Every business needs a logo. It represents what the company sells or provides, what the brand stands for, what are the values the business shares. What industry it operates in and what sort of message it tries to communicate to its customers. A logo can either make or break a business. Therefore, it is important to make sure it is well-designed and on point.
CEOs, founders, heads of marketing, creative directors and design agencies work hard to achieve the best results possible when it comes to visual representation of a company. However, is getting on a logo sufficient for the success of the business? How about brand identity? If you are unfamiliar with the term, read on.
Brand Identity Design
Brand identity design (or corporate identity) is an extension of a logo. Standard packages usually include specified brand colors, fonts, business card design, letterhead, envelopes, and compliment notes design.
Think, for example, of hotels. Luxury ones like Hilton give great importance to design – from an interior, through merchandise to brand identity. Not only their logos are well thought-through but so are the room keys, name tags, letters and envelopes as well as toiletries. A hotel which doesn’t show design consistency among at least the above items is almost never perceived professional or luxury.
The Example of Dunkin’
Do you remember the rebranding of Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’? The company redesigned its whole brand identity not only the logo itself. The purpose was to adjust it to the current menu (which serves more items that the doughnuts only) and to its customers as 60% of their purchases consist of Dunkin’ coffee and iced tea, not the sweet treats.
Moreover, the shortened name and improved logo appear in more places than just the chain’s entrance sign. The colors and fonts are used on all sort of merchandise and promotional items like napkins, takeaway cups, business cards, menu, website, social media, and all packaging.
The shortened name didn’t come out from nowhere. The name has been used already since 2006 in the company’s well-known marketing campaign “America Runs On Dunkin’”. Hence, the rebranding isn’t a random decision but a continuous effort to appeal to the target audience. Moreover, the name will be a reflection of a simple menu as the company will cut it down by at least 10%.
The message is that every detail in the Dunkin’ rebranding is justified by the chain’s operations. And the other way around, most operational and strategic changes are reflected in the brand identity. This shows how important it is to have a professional design it as including all these items into one image is an art.
Is It Really Necessary?
One might think that brand identity design is a little unnecessary and a waste of money. Especially when the logo is well-designed and already in use. Startups, in particular, have a very tight budget so avoiding such extra costs might seem like the best option. At least at the beginning.
In short, what are the benefits of designing more than a logo only? First of all, you’ll create brand consistency. That’s step one to creating and boosting your brand’s image. Moreover, simply placing your logo on your business card-sized paper won’t do the same trick as professionally designing it. Same goes for letterhead or envelope.
Visual Brand Recognition
Consider also creating a visual brand recognition beyond the logo itself. For example, T-mobile, the telecommunication company, can be identified by its pink trademark color alone. In the luxury industry, Tiffany&Co is recognized by their robins egg blue. Disney, on the other hand, uses such an iconic font that whatever word is written in it, it will always refer back to the brand. Same goes for the font used by Coca-Cola.
Where To Get Brand Identity Designed
There are plenty of designers who can create your brand identity. Some are freelancers, other work via design contest platforms, others work for design agencies or studios. How to choose the right person to do a job that could either lead to success or to a failure of your business perception and recognition?
Each option (freelancer, design platform and agency) has its advantages and limitations. As a startup, your budget is most definitely tight. Hence, you should avoid going to a design agency as you might end up with excellent work but also an extremely high bill. A freelancer is a good option assuming he or she can provide extensive portfolio showing brand identity expertise and a variety of original projects.
Design contest platforms are a good solution ‘in between’, considering the contest is blind. That means that the designers competing for your business can’t see each other projects submissions. Only then the delivered work will be creative and original without high costs involved.
