Whether its Apple Computer’s bitten apple, the McDonald’s golden arches M, or the 20th Century Fox tower, a successful recognizable brand is extremely important for businesses. A corporate identity represents your business in picture form and it helps you and you business stand out. It also makes you more distinctive from your competitors. When you create a good brand, your customers will connect the image with you and your business.
There are three types of corporate identities you can create.
- Text Based: Text based brands contain only is text that is created in a customized style of font. The brand usually conveys a certain meaning pertaining to the business the brand represents. Sony, Facebook, Twitter, and Coca Cola are examples of text based brand.
- Literal Illustration: A literal illustration brand involves taking what a certain business does, and incorporating it into the graphic design. For example, if you were running a gym, an illustration of barbells could be place alongside the name of your company.
- Abstract Graphic: An abstract graphic brand consists of a picture or a symbol that doesn’t have any particular meaning. Such examples of abstract graphic brands are Nike’s swoosh and Shell Oil’s scallop shell logo.
What goes into a good corporate identity?
Make the Brand Simple: A simple design is important when creating a corporate identity. You’ll find that less is more. A more complicated graphic design may be hard to duplicate and probably won’t be as memorable as a simply made one. Effective brands tend to appear simple and fresh. One other thing that a business an owner needs to consider is the colors of the brand. A graphic design consisting of a lot of color is more expensive to make and print. It’s best to keep your brand down to two or three colors.- A Brand That a Customer Can Easily Remember: You need to create a corporate identity that is unique enough so that your customers can remember it and quickly associate the brand with your business.
- No Trends: When you decide on a brand, it should stand the test of time and therefore you wouldn’t have to change it. If you base your identity on current trends, you may have to constantly come up with a new logo each time that particular trend dies out. Again, keep it simple. Don’t design a corporate logo based on what’s currently “cool” at the moment.
- Your Brand Can Be Placed Anywhere: It needs to look good in black and white as well as in color. That way, it can be printed on many items such as t-shirts, mugs, business cards, and vehicles.
- A Corporate Identity Must Be Appropriate For Your Business: Your brand must be appropriate for your type of business. For example, if you work in the financial industry, you will want a corporate identity that will have a conservative and professional feel. One option in creating an appropriate brand is to research what the brands of your competitors look like.
- No Clip Art: Using clip art may be easy and inexpensive, but it will make your logo look amateurish and that’s not a good message to send to your customers. You need to take that into consideration if you’re thinking about using a free graphic designer. The less generic you brand looks the better.
With a well designed corporate identity that would stand out, your customers will remember you. It will be the first thing that will pop in their minds when they are in need of your particular services. It can remain connected with your business for years to come.
