Corporate identity: The face of your business

Your corporate identity is your company’s initial success. It is your brand’s character and its distinctiveness. It creates the first impression your potential customers have with your brand. This is why it is essential to ensure that all of your marketing items from your branding to your website, social campaigns, initial communication from sales and media coverage, supports your corporate identity. Managing brand consistency across all channels is key if you want to stand out and boost your brand’s growth. Inconsistency is almost brand suicide. It is a common brand management mistake that should be dealt with before launching your brand.

A lack of corporate identity can damage your marketing results. Your corporate image is relative to its identity. A business that suffers from an identity crisis runs the risk of losing customers as they will be unable to really know who they are as a brand. The most common problems associated with branding complications include poor brand management, bad messages, and uninspiring leadership skills. Bad corporate identity has a large range of problems, even internally. A large problem arises when employees and employers don’t understand the organisation’s identity. In order to obtain a good corporate identity, employees should focus on portraying what their company does, what it serves, and what the overall purpose of the organisation is. Thus, everyone involved in the organisation needs to understand that they are powerful representatives.

Bad branding equals brand confusion

Development is great for any company and every smart business person wants to see their company grow. You may expand the company to meet new demands but sometimes it expands too quickly and the pressure of growing the business can also initiate a summary of products or services that don’t relate to the core mission of the business, producing more brand confusion.

A company is affected by poor communication. People have a certain admiration for companies that are completely transparent about their products, services, goals, and mission. What causes great devastation to your marketing efforts is giving your audience false information that does not accurately represent your brand. The inconsistencies of your marketing will eventually get noticed in your messaging. Confusion will never prosper. Brand consistency is the most imperative part of any company’s identity Here are some ways to ensure brand consistency:

• You have to think long-term – For example, you will need to ask yourself what your brand will look like in a few years. How will your products or services progress? How will your demographics change? In order to answer these questions, you will first need to create a series of short-term goals that will help you achieve your brand mission and will enhance the chances of successfully reaching your long-term goals. Short-term goals will include setting a standard set of targets, something that will help you reach that long-term success you are looking for in your company.
• You will need to know your brand message – An accurate message can be used to clarify your corporate identity and attract potential customers. Customers should be able to visit your main web page or have the first impression of your company and immediately know what your company can do for them. It is also very important to be as transparent as possible. You need to place your brand in a position where it accurately reflects the identity of your business through successful marketing.
• Brands need to adapt and thrive – As new technology continues to shape the future and influence the way that people interact with brands, it’s important to predict changes and make adjustments accordingly. Your brand needs to grow with your target audience. From the logos that you use to your company’s messages, products/services, and communication, they all need to reflect the changes of your brand’s ideals. Thorough market research is the key to keeping up with the changes your audience exhibits. If you can promote your brand honestly and keep it consistent with your messaging, your brand will be able to adapt and overcome any seen or unforeseen obstacles and challenges in today’s times.

Good branding needs great marketing

When your brand’s existence, both online and through traditional marketing, grows awry, it can lead to your consumers thinking that the products or services that you offer are not held to the highest standards. There is a strong possibility they will overlook your company and look for something better. It is important to remember that customers think long-term. When it comes to their purchases, they make their purchasing decision acting more out of a partnership than just a once-off purchase.

Hence, it is imperative to accompany your branding with the most effective marketing. Yes, it is of critical importance to have well thought out branding, however, if you are not getting the right word out there, consumers are going to build their own assumptions about your brand that can be far off from the truth. Always make sure that you understand who you are as a brand and then make sure you take the necessary steps to understand your target audience. Here are some branding and marketing elements that you should be focusing on:

• Focus on both your logo and tagline – They are essentially the first things the customer sees before, during, and after an acquisition.
• Focus on your messaging – Your brand should always have a theme that runs across all of your marketing efforts. This way, no matter which channel or platform you choose to communicate on, your customers will immediately recognise your brand, which can help build brand loyalty.

In doing so, you can properly design your logo and deliver tailored messaging that will promote your brand and ensure its consistency. At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do is complicate things and concern a potential customer. If your company is not clear and does not relate to its value statements, your brand’s messages will not be heard and will be lost in the noise created by your competitors.

Develop your identity through branding & marketing

All marketers know that you only have a few seconds to capture your clients’ attention. Those few seconds are critical and once engaged, you want to create a lasting impression. Therefore, there are no cutting corners or finding quick fixes. A good corporate identity is a long-term endeavour that needs constant attention, enhancement, and development.

Should you require a strong, long lasting corporate identity for your brand, contact us and let’s help you reach new heights. We have the perfect blend of branding and marketing to suit any company, no matter the size or industry.

Further reading

• http://apexcreative.net/10-reasons-why-a-logo-should-never-cost-less-than-200/

The post The real cost of bad corporate identity design appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

In short, the duty of a CI manual mainly focuses on the physical look of a company’s brand. It generally includes a logo and marketing material, such as business cards, letterheads, email signatures, and a website. These all come with a set of guidelines.

