Logo design is a component of brand design. But, a brand is not just its logo. When does a company’s logo become part of its brand?
To answer this question, let us first define a logo and a brand:
What is a logo? A logo is a unique, purposeful design that is paired with your business name in an interesting and cohesive manner. The logo also has a colour palette delegated to it. It has to be scalable, able to be replicated consistently in all of your advertising, and ageless — so that it doesn’t become stale or look old too soon. Your graphics must be consistent so that your logo fits in with your web design and other platforms and advertising material.
What’s a brand? A brand is the group of perceptions that your customer has about your company. Be aware that the brand resides on your client’s mind — and the ideas that they have about your company.
This does not mean that the brand is outside of your control. You can control your client’s notion of your own brand by defining your brand and designing eye-catching, stand-out images to convey that message. Then, use those images consistently throughout your marketing materials, thus helping your customers get the right idea about your brand.
Aspects of your brand that you have complete control over include:
The narrative that you are telling about your company. The first step in branding is to figure out who you are, what you do, what makes you different and who your best customers are. And, to put that all together in an easy-to-say and easy-to-understand brand story. Use that as the base for all of your visual communications, business and marketing writing, and your promotion design and strategy.
Your logo: Your Logo ought to be designed to visually inform your brand story and to be appealing to your target clients.
Your visual vocabulary: Your logo is just one piece of your visual communication toolkit. If your marketing materials only had your logo and text on white paper, whilst it is a good start, you would be missing opportunities to make your layouts more eye-catching. Your visual language is all of your additional graphics to the logo — such as background colours or patterns, header layouts, stock photos, your headshot, borders, or special offers, pictures of your products, and your font styles and colour palette. This gives you more tools to create stunning designs for your own brand.
Marketing material designs: The design of your business card, letterhead, brochure, ebook cover, website, as well as your Twitter page are all a vital part of your brand. These materials should reinforce one another and match without mixing together too much.
Therefore, a brand is much more than a logo — it’s the consistent story that you tell through graphics and all other ways you write about your business
That story gets into your customers’ minds and – if you have established a stand-out brand — it’ll stick there!
When you make this stickiness, also known as memorability, your customers will all be “on the same page” when it comes to your brand. This means that their opinions and buzz about your company will reinforce their thoughts about you and your business.
