creating a strong corporate
and brand identity
As a business grows, it requires more and more marketing strategy, whether it’s indoor, outdoor, or online platforms. Corporate and Brand identity transmits the spirit and concept of the company and its products. It also establishes brand recognition and creates an authentic relationship with customers.
A brand identity takes time and effort to build. It is easily one of a company’s most valuable resources. It requires unity of the businesses’ products and services, giving the brand strength.
Here are some questions you need to consider.
- Does your corporate and/or brand identity serve as your business’s personality?
- Is your brand identity consistent across all elements?
- Do they stand out in a crowd?
The definition of corporate and brand identity
Identity is the personality and outward representation that expresses who you are as a company. It defines how you are viewed and evaluated by humanity. The elements of your company’s character enable people to recognize you and distinguish you from your competitors.
In the marketplace, there are many new businesses that are created and are registered every day. There are many businesses selling similar products and services. Therefore, the purpose of brand identity design is to make a differentiate your company and brand from others in the same market segment. An effective brand identity design does not appear out of nowhere; it is created with persistence via an exquisite marketing plan and strategy. Your brand identity should give consumers an instant palpable representation of your business.
What is the difference between corporate identity system (C.I.S.) and brand identity?
You may have heard of brand identity design and corporate identity system (CIS) before. In general, they are similar. Both have the same mission for delivering a consistent spirit and perception for a corporate brand identity. The usage of terms also varies depending on regions and industries.
Corporate Identity System can be more complicated than brand identity. Basically, C.I.S. is distinguished by 3 categories:
- Mind identity system (M.I. or M.I.S.)
It is the development of the fundamental spirit of a corporation. It has intangible assets for a corporation’s culture, management, development, strategy, guideline, and spirit. - Behavior identity system (B.I. or B.I.S.)
This is the implementation of actual physical behavior for a corporation. This is a tangible asset of corporation’s services, sales, products quality control, events, public relations, and environment. - Visual identity system (V.I .or VIS)
it is the creation of a series design that can represent the corporation. It’s the intelligent property of a corporation’s elements, specification, and application of identification. You can also say that brand identity design is similar to this level of the system.
MI, BI and VI work together and make a strong corporate identity system. It is not just for the purpose of recognition in society; it is also the affection and direction of the corporation’s culture and management.
The format of corporate and brand identity
No matter what character and spirit you like to develop, the most essential part is to design consistently throughout every element of your corporate and brand. Most people believe that identity design is only limited to visual development. To our viewpoint, it can be a sense of vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and even touching. Everything can be developed as your own unique identity for people to feel, like, and recognize you. The marketing is constantly changing and there are more possibilities for a business to create. Thinking out of the box is your best bet in the game of marketing. It is the key to making you really different.
The process of corporate and brand identity design
- Research – Before creating anything, it’s important to study the marketing of your category. To learn your competitors’ advantage and weakness in order to decide the strategy you are going to pin down.
- Positioning – After you are confident with your research and know what your advantage and opportunity are, you have a determined plan where you believe you can stand out in the marketplace.
- Design – Once the decision has been made, the design team can start developing identity materials for business. Each material should match to the positioning you have made. Going in inconsistent directions will produce confusion, fuzzy, and unclear recognition for customers.
- Management – After the development, it is important to keep guidelines on whole corporate and brand. The guideline can be applied to visuals, products, or even services, etc. Consistency is the key to approaching your completion of branding.
Last, we would like to continue touching on three categories of corporate and brand identity.
Elements of Identification:
Developing the elements is the essential work at the beginning. The goal is to create a unique visual plan for corporate and branding. Developing a specific personality and spirit for the identity, so it stands out in the marketplace. The elements should be reflected the value, spirit and the culture of the business.
The essential elements including brand naming, brand story, logo, logotype, typography, symbol, color, philosophy, slogan, mascot, patterns, style… and more!
Specification of Identification:
This step is to set up the guidelines for the whole identity design. It also helps you with dos and don’ts for your corporation and brand. The goal is to maintain a visual consistency plan and usage rules throughout corporate and brand identity.Include guidelines of the logo, logotype, typography, font, standard color / auxiliary color system… and more!
Application of Identification:
The goal is an evolution of established elements and specifications for corporate and brand identity. In order to reach visibility in the marketplace, the visual plan needs to be consistent.
The creation including items such as office supplies, product packaging, flag plan, staff uniforms, print and online media, advertising plans, indoor and outdoor environmental graphics, exhibition visual plans, promotional products, transportation visual plans… and more!
Every industry has different needs and requirements for making a brand shine. It also requires continuous progression and forward development. Going in a different direction to stand out in the marketplace is completely different from going in the wrong direction. Therefore, every step you move, it must be operating correctly on the right track.