However, it is important to remember that corporate identity is not the same as corporate image:

• A corporate image is the perception of the company by its various audiences. It has to do with how it appears to outsiders, such as the community or potential consumers
• Corporate identity is what the corporation chooses to use to shape those perceptions

To make it easy for employees to present the corporate identity consistently, the CI manual provides a set of instructions for how to present the company’s branding and how to describe the business accurately.

Besides comprehensive design standards, companies generally manage their identity through:

• Language: Specific words and phrases for services
• Distinctive themes and messages: “Taglines”
• Actions and policies: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

As a company grows and more people are involved, the very essence of the brand is being expressed by multiple managers and communicators. The CI manual will enable you to reign in all of this and maintain standards, as well as build upon a brand as the company and its story evolves and grows.

The benefits of corporate identity

In today’s fast growing and competitive market, it is imperative to establish your corporate identity standards as it ensures that everyone within your company from employees to branch managers are all representing the company in the same manner.

Having a strong corporate identity not only conveys your company’s ideals, motives, and objectives but also tells the market that your brand is here to stay. This gives future clients confidence in the stability of your brand.

Another benefit to having a corporate identity is that it creates consistency. This is incredibly important when starting out as this defines your company’s image and ensures that your brand will be recognisable no matter where your brand is placed.

The purpose of a corporate identity is to:

• Create a consistent and clear visual identity for your company
• Convey that your company is a professional and reliable organisation
• Establish your brand equity and standardise your company’s visual presentation

These lay the foundation to a successful brand and works hand in hand with your brand strategy and brand identity. Although most marketing agencies sometimes confuse or overlap the three, it’s always imperative to remember that corporate identity focuses on:

• The visual outlook of your brand – The voice of your brand
• Your brand strategy – The position of your brand

The elements of a CI manual

The core of the brand

Your CI manual should have a complete outline of your brand and all its components:

• Explain your brand values – What does your brand stand for? What does your brand represent?
• Brand promise – What do you consistently offer that your clients value?
• Brand image – What perception does the public have of your brand?
• Message – What do you want to tell your target audience?
• Goals – What do you want to achieve for your brand?

An eye-catching logo

Your brand’s logo is the most valuable, tangible symbol of your brand. You need to make sure that everyone understands exactly how it is to be used. Offer horizontal and vertical representations of your logo as well as logos with and without your brand tagline.

Include logo designs for brand extensions as well. Specify acceptable sizes the logo can be reproduced at as well. For example, what is the minimum size that your logo can be reproduced and still be legible? Also, specify the colours the logo can be reproduced in.

Develop a colour palette

Provide the specific Pantone (PMS) colours of the brand colour palette:

• Include primary, secondary, and tertiary colours at minimum
• Identify how these colours should be used in the logo and in branded communications
• It’s also important to provide the RGB, HEX, and CMYK equivalents of the colours in your colour palette for varied uses

Have a specific style for your typography

Identify the specific fonts that should be used in branded communications, including typeface size, line height, kerning, and so on if your brand fonts are customised in any way. Furthermore, specify the fonts that can be used in header vs. body text, online, offline, etc.

Know your logo’s dimensions

Your CI manual also needs to explain where your logo can be positioned in ads, on promotional items, on letterheads, on business cards, and so on. Similarly, include instructions related to acceptable sizes and the amount of clear space that should be around your logo or other brand elements at all times. For example, it’s very common for brand guidelines to state that there must be clear space around the logo that is at least half the width or height of the logo.

Have the right pictures

The photos and images used in your branded materials and communications say a lot about your brand persona and they need to match consumer expectations based on your brand promise. Therefore, your CI manual needs to show examples of the types of imagery to be used.

Develop your original brand voice

The voice, tone, and style of the messaging and copywriting in your branded communications are critical to developing your brand. To ensure consistency, you need to include instructions related to voice and style. For example, should branded communications be written in a friendly, uncomplicated style or a highly professional, technical style? Furthermore, if you have specific style requirements related to grammar rules, word usage, and so on, include those instructions in your CI manual.

Incorporate templates

To make things as simple and error-proof as possible, it’s a good idea to include templates for common uses of your logo and brand elements. For example, include a template complete with specific measurements and dimensions for all elements for your business cards, stationery, branded advertising, presentations, promotional items, etc.

Include the do’s & don’ts

You can either include examples of brand applications throughout your CI manual along with examples of how to use your brand elements the wrong way, or you can include a separate section filled with the do’s and don’ts of how to use your logo and brand elements across varied applications.

Time to put a face to the name

Whether or not you currently have a CI manual, it is essential to make sure that your branding and messaging shows the full picture of your business. As you can see, a lot of design and planning goes into your CI manual and let’s face it, not all of us can be design and marketing gurus. Leave the design and strategising to us and we will actualise your corporate identity requirements.

