numerous changes through the years, but has remained consistent in one thing – the iconic apple. A feature on Janoff’s page shows his creative process in visualizing the company logo around the symbolic fruit it’s become known for.

Janoff’s original design, which was a rainbow-striped apple, meant to humanize the products, emphasize the product’s ability to show colored images, and make it more attractive to the eyes, especially to children. Similarly, use an appropriate design to achieve a distinct identity that sets you apart from the competition.

2. Simplicity is Key

Keep your design as simple as possible without being extremely clean and minimalistic all the time, since a design that’s too bare may also bore people. Having a very intricate logo tends to be confusing, and will be more difficult to reproduce on your products. By definition, a cluttered logo is one that has extraneous elements in its design.

Too many colors, characters, or embellishments that aren’t related to your company’s overall message are considered superfluous elements, and should be left out of your logo.

To get the right balance of character and minimalism, maximize your use of white space. White space, or negative space, is the absence of any objects or elements. You don’t have to saturate viewers with too much glamor to get your message across. Applying white space lets people’s eyes rest and focus on the most important parts of your logo. Leave the backdrop of your logo free of extra elements to help it stand out and grab attention effectively.

If you’re aiming for a powerful impact, an image that summarizes your business identity will suffice. For example, social media platform Twitter’s logo, credited to freelance designer Simon Oxley, features a blue bird. Its latest design is rounded, simple, and unembellished, but it manages to explain what Twitter stands for in a single image, which just goes to show that “show, not tell” applies to logo-making as well.

3. It Should Stick

Like a good tagline, your logo needs to be timeless and memorable. To attract and keep people’s attention, consider tapping into the psychology of shape and color. Different colors affect people in different ways, so knowing which ones to use can give your brand a leverage.

Some of the most common colors used, especially in the food industry, are red and yellow. These warm colors command attention because of their vibrancy. In the same way, shapes can stir certain ideas in your viewers. Those with soft edges, like circles or ovals, project positivity and unity. On the other hand, pointed shapes with more defined edges, like squares and triangles, portray stability and formality.

For a logo that doesn’t intend to use images, shape psychology can still come in handy with the fonts you use. Fonts with softer edges have the same effect as circular shapes, while sleeker, more angular fonts evoke similar reactions as sharp shapes.

Some logos also manipulate negative space to create a clever and striking design. The famous WWF logo designed by British conservationist and ornithologist, Sir Peter Scott, mixes white space and strokes of the color black to create an image of a panda. This play with space and color both effectively encapsulates the organization’s ideals, and serves as a visual treat.

In Conclusion: Logos Can Make or Break Your Brand

Logos need to be catchy and relevant to your business so people can easily associate them with your brand. Remember: find the right logo design by having it reflect your message, and use white space to draw attention to the main parts of your logo. Similarly, tap into shape and color psychology to be both noticeable and unforgettable.

Follow these simple design principles to help your logo stand out in the market.

References

Simon Oxley Idokungfoo for You Illustration. Accessed January 6, 2016. www.idokungfoo.com
“Sir Peter Scott.” WWF UK. Accessed January 6, 2016. www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/history/sir_peter_scott.cfm
“The Apple Logo Story.” Rob Janoff. Accessed December 11, 2015. www.robjanoff.com/the-apple-logo-story
“The Psychology of Logo Shapes: A Designer’s Guide.” Creative Bloq. Accessed December 11, 2015. www.creativebloq.com/logo-design/psychology-logo-shapes-8133918
“Twitter_logo_blue.png.” Twitter. Accessed December 11, 2015. https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png
“WWF Logo – Design and History of WWF Logo.” Logo Design Blog. Accessed January 6, 2016. www.famouslogos.us/wwf-logo“WWF Logo.”
“WWF Logo.” Pixel Logo. Accessed December 11, 2015. www.pixellogo.com/sites/www.pixellogo.com/files/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WWF-Logo.gif

Featured Image: “Basic Logos” by Armando Sotoca on flickr.com
www.flickr.com/photos/criterion/4693090982

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