Logo, Visual Identity, and Brand… what’s the difference?
I’ve worked in the creative design industry, in some form or other, for around 15 years. And I’ve been creating logos, visual identities, and helping to shape businesses ‘brands’ for a good chunk of that time. I’ve helped with a number of clients, from startups who have never worked with a designer before and need a little handholding throughout the process, to established business owners who know where they want to be and have commissioned me to help them get there. Most are happy for their designer to lead the process and provide what’s needed to achieve the goal, however there is a level of knowledge sharing that is incumbent on the the designer to ensure the client truly understands what is being created, why, and what they can expect when they come out the other side of the creative process.
Why is this important?
I’m writing this short article to help clarify some terms that are often banded around before and during the creative process — for those who have worked with designers previously, but have not had the conversation and have felt a little confused, as well as those who have yet to hire a professional graphic designer and wish to equip themselves with the lingo to help smooth the process in the future. I feel this article will also be of value to some of my fellow graphic designers, no matter their experience level — specifically those whose day jobs may not involve a great deal of logo design and what’s often called ‘brand development’. This is important so that clients and designer are on the same page of what is being created, and what impact each element will have on the businesses.
I want to clarify the difference between the common visual assets that get created when a company invests in graphic design. Your logo is not your brand, it is simply the most prominent visual identifier that your customers may encounter the most (initially at least), and the logo helps create your visual identity, and this visual identity helps to create your company brand — which as I will explain shortly, is actually completely out of your control!
For this article, let me explain these differences by using the metaphor of a human being instead of a company…
Your logo
Your logo is your face. This is the core thing everybody thinks of when they hear a company name, it’s the thing that springs to mind and the visual that pops into people’s heads.
A logo can be an icon, mark, shape, or wordmark that is used to represent the idea or ethos of a company or organisation. It shouldn’t try and say everything all at once, but you can get a good impression of what it’s like and what it stands for — just like how by looking at someones face you may judge (for better or for worse) if you’d like to spend time with them or not.
Your visual identity
Your visual identity is your style of clothing, the sound of your voice, the things you say, how you say it.
These are the physical, visual and tangible elements that make up a person. You might be able to recognise a person by the clothes they wear, the sound of the voice, or the perfume they use, without seeing their face. The same could be said about visual identity elements, they are the characteristics that make up the company’s appearance and tone of voice. These can consist of brand colours, typefaces and fonts, icons or illustration style, patterns and recognisable shapes that are used throughout the marketing material. Even the type of materials you choose to package your products in, the sound effects and music in your adverts, and the smell of your physical premises and products become part of your company’s identity. All these combine to reinforce the picture of a company in your customers head that becomes the brand.
Your brand
Your brand is other people’s opinion of you — what they tell their friends about you when you’re not there.
This is how you make people feel; the thoughts, feelings and associations people have of you when they think of you. That is your real brand. And your brand is something you can’t truly control, because it doesn’t really exist in the real world.
Your company brand image can be reinforced by all your visual assets, all your marketing and messaging, where and how you get your message out there, and the cumulation of all the touchpoints your audience has with your organisation.
If you try to please everybody you will end up pleasing nobody.
Your brand is something that you have done your best to craft and shape via your clothing, the way you act, your values and what you say, but you can’t make people like you and that’s ok!
Conclusion
By understanding the important differences between the core elements when it comes to “brand design”, you will be in a better position when it comes to hiring a creative designer to help translate your ideas into reality. And by knowing the roles and business impact these have, you will be better able to communicate the objectives of your rebrand project to your key stakeholders and wider team when justifying budgets and rationalising why it’s important.
This article was originally published on www.goodwillstudios.com and is an extract from the book “The Plant Powered Brand — The 7 Key Steps To Building A Plant-Based Brand” designed to help ethical entrepreneurs and vegan businesses to make a bigger impact. Download your free copy here.