It’s time to get your business on the map with a structured CI manual!

Further reading

• https://milesherndon.com/blog/brand-identity-guidelines-examples
• https://designschool.canva.com/blog/50-meticulous-style-guides-every-startup-see-launching/
• https://www.six-degrees.com/the-importance-of-a-branding-and-identity-style-guide/

The post Why is a corporate identity manual important? appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

Without a professional eye to create a logo for you, over time your logo will look less professional compared to your competitors and age poorly because it wasn’t highly designed on trend at that time. Whether your logo simply needs to evolve by being refreshed or it requires a drastic redesign, here are some reasons that signal that your brand may indeed need a logo makeover.

1. Does your logo look dated?

This is one of the many reasons people would most likely think of updates or changing their logo. Trends are always changing and it is important to keep your brand up to date with the latest trends. Certain colour combinations, shapes, and layouts may become out of date and make your logo look old and tacky. The golden rule here is to constantly read up on the latest trends that are taking place in the logo realm.

Do some research and see what trends you would like to incorporate into your current logo. However, as there are many trends fluttering around, it can seem like a daunting task picking and choosing designs. It can only benefit you as a business owner to take your ideas to a professional that has a designer’s eye. Not only are they already familiar with the current trends, but they can tell you based on your current brand identity which trends will complement your brand.

2. Your logo could be technically problematic

Logos are no longer constrained to signage, product packaging, and basic printing. There has been a higher need for logos to appear on Facebook, Skype, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile pictures. Logos have to be adjusted in order to be reduced to thumbnail sizes that social media platforms require. Logos that appear to be complex don’t scale down well and are difficult to reduce to thumbnail size. If your logo is not the correct size, when it is scaled down to thumbnail size, it will appear blurry.

3. A big change in your company

It could be a new CEO, a merger, or the company could become larger or more extensive. All of these instances could mean that it is the perfect time to change or update your logo. When clients see change, this shows that the company is evolving and changing in order to keep up with the modern world. You don’t want to seem stale and unwilling to change. Change is a good thing, however, if your company is a well-known brand, first consider if a logo change will lose favourability and recognition from your loyal consumers. As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

4. Thinking of going international

In some cases, rebranding is necessary so that the brand’s identity can be used internationally. Some brands or logos can be too specific to a certain country, which could limit your brand if you are thinking of going international. It is important to find out how other countries refer to certain products. If your logo is not branded correctly, it could trigger wrong associations.

5. Changes in the market

Changes in the market could mean that you need to change or update your branding as your current branding could come under threat. As the market changes, people’s expectations change. In essence, it almost becomes necessary to reinvent your branding. Different market changes may be the cause for new product requirements or for a whole new product to be offered. In turn, these changes could make your current logo obsolete or even irrelevant.

6. Complex logos

A lot of company owners have changed their logos as their clients or consumers perceive it to be highly confusing and difficult to relate to. Did you know that any brand manager’s first KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is how easily a consumer or client can remember his/her brand by hearing or seeing it? A complicated logo leaves the consumer confused and disconnected. You might then need to change the logo as it does not serve its purpose.  Make sure that your logo is simplistic and relatable, not complex and hard to read.

7. Refocusing company values

Many times, a company starts with specific products and services and a target audience in mind. However, as the company progresses, its priorities may change. When this happens, your target audience, products, and services may also change. This calls for a change in your branding and possibly a complete restructuring so that your brand can relate to its new target audience.

8. Standing out

The main focus of a company would be to maximise revenue and gain profits. The downside to this is that when you are successful, many small companies will keep a similar name and logo for their products to trick consumers into buying their products, thinking that they are buying your brand. This will happen if your logo is overly simple and basic. The best solution is to have an expert designer create your logo and run a low cost marketing campaign. This could be digital, in store promotions, social media updates, and more. The end goal is to let your clients know you are evolving.

9. Visual appeal

We are in an age of instant pleasure, where clients are always looking for new products that give them something new to experience. Social media is a very useful tool that helps them engage and connect very easily. It is important to always remain in the consumer’s mind. If you don’t engage regularly and keep up to date with the latest trends, your competitors will make you look outdated. So keep your brand logo interesting and eye-catching in order to stand out from the crowd.

10. Be one step ahead

Developing a logo that transcends competition is vital to the success of the business. You have to make sure that your logo communicates better with your target audience. This would mean that your target audience is more likely to choose your brand over other brands because they can relate to it better. How do you achieve this? You simply embrace your unique and authentic brand voice. A consumer will not form a connection with your brand if they do not know what your brand stands for. Never compromise or downplay the originality of your brand. Rather own your brand and its logo, and your consumers will be proud to endorse it.

