Core Elements Of A Successful Brand Design
Your brand is your most valuable positioning asset and it needs to be regarded with absolute reverence. Here are 7 core elements of a successful brand design:
Brand Design Element #1.
Brand Positioning
What makes a brand a brand? Why does Coca Cola out-perform every competitor in basically every corner of the earth? Why do we spend upwards of $1,000 on the latest and greatest iPhone when cheaper alternatives exist that basically do the same thing? Why do people purchase a Rolex when the need for wearing a wristwatch in this era of technology is practically non-existent?
Brand positioning.
By effectively positioning a brand, it demonstrates that it stands for something – something that we want or need and can accept no alternative. Without positioning, a brand is weak and muddled, traction-less by its very foundation. Brand positioning is the key to elevating a company, product or service into rarified air that grabs everyone’s attention. Brand positioning provides the company a black and white contrast to its competitors, giving it an almost unfair advantage.
To establish this positioning, a brand must demonstrate unequivocally that it is relevant, focused and different. To ignore these qualities is to risk peril, and perhaps bankruptcy.
Brand Design Element #2.
The Tagline
Speak softly and carry a big stick. A tagline is your elevator pitch condensed to one floor. If properly designed, it conveys the purpose of the brand in a small, bite-sized chunk. An effective tagline communicates with its audience with a simplicity that its competitors may try to imitate but rarely duplicate.
When developing a tagline, it is imperative to its success and taking root that it effectively positions the brand, demonstrates the brand’s importance and provides something memorable that people will remember about the brand. A successful tagline will support brand positioning, and vice-versa.
Brand Design Element #3.
Personality
A brand simply must have personality. It must be recognizable, identifiable and generate a positive association in the marketplace. The personality must endure over a period of time and not be drastically influenced by current trends and flavors. It generates good will and a strong, personal connection with its target audience. The personality moves beyond platitudes and provides a genuine experience that customers can come back to again and again, expecting consistency and receiving it without fail.
When developing and maintaining a personality for a brand, it’s important to be genuine. Consumers can always smell a rat sooner or later and it’s best practice to stay true to your values, your marketplace, your positioning and – most importantly – your customers.
Brand Design Element #4.
Brand Promise
A brand is a promise, delivering to the minds of your audience a set of expectations in regards to your organization and its offerings. It is a perception – it can be positive or negative, strong or weak, definitive or diminutive.
A brand promise is the ethereal embodiment of its brand positioning. It is the 100% money-back-guarantee for the value and experience its services or products offer to its customers, no exceptions. Making such a promise is held sacred in the eyes of the marketplace, and by all means necessary it must be kept.
A company’s entire reputation is beholdened to its brand promise. A company should never make a promise it can’t keep.
Brand Design Element #5.
The Name
What’s in a name? A lot. In fact, the name of the brand should be considered its most valuable asset. A established brand name controls industries: Disney, Mercedes, Ritz Carlton, Microsoft. An established name has value unto itself. The benefits of strong name recognition helps the brand stand out from its competitors and generate customer loyalty.
Choosing the name for your company has residual importance. Whatever name you ultimately decide on it’s what the marketplace will associate hence forth. Your name represents potential and the brand promise your customers will grow to expect. An effective name will convey the business, its values, its products or services and make a powerful connection with its target audience.
Brand Design Element #6.
The Logo
A logo is a coat-of-arms. Hold it proudly when you walk into battle. Dating back to Henry V of England, the logo represents the family tribe. A logo is the visual personification of a brand, and it must effectively convey all attributes of the brand, including its positioning, personality and brand promise. An effective logo will instantly identify the brand, differentiate the brand, and give people a reason to remember the brand.
Logo design is both a creative and technical endeavor. The logo defines the color palette, font conventions and personality of the brand. A logo must be multi-medium, working in all situations and shapes and sizes. A well designed logo will come with a comprehensive styleguide, which is a set of rules provided and standards that must be rigidly adhered to in order to ensure brand consistency. An effective logo should be immediately recognizable and generate good will to the marketplace. Click Here to learn more about our logo/identity services.
Brand Design Element #7.
Messaging
A developing brand seeks a voice. This voice must convey messaging that demonstrates its core value to the marketplace. The messaging must be aligned with its brand promise, and in fact go hand in hand. Messaging creates demand, providing the marketplace with a solution to their problem. Brand messaging is storytelling, and uses the entire influence its brand Universe to ensure that its story is interesting, unique and necessary.
Your tagline is part of messaging. Your ads are part of messaging. Your elevator pitch is part of messaging. Your website is part of your messaging. Your collateral is part of your messaging. Your messaging conveys the differentiation between you and your competitors. Your messaging is simple, but engaging. Your messaging connects you with your target audience.
Conclusion
A brand design encapsulates the core elements of brand strategy, which includes brand positioning, tagline, promise, personality, name, logo and messaging of a company. Every element requires careful consideration and implementation in order to be successful.
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D E E P B L U E is a San Francisco web agency that delivers measurable results.
Founded in 1999, D E E P B L U E is an award-winning, ADA standards-compliant San Francisco web designer that provides custom web design, brand & identity strategy and search engine marketing services to businesses, technology innovators, non-profit organizations, government agencies and academic institutions. We are at the forefront of responsive web design and web technologies, creating a brand new user experience for desktop and mobile devices.
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