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Companies rarely stand out from the crowd because of their product or service. What makes Under Armor different from Nike? Or Netflix from Hulu? Clear and effective brand strategy and design are the main elements why one company stands out from the rest. Branding creates an image of the company and its products in a customer’s mind.
Branding and design inspiration can help you create your own, strong brand strategy and come up with an unforgettable brand design that visually shows your customers who you are.
What Is Brand Design?
You may already have heard about brand strategy and identity, which are essential parts of creating a strong brand. However, brand design is more than graphic design. It is the element that allows you to visually show your customers who you are.
Brand design is your brand’s visual identity. When you think about the visual elements of your brand, the first things that come to mind might include logo design, color schemes, fonts, web design, and other design elements. However, brand design is much more than that.
In addition to logos, colors, fonts, and website design, brand design also refers to how a company represents itself in all aspects, including what is on its social media or how its physical stores are designed.
For instance, the gym chain Equinox has a strong, high-end brand design from its logo to color scheme and interior design.
Brand Design vs Brand Strategy – What Is the Difference?
Brand strategy is the first step on the way to starting a business. If you own a business, you already have a brand strategy. Maybe you have not yet thought about it comprehensively, but it is there.
In short, brand strategy determines what you sell, to whom, how, and why. A clear brand strategy can help your business to succeed because when you have clear goals, you will always know which way to go. If you have not thought out your brand strategy, you are just throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks.
Brand design, on the other hand, includes all the visual elements that make your brand different from the rest. Before thinking about your brand’s visuals and design elements, you should already have a strong brand strategy in place.
Brand design is the cherry on top and the sugar at the bottom of your flavorful brand cake filled with unique and effective brand strategy.
Brand design inspiration can help you figure out how you want to portray your business.
Brand Design: Essential Elements
Brand design encompasses all visual elements of the brand. These include, for instance, a new logo, fonts, colors, website design, packaging, and environmental design.
Brand Identity Design
Brand identity design includes the actual process of designing your color scheme, logo, typography and lettering, website, product design, and other things.
There are six key elements that you should take into account in the creative process when designing a strong and consistent, and top-notch brand identity.
- Brand purpose and positioning
- Market research
- Brand personality
- Memorable logo
- Visually pleasing color palette
- Professional fonts
Website Design
Nowadays, every business needs a website. It is like a digital business card that allows your customers to discover more about your brand, contact you, and find out more about your products and services.
You shouldn’t begin designing your website before defining a solid brand identity. After all, the fonts, logos, and colors will be displayed on your website, and your website should reflect your brand. Proper design work can be challenging, but a website design studio can help you develop a visually pleasing website.
Content
When it comes to website design, remember that there’s also content; the copy that makes up your website. This could range from your homepage to the About Us page to the Privacy Policy page to common blogs and articles. In fact, the content you publish could be seen as even more important than your website design and represents your brand’s voice, image, and style.
If you need help with content creation, content ideation, and SEO optimization (so that you can get more qualified leads without paying Google for advertisement), Strategically’s here. Our all-in-one content creation solution is dedicated to developing high-end content that converts and engages. At the same time, we can customize our writing to match your brand’s image and appeal to your target audience.
Packaging Design
Packaging design also goes hand in hand with brand identity. The packaging should also reflect the colors and fonts defined in your brand identity and design to create a clear brand image in your customers’ minds.
Environmental Design
Environmental design in brand design refers to, for instance, the designing of brand new physical stores and office spaces. A uniform and coherent environmental design allows your customers to recognize your business no matter which location they enter.
For example, T-Mobile uses the same pink lights and banners in every location, and Apple stores display a clear and minimalistic, modern look that reflects Apple’s brand.
What Is Brand Strategy?
Brand strategy is often confused with brand design. Brand strategy is not creating a logo, planning the colors, or designing a website.