Basically…

Logo redesigning is a difficult decision for any stakeholder or company owner. It represents your brand and what your client recognises it to be. However, when it ceases to advance your cause in a positive manner, it is best that you have it redesigned from a professional designer or marketing company. They will be able to unleash its full potential and make your fortunes soar!

Further reading

• http://articles.bplans.com/3-reasons-to-update-your-logo/
• https://www.intechnic.com/blog/why-does-your-company-need-a-logo-redesign/
• http://www.vim-group.com/en/top-ten-reasons-rebranding/

The post Top 10 signs that your brand needs a logo change appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

Introduction

Your brand identity is the visual representation of your business’s essence. It is one of the most valuable assets of a business and it must be carefully thought out to ensure that it properly represents the business. Creating a brand identity is important for making sure that your customer’s perception of the company echoes the way that you want to be seen.

This article will go through the process that precedes the Brand Identity Guideline document compilation as well as the guide content itself. For you to know what to put into your guide you will need to know what your company is about. Failing to ask yourself questions about your company’s core will just make the guideline document a very consistent guide to giving the wrong marketing message.

So how do you start? First decide what your company is all about…

SWOT Analysis

First thing you need to do is take some time to get a clear image of your business’s purpose and place in the market. One of the easiest ways to start this is to perform a SWOT analysis to gain some insight into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the market place.

SWOT analysis has been around forever, but most companies do not realise that they need to revisit the process often. Knowing your market is a big first step to understanding where your specific Goldilocks zone for brand positioning is.

Once you have a better understanding of your SWOT then you will have a good understanding of what you should focus on improving and what negative aspects you should try and counteract.

Defining your brand in 5 easy steps

Defining your company’s identity can be simplified into 5 steps. These 5 steps will help determine what your business stands for and what sort of emotions you want people to feel when they come into contact with your visual identity, i.e. a charity would want clients to feel compassion whereas a security business would want their clients to feel safe.

Step 1 – Vision Statement
A vision statement is short and sweet, it should never be more than 1 sentence in length and it should be something catchy that will stick in your clients mind. When coming up with your vision statement you need to consider a few things:

• What are your offering through products and services?
• What products and services will never be offered?
• What is unique about your business?
• How do your clients describe your brand?
• Where would you like your business to be in the future?

Examples of Vision Statements could be :

“We intend to provide our customers with the best online shopping experience from beginning to end, with a smart, searchable website, easy-to-follow instructions, clear and secure payment methods, and fast, quality delivery.”

or perhaps

“Our salon will change the way you think about a haircut. Full service comfort, friendly staff, a relaxing atmosphere, and the best prices in town give you an experience that will leave you glowing both inside and out.”

Step 2 – Mission Statement
A mission statement should be simple and straight to the point. It defines the purpose of your business and should be easy to understand yet motivating to employees as well as clients. When creating your mission statement you should consider the following:

• What specific market needs exist for the business to address?
• What will the business do to address these needs?
• What will be the guiding principles that define the companies approach?
• Why do your clients choose you instead of opting for your competition?

Examples of Mission Statements could be:

“To continuously add value by providing objective and innovative audit services that evaluate risk, control and governance processes.”

or maybe

“To be the providers of I.C.T. strategies and services, which deliver long term commercial benefits, based upon our clients key business requirements. The strategies evolved should be economical, efficient, durable, flexible and allow the organisations to respond rapidly to both market and customer needs.”

Step 3 – Essence
Your business’s essence can be described using one word. When clients come into contact they should feel the essence of your business through your brand identity, so think about what you would like your client to feel when they think about your business or see your branding. Your branding should convey the heart, soul and spirit of your business, consider the following:

• When your clients work with your business, what emotions do they experience?
• If your business were a person, how would you describe their personality?

Step 4 – Personality
The personality of your business needs to be personified through your brand identity. The type of personality you want to convey to your potential or existing client base will ultimately depend on what your products and services are and how it resonates with the type of people that are most likely to buy into them. Choosing one of each from the list below will give you a starting point for the personality:

• Elegant or Bold
• Playful or Serious
• Traditional or Modern
• Personable or Professional
• Feminine or Masculine
• Colourful or Conservative

Step 5 – Positioning statement
A positioning statement is a short statement describing your product and service’s unique value and benefits to potential or existing clients. In this statement you will need to define the audience and category which your product/service falls under and how your business is different or better than your competitors. Questions to ask yourself when creating your positioning statement:

• What business and industry do you focus on?
• Who is your target market?
• What does your target market need?
• Who are your top 5 competitors?
• What benefits do your clients get from you compared to the competitors?
• What is your Unique Selling Proposition?
• What guarantee can you offer your customers that you can deliver?

Take a look at some examples of Brand Positioning Statements or another explanation of brand positioning here.

