How to Create a Visual Brand Identity That Attracts Your Ideal Clients
What is a visual brand identity? Most people would probably say that your logo is your visual brand identity. And that would be partly correct because logos are a vital part of any visual brand identity, however, it’s only one part of it.
Other visual elements such as typography, color, and images also reinforce the brand identity. When you create a strong visual brand identity that is unique and accurately reflects who you are, your audience will find it easier to relate to you and remember you.
Think of the Apple brand for a moment. Apple has one of the most recognizable logos around the world. The logo reflects Apple’s simple, minimalist style. That style carries through to their packaging, website, and emails as well. It’s the coordination of all these visual elements that create Apple’s strong visual brand identity. The team at Apple likely put in a lot of time and effort up-front to develop their strategy, and their efforts paid off with a powerful visual brand identity. You don’t have to be a large corporation like Apple to create a strong visual brand identity.
In this post, I’ll take you through the process of establishing a visual brand identity that attracts your ideal clients.
What is visual brand identity?
Visual brand identity includes all of the visual elements of your brand, such as your logo, colors, and images that identify the brand in your audience’s mind. It is your brand’s outward appearance that can help to distinguish your brand from your competitors.
Perhaps most importantly, your visual elements should evoke an emotion in your audience so that when they see and interact with your brand, they know what they can expect from you.
How to create a visual brand identity
Before working on creating the visuals for your brand, you should first develop your brand strategy (I call it a brand seed) for your small business. This will lay the foundation for all of your branding efforts. Once you establish your brand strategy, you are ready to work on the visuals for your brand.
DEVELOP YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
Developing your brand strategy can seem like a daunting process because it requires some deep thinking and real clarity on who you are and what you want to be. I find that a lot of people would prefer to skip this part and jump right to the design work. This is, however, a crucial step. If you take the time to create a strategy that is well-defined and clear, all the rest of the steps that follow will be much easier.
Your self-discovery includes your history, strength, passion, and values. I believe this step is crucial to building a strong brand that connects with your ideal clients.
Your brand core includes your purpose (your reason for being), vision, mission, and core values. Together your brand core will serve as a roadmap for your small business. All of your decisions going forward should align with your brand core.
Your brand personality includes your voice, unique value proposition (how you are different from your competitors), and brand message. The brand message determines how you are going to communicate with your audience. It is what makes your small business unique.
DEVELOP THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR BRAND VISUALS
Once you have identified your ideal clients and developed your brand personality, you are ready to create the foundation of your visual brand identity.
Your visual elements consist of four main components:
Logo
Your established brand strategy guides the design of your logo. Your logo must convey the vision and values established in your brand strategy. A well-designed logo will connect with your ideal client and make a lasting impression on them.
Color Palette
Colors have meaning. We all have a subconscious tendency to associate certain colors with traits. The colors you select for your brand provide you with another opportunity to bring out your brand’s personality.
A quick tip: Take a look at the colors that your competitors use. You may find that they are all using the same colors, which provides you with an opportunity to differentiate yourself with a different color palette.
Typography
Typography offers yet another way to reinforce your brand personality with your audience. I normally use 2 different font styles to keep it simple. Make sure that your fonts work well across various media and are easy to read even in smaller sizes.
Design elements
Design elements include layout and visual hierarchy. These elements should be applied to your website as well as other marketing materials. The more consistent your design and layout are across various media, the more strongly it will be associated with your brand.
BUILD YOUR BRAND STYLE GUIDE
The most important part of building your visual brand identity is to make sure that all of your visual elements reinforce your brand strategy and are used consistently.
To ensure consistency, create a brand style guide giving all the specifics of your visual brand identity. Your style guide should include your color palette, logo design and variations, imagery, and typography. Your brand style guide will ensure that your brand is consistent across all forms of media and serves as a helpful guide for any designers who may work with your brand in the future.
CREATE BRAND CONSISTENCY
Once you create the foundation for your visual brand identity, you can create a consistent brand across all platforms. To do this, make sure that all of your marketing collateral follows the guidelines established in your brand style guide.
Following are just a few of the areas to check for brand consistency:
Digital:
Website
Social medial graphics
Online ads
E-books
Blog content
White papers
Print:
Business cards
Stationery
Brochures
Posters
Print ads
Conclusion:
Creating a visual brand identity takes time. People sometimes start creating visuals such as colors and fonts right away without identifying their ideal audience or establishing a brand personality. Creating brand visuals without first establishing a clear strategy typically results in attracting the wrong audience or worse, attracting nobody.
When you take the time to develop a strategy for your brand and apply it consistently, your ideal clients will come to you naturally.
If you don’t feel that you have a solid foundation or you need to get more clarity on your brand, please download my brand clarity workbook.
I hope this article is helpful to create a visual brand identity.