Brand strategy is a comprehensive overlook of your company’s missions, goals, purposes, values, personality, and other brand elements. It defines how your brand is presented to the customers and what your customers remember about your brand.
A strong and clear strategy should be created before brand design. You should consider who your company services, why, how, and when.
In short, brand strategy is an essential part of your business plan, and it will help you on your way to success, which is why strong brand guidelines should be established from the start.
Brand Strategy: Essential Elements
The brand strategy includes many key elements that will allow you to define your brand more clearly. When creating an effective brand strategy, the following things should be considered:
- Brand mission
- Brand vision
- Brand purpose
- Brand values
- Brand positioning
- Brand personality
- Brand messaging
Brand Mission: JetBlue
A brand mission communicates the brand’s purpose and summarizes how the brand plans to serve its customers. It is typically action-oriented, and it gives the customers an idea about how it does business.
A great example of a brand mission is JetBlue. Their mission statement is simple: “To inspire humanity — both in the air and on the ground.”
Brand Vision: Harvard University
Brand vision tells the customers what the brand wants to achieve in the future. It is a part of core branding, but it is more than just the present. A good vision also includes the future.
Harvard University’s vision statement perfectly connects the here and now to the future goals: “To develop leaders who will one day make a global difference.”
Brand Purpose: Dove
Brand purpose is frankly why the company exists, beyond making money. It is the reason why the brand was created.
Dove’s purpose is to help women love their bodies and improve body positivity. Dove’s purpose statement says it the best: “To help women everywhere develop a positive relationship with the way they look, helping them realize their full potential.”
Brand Values: NerdWallet
Brand values tell the customers what is important to the brand.
For instance, NerdWallet aims to offer helpful financial advice to everyday people. They want to bring levity and energy to otherwise dull financial information. For them, it is important to help people who are not financially savvy and for whom finances are not as easy to understand as for someone with a degree in finance.
Brand Positioning: Nike
Brand positioning brings together the brand’s vision, products, and identity. Brand positioning defines how these elements are positioned in the market and how your brand stands out.
Nike has positioned itself to target serious athletes. The brand not only offers shoes but complete athlete attire for athletes and regular people. Nike’s tagline, “Just do it,” promotes serious fitness.
Brand Personality: Lego
Brand personality tells how human characteristics are associated with a brand name. When defining your brand personality, you can use adjectives that describe your company. The aim is to create a positive response from the audience.
For instance, Lego has created a youthful and fun-loving personality. They cater to your imagination, and their biggest fear is reality.
Brand Messaging: Red Bull
Brand messaging defines how a company communicates its business values. Messaging includes tone of voice, language, and the brand’s core message.
Red Bull has a memorable and catchy tagline and message: “Redbull gives you wings,” which they use in every commercial and advertisement. Redbull stands for energy and motivation.
Eight Steps to Creating an Effective Brand Strategy
Creating a brand strategy does not happen overnight. Typically, it involves a lot of planning, research, and brainstorming.
When you start your journey of creating a clear and strong brand strategy, you should take the following steps.
- Consider your overall business strategy
- Identify your target clients
- Research your target client group
- Develop your brand positioning
- Develop your messaging strategy
- Develop your name, logo, and tagline
- Develop your content marketing strategy
- Develop your website
Brand strategy is your map to success – so draw it carefully.
In Conclusion
A brand strategy is the comprehensive overall image you want your business to portray. It includes, for instance, your brand’s mission, vision, goals, and purpose.
On the other hand, brand design is an essential part of your brand strategy, and it includes all the visual aspects of your brand, all the way from logos and colors to actual on-site web content to packaging and environmental design.
Creating a design and content strategy that reflects your business and makes customers remember you will help your business stand out from the rest, make more sales, and ultimately succeed.
And as mentioned before, if you need a dependable and reliable content solution to help you develop compelling content that converts and represents your brand’s voice and image, Strategically is here. All you have to do is reach out and get a quote. Then, leave the content creation to us!