…Then decide how to visually present it…

The important thing to remember is that you need to set time aside and fully commit yourself when creating your brand identity because the work you put into it now will set the tone for the business’s future and could be the determining factor in the success or failure of your business venture. The following sections are generally what you would need to add into your Corporate Identity Guideline document.

You will need to sit with your designer and decide what direction to take, tweaking it, mulling it over and finally making a firm decision on it. Remember that you can always adapt your brand identity in the future so rather get marketing with a brand identity that is at 95% completed than trying to go for 100%, living in paranoia about failure and never letting it see the light of day.

The logo
So you have done all the theory work and you have it all written down, but what about the look? Although all of the above is incredibly important for your brand identity, none of it will matter if you haven’t grabbed a potential client’s attention long enough for them to want to know more about your business.

Your logo is the champion of your brand identity. You can compare it to your own face. Your friend will see your face, recognise you and automatically they will get a gut feeling, based on previous good or bad experiences in dealing with you. You logo is is the face of your company.  Luckily your company is not born with a face. You can design it. A great resource for logo inspiration is Logo Pond.

Simple logo design Do’s and Dont’s:

• DO… Keep it simple – Simple logos are easier to remember than complicated logos.
• DO… Research – See what your competitors are doing and try to come across as unique.
• DO… Think of a clever way to represent your company identity, even if it is not obvious
• DO… Focus on using less colors. The logo will be easier to reproduce accurately and will help to keep it simple.
• DO… Make sure that the logo is not too tall or wide as it will be difficult to use in other media.
• DO… Make sure that your fonts will read easily when the logo is reduced in size
• DO… Try and design a logo that looks good in one color as well as multiple colors as this is an indication of a strong overall design.
• DO… Bounce your logo design off friends and family. Not because of their creative input, but for the perception that they get from it. Does it fit the brand that you are trying to create?
• DO… Ensure that your logo does not look like that of another famous company because you will spend a lot of money trying to get out of their shadow.
• DO… Make sure that your logo does not pigeonhole you into a specific industry if you have long term plans to expand into others.

• DO NOT… Use free clip-art that you get online. You will get what you pay for.
• DO NOT… Copy someone else’s logo as this defeats the purpose of creating your own unique design plus you will likely get sued for copyright infringement.
• DO NOT… Use fonts that are too decorative and fancy. They should be readable and clear no matter how you resize them. Avoid using too many different fonts in your logo as well. Stick to 1 or 2 fonts maximum.
• DO NOT… Segregate the important parts of your logo design too much. This means that the mark, type and tagline need to appear as part of one design.
• DO NOT… Place the logo on a patterned, image or textured background unless the background is part of your identity system as well. The logo should usually sit on a solid colour or white background so that the background does not overpower the logo itself.
• DO NOT… Use too many drop shadows, embossing or other effects as it will come across as a novice design. It is like getting Photoshop the first time and using Lens Flare on everything.
• DO NOT… Use photos as part of an image, unless it is very simple and has been vectorized accurately. Raster imagery (JPGs, GIF) will pixelate when enlarged.
• DO NOT… Ask a lot of colleagues for their opinion on a logo concept. You will get so many different opinions that you will fall into analysis paralysis and second guess yourself and feel insecure about any decisions that you make.

Colours

Another important thing you need to think about is the colours you want to use in your branding. Of course you will have a main colour that your business will be known for, i.e. Facebook is blue, McDonald’s is yellow and Coca Cola is red. You can mention a color and you will very likely be able to recall about 5 brands per color off the top of your head.

On top of your primary colour you need to decide if you want a secondary colour, i.e. Mac Donald’s has red as a secondary colour. The secondary color is optional but you would need to control the usage of it in relation to the primary color.  A good way to plan ahead is to do research into the possible ways that a color could be perceived emotionally. There is no rule that you have to have a specific color for a specific industry, but it is important to realise how society has been using colors to influence emotion.

Once you have your color scheme down, first look for the Pantone color value that matches it the closest and then find the matching CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black/Key) and RGB (Red, Green, Blue) versions of it. The closest color reproduction would come from Pantone, but you might use CMYK for most of your printing. It is just a good idea to have a proper matching Pantone color available so that you don’t plan your colors using CMYK and there is no accurate Pantone color match for it when you need to print using Pantone only. You might use Pantone colors to save money on large volume prints or just to make sure the colors come out accurately.

Explore Adobe’s free Kuler color scheme service for great ideas on color combinations.

Typography

The power of typography is something most people discount or underestimate. Used correctly is can bring your whole brand identity together. Most of your communication with the target market would be via written marketing messages so your typography choices will become crucial.

You do not want to your readers to work themselves to death trying to go through some basic copy. Keep it simple. Here are some great tips on planning the typography for your brand. The big part of the planning of your typography is working out a viable hierarchy for headings and body font, font types, color, letter spacing and line heights, font sizes and how they would laid out together within the same design.

