Brand Identity Design From Startup to Corporate Success

Last Updated on July 17, 2024 by DesignerPeople

Starting from logo designs to brand colours and packaging. There are so many things that you must consider when creating a brand identity. Quite a hefty process!

But we are here to help. Ensure that you prioritise your thoughts, messages, and skills when designing your brand identity, especially when creating one for Indian audiences.

With so many companies launching every month, a solid brand identity is the ultimate secret to break through the fierce competition and rule the industry.

Have a strong view of who you are, what your brand stands for, what you do and how you want everyone to perceive your brand. While you figure these out, read this blog as we share the top strategies to help you curate a professional brand identity and stand out from the rest.

What is Brand Identity Design and its significance for businesses?

It is simply the amalgamation of the visual and voice of the brand. It represents your brand personality and is ultimately the face and look of your brand.

It consists of several elements such as the colour palette, typography, brand voice, brand tone, brand values, brand mission, brand messaging, website and more.

A strong identity will help customers recognise and remember your brand over the years. It will help create a strong and trustworthy reputation that will help prospective clients rely on your brand for their requirements without any worries.

Exploration of Key Elements of Effective Brand Identity Design

Building a strong corporate brand identity requires several branding elements. Let’s check them real quick.

1. Brand Name

This is how your clients will identify and remember your company. This element is the base for all your future branding and marketing strategies. Hence, ensure that it must be distinguished enough to create a strong place in their minds.

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2. Logo design & Trademark

In the corporate world, your logo design plays a major role in distinguishing companies from competitor brands. It is one of the first things that your potential clients will encounter from your brand.

Hence, ensure that it is memorable and adaptable. After all, this logo design will represent your brand in the business cards, marketing materials and social media.

When creating a logo design, think about what inspired you to create this brand and how you want your clients to perceive your brand. It should be a clear representation of your brand vision, mission and aspirations for the future.

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3. Brand Color psychology

The right choice of colours holds the utmost power to form a strong and professional conviction for your brand. Understand what your brand stands for and the type of clients your brand appeals to when selecting a colour palette.

For example, the Tata Group has a blue colour palette in their logo design that represents trust, loyalty, stability, and integrity, which has represented the company’s long-standing reputation over the years.

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4. Corporate Typography & Fonts

Besides the colour palette, the choice of typography and fonts also make a significant difference in your brand identity. It should be absolutely relevant to your brand personality. Avoid choosing complex typography and fonts. The simplest are the best ones to convey your brand message and mission without overwhelming the clients as they view your brand media or materials.

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5. Brand Slogan

Let’s start with an example. The Adani Group has a brand slogan: “Thinking Big. Doing Better.” This significantly emphasises the company’s ambitious and forward-thinking approach to the industry.

Create a brand slogan that defines your brand position and vision in a handful of words. Emphasise how your brand works and what it delivers to the clients in the corporate world. It should be relatable and easy to apprehend for the intended audiences.

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6. Packaging

If you have a product-based company, you must invest in high-quality packaging for your clients. It is one such branding material that can effectively shape consumer perception of your brand. Your packaging design should align visually with your brand aesthetics and voice. Consider hiring a packaging designer for this step, as these packaging designs can play a pivotal role in brand recognition and recall in the future years.

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7. Style Consistency

Once you have chosen the branding elements, ensure that you stay consistent with them across every branding material and channel. This will create a cohesive brand identity that is the same across everything your prospective clients will come across, whether online or in print media.

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How can startups effectively develop a strong brand identity?

Now that we have understood the fundamental branding elements you must consider in your brand identity let’s look at the steps to take.

1. Thoroughly examine your target audience

Your brand identity is intended to appeal to a certain segment of the audience. Hence, it is paramount to analyse your target audiences even before starting the process.

Have a clear picture of who you are trying to market your business to and what their expectations and demands are for your business. This will help you cut through the competition and create a distinct identity with which your target audience will resonate.

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2. Define your purpose and stance

Everything has a purpose and goal, and so does your brand. Make sure to integrate your brand purpose and position well in your brand identity.

Think about factors that make your services better than the others. What exactly are you trying to accomplish that may be outside the industry at the moment? Look for reasons why your brand should have a fair chance against the industry leaders. Once you have a clear view about this, communicate the same through your brand identity, and your clients will have a good set of reasons to choose your company over others!

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3. Develop the critical elements of your brand

We have already discussed this thoroughly in the previous segment. Ensure that you create a distinct personality by leveraging the above-mentioned brand identity elements. Choose the right colours, typography, fonts, slogan, logo, etc. and position your brand as credible in the industry. These elements must represent your brand personality. Furthermore, remember to integrate your brand USPs while designing the key elements.

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4. Create a loveable brand personality

List off the best attributes of your brand and stay authentic when crafting your brand personality. Your audiences should resonate and connect with your brand personality. It greatly impacts the overall brand tone and voice, which you will eventually use in all your marketing materials and brand communications.

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5. Understand What to Avoid

Not everything you see in your competitors is meant to be followed. While you should analyse your competitors, don’t just copy their strategies, as this will eventually make your brand a part of the crowd.

Avoid giving mixed messages to your prospects. Use appropriate language and tone and stay consistent with it online and offline.

Lastly, always scale and never sacrifice. Ensure that you stay updated with the changing branding trends, but don’t lose your original identity in pursuit of exploring new strategies every now and then.

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6. Timely Monitoring to Preserve Brand Identity

To know if you are doing it right, stay attentive and keep monitoring your performance metrics regularly.

Use various third-party applications, surveys, comments, social media discussions, etc., to have a better insight into how your clients and customers perceive your brand. This will help you find areas to improvise and further improve your brand identity.

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How does a well-crafted brand identity contribute to a positive corporate image?

There are countless reasons to create a corporate brand identity in this era. But we’ve listed a few. Let’s check them out.

1. The Essence of Brand Identity

A well-crafted brand identity is the ultimate representation and perception of your company’s ethics and values. It states how your brand works and what it delivers. It represents your brand’s dedication, professionalism, trustworthiness and consistency. Creating a clear message through your brand identity is extremely important, especially when you are trying to build a strong position in such a competitive industry.

2. Fostering Trust and Recognition

Trust and recognition are the key elements that have driven a company’s success over the years. Conveying a trustworthy image through your brand identity will give your clients a sense of relief and reliability towards your brand. This will eventually contribute to long-term commitments and higher sales over time.

3. Creating Emotional Connections

Fostering an emotional connection is extremely important to stand out from the crowd. By strategising your brand identity elements, you can effectively help your customers or clients relate to your brand and trust you for their requirements. Such meaningful connections will again act as a source for driving loyalty and advocacy within your prospects.

Wrapping Up:

When creating your corporate brand identity for the Indian audience, ensure you have a clear strategy. Don’t rush. Avoid any possible inconsistency of visuals or messaging in your brand identity. Know what can represent your brand well and incorporate it accordingly. Instead of doing the entire process yourself, collaborating with branding experts is always better. Branding experts have been doing this for years. Extensive expertise can be fruitful in your future success.

Also, if you are already in this process, feel free to share any tips, tricks and insights to help our readers carve their first brand identity and enter the corporate world with a strong stance.

Better brands start with meaningful conversations

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Author: Anush Malik