What do you suppose a corporate identity design or the creation of a logo starts with? The answer is unqualified: it does with communication. The creation of brand identity presupposes close cooperation with the customer, coordination of goals, needs, and wishes.

The corporate identity directly depends on the brand strategy. Moreover, the identity itself is part of this strategy. Today we will talk about how to visually present a brand in such a way as to achieve the most positive result.

Identity design: a first step 

The initial stage of corporate identity design raises lots of questions:

• What type of brand visualization should you prefer?
• How to choose the best logo colors?
• What should be the typography in corporate identity design?
• What is really important to the customer of the company?

Responding to these questions, you will get a general idea of ​​the direction to take. But how do you find the right answers?

Corporate identity design: designer or strategist

Having received an order to create a corporate identity, do not rush to carry away into creativity. The foundation for creative work should be laid first. Developing a correct concept will avoid misunderstandings, useless experiments, and numerous edits.

Collect as much information as possible about the brand, for example, what the founder is, what the history of the company is, what its philosophy and values are, what the priorities and ways of achieving goals are, etc. A brief on creating a corporate identity will help you to systematize the information. A completed and signed brief is a key step to getting started.

Have a workshop where everyone involved in the process will share his ideas. After all, even the most extraordinary or insane thought at first glance can be useful. The key principles of the workshop are lively discussion, easy communication, and visibility.

A workshop is a powerful tool for generating ideas and developing the right strategy. Preferably, all stakeholders participate in the workshop: designers, marketers, business representatives, and the CEO of the company. Then the decisions made acquire additional sense which can help to avoid unnecessary changes in the future.

Identity creation: from idea to outcome

While working on identity creation, try to get answers to the following questions:

• How would customers, partners, competitors, and everyone who the brand interacts with describe the brand?
• Who is the potential consumer? Describe it.
• What impact does the brand have?
• What is brand contrast from other brands?

Collect as many positive brand attributes as possible. You should get as many attributes as possible based on your ideal brand image. It helps you to create a positive image that will become the basis of your corporate identity.

A character (a person, a hero) is one of the elements of identity. When creating him, analyze the target audience of the brand, its demographics, history, lifestyle, and needs. The character must evoke sympathy and respect. Give the character a name, age, and occupation. This makes it easier to visualize him more accurately.

Another essential point in creation identity is to realize the corporate priorities of the brand. This will help to determine the dominant way of influencing the audience and to develop a visual information system.

Thus, identity design is a complex cooperation of designers, business analysts, and branding experts.

TCD Branding Agency provides customers with the following services: 

• logo creation;
• corporate identity design;
• identity creation;
• company brand book design.