Tone of voice

An important part of all marketing messages is to make sure that your tone of voice is consistent. The tone of voice guides the copy writer and photographer and designer in how a message must be conveyed. The copywriter will know how to word a message, the photographer, if you employ one, will know how to take product photos and how to crop them and the designer will know how to combine the copy and imagery into a design that fits with the brand positioning that is required.

Imagery

The types of photos or illustrations that you choose for your marketing collateral is an art in itself. You may decide to use 2D or 3D illustrations to add more depth to your designs or you might focus on stock photos. You may decide to choose cartoony illustrations, minimalist design or decorative vector art. For the photos you may decide to have it always involve people looking happy, or only product based photography, photos that are gray scale or tinted with one of your brand colors or stylized in a specific way. Whatever you do, write down the goal of the imagery for your designs and create a mood wall of 10 or 20 photos to illustrate what the visual tone of voice should be. Take stroll over to 123RF for affordable stock photos and footage as well as vector illustrations.

Additional Identity System Elements

A logo is the first thing that pops into your head when thinking about the identity of your brand, but even though it is the foundation of your brand and makes your business instantly recognisable, you cannot focus on just the logo alone. You need to include additional identity elements that expands on the base logotype and supports it to create a fuller overall look & feel. The rule of thumb is that if it doesn’t add to the character of your brand then it takes away from it. Do not create design noise. These additional identity system elements may be specific types of background textures and borders or content dividers that you want to use. It might be watermarks or specific types of vector illustrations that you use across your stationery and marketing collateral.

Examples of how it all fits together.

Now that you have pinned down the individual aspects of the brand identity you should get your designer to add them into compilations where you can see the photos, logo, fonts and additional design elements work together in a single tone of voice. Here you will see if they all work together and if the design is tight. If something just feels off then trust your gut. Stand back and imagine each element being moved around and if it needs to be balanced out better. A way to spot the culprit would be to remove one element at a time until the balance is better and then replacing that element with another option.

Examples of famous Corporate Identity Guidelines

Take a look at Logo Design Love’s massive list of downloadable corporate identity guidelines. Here you can see prime examples of doing it correctly.

…That will afford you these great benefits…

When you combine all of the above mentioned guidelines, you will end up with a brand identity that has:

• Pride – Showing that you are committed to your character
• Visibility – Helping clients to recognise you easily
• Credibility – A strong visual message and a professionally developed brand
• Retention – Keeping on repeating your brand consistently will improve recall.
• Differentiation – Being different and standing out is sometimes more important in marketing that being perfect.
• Stability – Having a consistent visual identity will give the impression of consistent quality and predictability. This is a key aspect of brand loyalty.
• Support – With a strong visual appearance you may increase the possibilities of investment, if required.

…Which leads us to the conclusion that…

You will need to spend the time to understand what your company is all about. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the process yearly or even every 6 months as the company might change, product and service may have been added or removed or the industry has evolved. All of that may mean that your SWOT has changed and that you may need to adjust your positioning in the market to adapt. If you change your positioning then you may need to take a look again at your visual identity to make sure that it is still in line with moving the company forward toward your vision and mission.

It does sound like a lot of work and it may cost you a bit of time and money, but in the fast moving business world it is all down to adapt or die. Refreshing your brand every now and then will remind your customers that the company is fresh, forward thinking, modern and that you listen to their needs. Inject time and money into your brand development and it will pay you back with interest.

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The graphic design company will take lead in bringing creativity, branding and marketing experience to the table so that they can effectively incorporate the personal taste and unique industry knowledge of the specific client.

The client will be responsible for providing a creative brief to the company as an initial guide towards the direction that they want to take. This includes aspects like products/services offered, and any personal design elements and colors that they would like to see in the design.

The design company then creates concepts based on the initial brief received to draw an initial reaction out of the client. This will help to even further refine the personal taste of the client which would in turn speed up the turn-around time and accuracy of the following designs.

Client directed logo designs

The client may give step by step instructions on what they want to change and the company will follow those instructions step by step. The design company will mention if something is not practical or if it may convey the wrong impression to the viewer, but the client may choose to consider or ignore this advice. This becomes a client directed design where the design company does not have a lot of input and this client-centric design input may result in a weak overall brand.

Graphic Design company directed logo designs

The client may not have a strong opinion about what they like or do not like and they will need extra guidance from the design company. The graphic design company could provide logo designs with strong conceptual reasoning as to why a specific design will work for that company and what higher, deeper meaning of that logo design is. The client will need to consider these designs and the ideas behind the concepts and will need to make a decision and commit sooner or later. They cannot afford to say ‘I do not know what I want, but this is not it’. Indecisive clients are generally the most difficult to deal with since they are waiting for a logo to ‘wow’ them, but they cannot say what wows them to the designers.

