You’re a business owner struggling with your brand marketing. You know what your brand has to offer but don’t know how to present it in a visually appealing fashion? Does that really matter? After all, they say not to judge a book by its cover.

But what about a business? Are we not constantly judging businesses based on how appealing their brand image is? Otherwise, why do we choose Nike over Adidas? Coke over Pepsi? Interestingly enough, when taking the Pepsi vs Coke challenge, most people prefer the taste of Pepsi but still choose to drink Coke. 

That alone is proof we judge a business based on its brand marketing. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what they’re selling. Because chances are, someone else is selling it too. What matters is how they stand out in our beautiful, intricate minds.

So, what does this mean for your business? It means it’s time to ensure your brand identity elements are out there, making unforgettable impressions! But don’t stress because today, we’ll give you professional insight into the elements of brand identity used to do this!

Brand Marketing in a Nutshell

So, first off, brand marketing is a strategy that involves promoting products or services while also promoting the brand and its image. It has a focus on brand attributes and creating brand-consumer relationships. This helps build brand loyalty. But, for brand marketing to be successful, it must be used with strong graphic designs and elements of brand identity.

Effective Graphic Design

Graphic design is the creation of visual content for a wide range of media. The designs are meant to be visually appealing and effective. In a marketing context, effective graphic design represents the goals and purposes of the business. It allows your target audience to resonate with your brand and be inspired to take your call to action.

Stand Out with Elements of Brand Identity

Brand identity is the foundation for graphic design. It comprises the visual elements used in your graphic designs to distinguish your brand. These elements include, but are not limited to, colour schemes, logos, graphics, and typography. All these work together to create a unique and consistent image for your brand, leaving a lasting impression on your target audience. But before you choose these elements, you must establish a clear purpose and goal: your “why.” 

1. Establishing Your Why

Your “why” is the reason you created your business in the first place. Was it because you have a passion for the industry? Are you trying to be educational or raise money for awareness? What led you to invest time and money into your business? Really think about what the purpose and goal of your business is. Now that you have your “why,” it’s time to choose the elements of brand identity to help represent this to your audience.

2. Colour Scheme

Colour scheme is the first design element, as it is likely used in all your other design elements. It involves the colour pallet a brand chooses that will be used in various designs. But these colours are not chosen at random. They are chosen to send a specific message and invoke emotions. A great selection of colour schemes was displayed by Pepsi. In the early 40s, Walter Staunton Mack Jr., the CEO of Pepsi, decided to add the colour blue to the brand’s colour scheme. Before this, Pepsi only had white and red in its colour scheme. The reason behind this addition of blue was to differentiate themselves from Coca-Cola and also to back the United States during World War II. This was genius. In a time of global conflict, Pepsi rebranded its image to represent nationalism. This graphic design change capitalized on this turbulent time by pulling on the heartstrings of Americans. And no doubt, it represented the values of Pepsi.

3. Logo Creation

Logo creation is another element of brand identity. The logo is key for brand marketing and recognition. Successful businesses create visually appealing logos that resonate with their brand identity.

The Nike logo demonstrates this. The checkmark or swoosh represents to many of us the ability to complete a goal or “just do it.” However, a lot more thought went into the creation of this logo. Carolyn Davidson, the creator of the logo, explains that the initial concept of the logo was to represent a wing of the goddess Nike, and in relation, represents victory. In addition, Davidson admits to being influenced by Nike’s rivals, Adidas, finding inspiration to convey motion in the logo as they did.

In this instance, the designer created a logo representing the brand’s identity. They also took inspiration from successful competitors’ logos to find similar success in invoking emotion.

4. Graphics

Graphics are another design element that can be used in addition to the logo. Similarly to the logo, they visually portray a brand’s values. Graphics can include imagery, icons, mascots, etc. They are used in a company’s marketing and communication efforts to grab the audience’s attention.

For example, the Coca-Cola logo is simply the name written in cursive letters. A graphic associated with the brand is of a polar bear. The debut of the polar bear in a Coca-Cola ad was in 1922. Ken Stewart, the creator of the iconic Coca-Cola “Northern Lights” commercial, describes the polar bear as representing innocence and fun. And wanted it to reflect the best human attributes. While the brand has recently stopped using polar bears, the correlation still lives in many of our minds.

This demonstrates that a good use of graphics causes an audience to make associations with your brand and an image. In addition, it displays that the graphic is meant to evoke a sense of connection with the viewer.

5. Typography

The last element we’ll be considering is typography. It’s the technique of arranging text in a legible and visually appealing way. It plays a crucial role in various forms of communication, including print, digital media, graphic design, advertising, and more.

A great example of typography selection is by Adidas. Since 1967, Adidas has had the same typography, which has been included in all of their logos. Even prior to this, their typography had only minor differences. They use all lowercase text that is legible and visually appealing, and it stuck. This demonstrates that a brand choosing strong design elements from the get-go makes it easier down the road for them because they’ll have to make fewer changes or rebranding.

So Why Does this Matter Again?

Here is a quick recap to wrap this up.

Graphic design is used in brand marketing to allow a business to represent its purpose and goals. An effective graphic design will cause the target audience to resonate with the message and take further action. To create effective graphic design, the elements of brand identity must be chosen strategically to represent the brand properly. Some of the first elements to consider include colour scheme, logo, graphics, and typography. This decision is important because once these elements are created, they will be used in all of the business’ graphic design to distinguish the brand from others. But not only will it distinguish it, as we’ve seen from the Pepsi vs Coke example, the way a brand markets itself can determine who wins in the hearts of consumers.

Therefore, businesses take extra care when choosing these elements. In addition, when they notice they are not standing out amongst competitors, they rebrand to change these elements. This also demonstrates the importance of hiring a good design team or marketing company in order to create a successful brand identity and, thus, brand marketing. For further questions or interest in creating your brand identity elements or brand marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of professionals today. We’re here to help!