Your Brand is More than Your Logo

What’s the very first thing that comes to your mind at the mention of Nike? Most likely the world-renowned swoosh logo in all of its simple, yet profound glory. How about Coca Cola? The name is the brand, right? This is precisely why so many novice business owners strongly believe that upon finishing their logo design, all will be down from there, easy to manage, and easy to master, because the brand is done.

• Why Branding Design Depends on Graphic Design so Much

Unfortunately, the brand is far from wrapped and ready to go just because you have a well-designed logo on your hands. That is merely scratching the surface of what branding is all about.

Alas, too many entrepreneurs are stuck believing that it’s enough to create a memorable logo in order for their brand to be memorable, too, paired with all of its customer touchpoints. Understanding how you can maximize the purpose of that logo when you pair it with all other elements crucial for branding can actually help you design your brand in its entirety. Let’s take a look at what your logo should be, as well as other branding essentials for defining your business presence.

Defining Your Brand Values

How do you meet your customers’ expectations? What do you do to make your business stand out from the crowd? What do you stand for personally, and what does your business stand for? How does your business make a difference globally, or in your community? Is your business innovative, humorous, entertaining, playful, ingenious, data-based? All of these and many other questions serve to help you see your brand for all its values. 

These values will, in turn, help you define your purpose, mission, vision, and your promise to your customers. Consider these the elementary pillars of your brand identity, far more vital than any logo could ever bring to the table. And yet, the logo should also embody those values, through form, colors, formatting, and other details. Treat it all as a singular package, in which one element cannot exist without the other.

The Wholesome Design of Your Brand

The look and feel of your brand may begin with a logo, but your overall design needs to be as consistent and relatable as that logo, too. With that in mind, too many businesses focus only on that one visual element without putting any effort into imbuing all other aspects of the brand with that logo and its main design elements. From the color palette on your website, all the way to every single infographic and brochure you craft, you need to make sure that your brand is woven into every piece of content you create.

Certain design experts such as Infostarters understand the relevance of branding within the design, so they craft visually-appealing content, including infographics, e-books, and brochures with the brand in mind. The goal is to make sure that your audience can recognize and relate with your brand when interacting with all of your visual content. When your color combinations, your font, and your overall design can evoke the same emotions and make your customers remember your brand, then you realize that a logo is only one piece of the design puzzle.

Let Your Tone of Voice Match Your Look

Although we are all deeply visual creatures, which is likely why so many entrepreneurs focus on logo design above all else, there are other ways in which we communicate with brands and companies on a daily basis. How they build their voice and their rapport in those situations will overwhelmingly define the brand itself, and no lovely design can trump the rude tone of voice of a customer support agent, or the poorly-written copy on the website that decreases the experience of your customer. 

As brilliant as your logo and your visuals are, you need to make sure that your voice matches your look, and that it does so across all channels of communication. Your brand needs to have voice consistency on social media, its website, and any other interactions that exist. Your values will determine your brand’s voice, just like they will define your look.

Don’t Forget Your People

They are the heart and soul of your brand. They should personify all of the listed, from your values which they should share with you and your business (otherwise, what are they doing there?), all the way to their own tone of voice. They are the ones who are in charge to ensure consistency across various channels, and they are the ones to communicate all of the brand essential qualities to your customers. Whether you run a small business of no more than a dozen people or you plan to build an empire with hundreds of employees, how you educate them on your brand’s essence will make all the difference for your business. 

Make sure that, above all, all of your hiring decisions are based on a good match for your brand values. Then proceed to educate your employees as a part of your onboarding process on how to communicate your brand. Without them, your brand is just a sum of pretty images and good-looking design. Your people are the only element to bring your brand to life.

Conclusion

Now that you know that you need to invest more creativity to form your brand identity, you can both perfect the logo and use it to inspire all other aspects of your design and your voice. Although your logo may become as memorable and outstanding as the ones listed initially, the backbone of your brand is in building the values, the voice, and the people that will project the right image of your business.