Shared logo design direction

The middle ground is where the client says initially what they like as part of creative brief, the graphic design company comes up with logo concepts, the client chooses one or two logos to explore and the company provides additional options based on those directions. The client then chooses a specific direction and the company creates logos up to the point where the client is happy or revision scope has been reached. After revision scope limit it might be up to company to extend it for free or charge and additional hourly rate. This is the balance that will create logos that are strong in design and that clients love. The client gives input, the graphic design company listens and gives their input.

Conclusion

The design lead on a project is a maximum of 100%, divided between client and company. One or the other party will have to take the lead to ensure a strong overall design. The best is a 50/50 split where clients steer the company into the right direction, similar to the Hotter/Colder game. The designers will then listen and respond with creative, practical designs.

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There are hundreds of formats but only a few are regularly used and trusted to get the job done correctly. There is a source file, online PDF, proof PDF, print ready PDF, JPEG, PNG, GIF and EPS.

Source File

Whether you have designed something yourself or you have gotten a professional to do it for you, there will be an editable source file that are going to want to keep in a safe place. There is nothing worse than wanting to change something in a current design and the original source file has vanished; because that means that you are now going to have to start all over again.

There are many different graphic editing programs that you can use; all depends on your level of expertise and how much you are willing to spend on software. The Adobe Suite has just about everything you could need when editing graphics. There’s Adobe Photoshop (.psd) for raster (like photos) images and vector, Adobe Illustrator (.ai) for vector editing, InDesign (.indd) for publications and the list just goes on and on. Some smaller companies use CorelDraw (.cdr) because it is more cost effective for them but the common trend amongst professional designers is the Adobe Suite. There are some amateurs who use paint or paint.net and that’s still ok for online graphic use but it is not advised to use such programs for printing purposes.

As long as you still have the source file you can send it through to any graphic house or printing company and they will be able to use it, whether you want to edit it before printing or use elements from it to create something else completely. The source file would need to belong to a commonly used set of design applications that the printer company would own. If you have gotten a professional designer to design something for you (business card, email signature, letterhead, etc.) and they have sent you the source file but you cannot open it, don’t discard it. Keep it somewhere safe because it will come in handy one day.

PDF File Format

PDF’s are used for a wide variety of applications. It all depends what your requirement is and what you are going to use it for.

If you have a design made for web use, you won’t want it to be large in megabytes as it will be frustrating to the end user who now has to download your file. Imagine that they have an extremely slow connection and they have to download 25mb. You will have a negative impact on them before they have even opened the file. This is why you will use an interactive PDF which compresses images and compacts the size the most it can be reduced to without taking quality away from the actual design.

If you have ever worked with a professional graphic designer you will be familiar with the proofing process. Although every designer is different and handles the proofing process differently, most designers will send you a PDF proof to view your design in. A lot of the time it will be a low resolution compressed image contained inside a PDF. The reason designers will do this is because of the difference in file size. If they had to send you a 50mb file each time they send the design to you with amendments, you would end up using a lot of unnecessary bandwidth and you would be wasting time sitting and waiting for the file to download. You need to be careful not to send this proof PDF through to the printers because it is not a file that is fit for high quality printing.

Once you have signed off the design then your designer will send you the print ready version of the design. In this copy there will be bleed added (additional area around the design that will be cut off), the images will be at least 300dpi and the font’s will converted to vector so that the receiver does not need to have the fonts installed. This is the PDF you will send through to the printing company.

JPEG/JPG File Format

A JPEG is an image that can be used for almost anything; it can be used in print design, emails, social media, websites etc. Every image contains a certain amount of pixels and those pixels determine the size and quality of the image, the more pixels there are the bigger your image is going to be. The greatest thing about a JPEG is that it optimises the pixel data to create a smaller file size while keeping the visual quality of the image high. These compressed JPEG’s are best used for photos or pictures that do not contain text or need fine details. The crispness in a JPEG isn’t as good as in other image formats such as a PNG or GIF image, unless you save a maximum quality JPEG, but then you lose the benefit of the file format.

PNG File Format

A PNG is another image format used for other types of images. The anti-aliasing in a PNG is very good but the way a PNG compresses the pixels is more for optimised viewing than reduced file size. The best thing about a PNG that you won’t get from a JPEG is the ability to have a transparent background. If you need to place the image on top of something else but you do not want a white block around it then you will use a PNG format.

GIF File Format

A GIF combines the abilities of a JPEG and a PNG but has limited colour use. So your text aliasing will look good and your file size will be small but using a GIF format is only advised when using a small quantity of colours. Using a GIF format on a photo will reduce the quality of your photo dramatically since it can only display 256 colors.

EPS File Format

This file format is mostly used to encapsulate vectors and keep them intact while sending via email or while copying to another computer. An EPS file cannot be previewed as it is; you need to open an EPS file in a vector editing program like Adobe Illustrator. EPS and PDF are 2 formats you can use to store a vector copy of just about anything, including your logo.

