WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRAND AND BRAND IDENTITY?
Brand is the way someone perceives your business, its a gut feeling. It encompasses every point of contact that a business has with outside world. This could be everything from the way a staff member conducts them selves, language used or a web site. The identity is part of the brand and focuses on the way your brand is perceived visually.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF A BRAND
Navigation – to enable your business to stand out from your competition. To aid customers in navigating the huge array of competition and pick you out.
Reassurance – to provide reassurance to clients that they are making the right choice in choosing your company by communicating the quality of your service or product. Taking trust out of the buying process is key to a successful sales process.
Engagement – to help customers to identify with your company through the use of imagery and message. Without engagement your product or service will only compete on price.
WHAT ARE THE CORE ELEMENTS OF A BRAND IDENTITY?
The identity is made up of a series of visual items which form a system. The strength of the system is in creating a visual language that is easy for a customer to understand, making it easy for the business to communicate their message and values.
When designing an identity it is essential to have mastery of all the individual core elements to enable them to be combined into a powerful visual language for your business. The success of the brand identity will succeed or fail on the consistency and quality of the elements and how they are used.
APPROACH TO DESIGNING A BRAND
It is important to understand the commercial and academic reasons for a strong brand and its structure. How many businesses and designers make choices purely based on aesthetic reasons? How many businesses make decisions on their own branding on their own personal taste rather than their target market? More than you would think, I would say.