The first impression left by your brand or company name is critical. In fact, having a great name...
4 steps to define your visual identity before launching your activity
Whatever your business, your graphic charter is the foundation of your brand image and therefore of your communication. When creating a website or a business, we are often overwhelmed by the number of tasks to be done, and therefore by priorities. Brand identity is often overlooked. This is a mistake.
Today, in this article, we're going to take you through the 4 steps to defining your visual identity before launching your business.
These tips are based on our various experiences. Once you've read this article, I invite you to go directly to the best websites to set an example for your business!
The traditional view of design is that it has four possible goals: to identify, to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. But with branding there's a fifth: to differentiate.
Marty Neumeier - The Brand Gap
Whatever your business, your graphic identity is the foundation of your brand image and therefore of your communication. During the website creation or a company, we're often overwhelmed by the number of tasks to be done, and therefore by priorities. Brand identity is often overlooked. This is a mistake.
Today, in this article, we're going to take you through the 4 steps to defining your visual identity before launching your business.
These tips are based on our various experiences. Once you've read this article, I invite you to go directly to the best websites to set an example for your business!
The importance of visual identity for a company
In a world overwhelmed by information, your company is represented by your visual identity. It must therefore have an impact and be easy to remember.
It starts with your logo, but doesn't end there. Your visual identity is expressed through a choice of colors, typography and graphic representations that will be used on all your communications media.
Once your visual identity has been defined, you'll be able to communicate consistently and capitalize on your brand image across all media.
If you're an entrepreneur: You need a professional, polished image that inspires confidence. You must make people want to buy your products or services!
1. Define your goals
Whatever your activity or status, you need to define your business objectives so that you can understand where you stand in the market.
Without objectives, you can't define the expected KPIs of your communications strategy! If you're using a service provider like a digital agency, it's all the more important to be able to communicate your objectives, so that the agency can focus on achieving them.
How do you define your visual communication objectives?
- Gather your ideas about your business
- Ask the people around you
- Identify your customers
- Determine your style
- Identify your communication media
2. Define your values
Defining or redefining your values is a kind of audit of your existing visual identity, or a study of what you want to achieve in line with your values. If you want to define your values, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What you like about your job
- What you like about your life in general
- What kind of company would you like to run?
- How do you want your customers and Internet users to perceive you?
- What image do you want to convey?
If you want to rebuild your visual identity, you need to define your values. This involves :
- A history of our current identity
- A quick audit of your structure and operations
- Your communication strengths and weaknesses
- Your market positioning to understand what works and what doesn't!
3. Identify communication media
To develop your reputation, it's important to communicate in the same way every time. Visual identity meets this objective. The first step is to define all the communication media you'll be using to promote your company, now and in the future.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the different media that exist and that may be of interest to you:
- website
- blog
- social network accounts
- business cards
- stationery, envelopes
- newsletters
- e-mail signatures
- media kit for journalists, bloggers
- packaging
- flyers, brochures
- stickers
- quotations, contracts, invoices
- advertising...
The idea is to test whether your visual identity works on all these media. To understand the importance of consistency of your brand's visual identity on all media and supports, here's one of the best examples with the Nasa brand that published their 220-page guide to explain the rules to follow when it comes to their brand image.
4. Look at the competition to stand out
A brand identity must make you stand out from the crowd. visually differentiate yourself from your competitors. If you have a color, shape or logo that resembles that of one of your competitors, it's not ideal for building brand awareness. You need to find your own style without copying your neighbor! Look at your competitors and learn from them without copying them.
Why do some work better than others?
Your visual identity and logo should stand out like a supermarket shelf. This stage will also give you some ideas about what you want to do and what you don't want to do. This watch will serve 4 main purposes:
- Have a clear vision of your environment
- Staying or becoming competitive
- Identifying good ideas
- Differentiate yourself
In the end
Your visual identity is the very essence of who you are, and an important factor in the success of your business. Companies such as Frichti, Airbnb and My Little Paris have understood this and applied it to a wide variety of sectors!
This investment is essential in today's world of ever-increasing communications media.
Article written by Alexandre Hilf,
Business Developer and Content Marketer at Orson.io
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