At the end of it all, each format has its strengths and weaknesses. A source file and an EPS file cannot be previewed like a JPEG, PNG, GIF or PDF but they can store vectors which is not something that can be done with a JPEG, PNG or GIF. A PDF is the most universally used format for exchanging publications or advertisements due to its versatility.

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RGB – Red Green and Blue (The color model that monitors use)
CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (Used for high quality commercial printing in large quantities)

What’s the difference?

It is not uncommon to be overwhelmed by all the acronyms flying around these days, RBG, CMYK, PDF, Jpeg, Gif, etc. You might have heard about RGB and CMYK somewhere, but you are not too sure what the difference is and why such a fuss is made over having the correct colour format. The very basics of it all is that RGB is a digital colour where you can use those bright luminescent colours like in a website, on the TV or even on your cellphone. CMYK is used for most printing and cannot use bright colours. This is because RGB has a larger colour range in comparison to CMYK. That is why you can view CMYK on screen, but you cannot print RGB commercially. RGB has color codes that range from 0 to 255 each, for example, RGB (123,188,255). CMYK work on values out of 100, for example CMYK(0,100,32,68).

Digital printing is done on a desktop printer like you have at home (sometimes they are a little larger) and is the better solution for smaller quantities. This would be perfect for small print runs of 50 A4 brochures or less. Commercial printing is done on a big printer that probably wouldn’t fit in your garage. This is the reason why only printing companies supply CMYK printing and not the smaller digital printing companies. CMYK works out cheaper per unit the more you print whereas digital printing has a set price per unit no matter how much you order.

Why does the CMYK print so dull compared to the RGB colors on my monitor?

Sometimes the conversion from RGB to CMYK works without any problems and a printout will look exactly to what shows up on the screen. In other cases, there will be noticeable differences between the shades of colour. The key to avoiding this problem is to convert all colours to CMYK format during the layout design phase. You might also find that your monitor has higher contrast or saturation settings which would make it look different from what a designer might see.

RGB has a greater range of colours than CMYK and can produce colours that are more vivid and vibrant. These colours are beyond the range that CMYK can reproduce and will come out darker and duller in print than what is seen on the monitor or display. Because the RGB colour mode has the full range of colours, documents shown in CMYK mode will always show up precisely on-screen. RGB colours, however, will not necessarily appear in print as they do on-screen. To accurately print the document or image, it must be converted from its original RGB format to CMYK.

I want to print in large quantities, but I also want the bright colours

This is where you make use of a pantone colour. Pantones are a completely different ballgame altogether, but using them ensures that your colour will ALWAYS come out the same. They can be cheap to print when few colors are used, but will exceed CMYK printing costs when reaching 4 colors and up.

How do I know if my design is RGB or CMYK?

If you get your brochure, business card, flyer, poster, etc designed professionally, your designer will make sure that your design is in the correct colour format for its intended purpose. For instance, you may want to use the flyer design to send via email to your existing clients as well as getting them printed to reach new potential clients. This option is always advised to avoid future unforeseen issues. Keep in mind that professional designers know what they are doing and are good at what they do. They keep up to date with the trends and they know all the “ins & outs” of design, colour modes and getting things done right the first time.

Of course not all of us can afford to get a professional designer to do our branding and advertising so if you are on a tight budget or think the design process will be easier by just doing it yourself and cutting out the ‘middle man’ then you need to be careful what you design in. Most amateur designers will use Microsoft Office (Word, Publisher, Power Point or Excel) to design in. It’s already installed on their computer so why not? MS Office is not a design suite so it does not offer the ability to design in any other colour modes other than RGB. So they will design their flyer or business card using this software and they will end up extremely disappointed and confused when all the vibrant, light colours have become dark and lifeless.

The best option is to choose a design company to create professional designs that will print accurately. You will have a better, more creative design, the information architecture of your design will flow properly, you will not have to license professional design packages, you will save time and your prints will come out properly.

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Here are some reasons why animation videos are effective:

Animation grabs attention

Animated videos are eye-catching and grab the viewer’s attention immediately. People read less and less, and that’s why animated videos are so perfect – because they keep the viewer’s attention on what’s important. They are also easy to understand with easy explanations, animations and transitions. It is an easy way to keep your viewer’s attention and properly present value.

Animation appeals to everyone

The enjoyment of animated videos are not confined to a specific age, race or gender and thus appeals to everyone. It has to accommodate and appeal to everyone to get the maximum number of positive responses. If the animation is aimed at a specific target market then the animation style and content will be shaped for that market.

Videos are versatile

Animated video can be used in as many ways as human creativity allows. Anything is possible, whether it is used as a marketing tool for a specific product, a graph or a chart at a conference to show statistics, or research, packaging software interface tutorial recordings, explainer videos, tutorial videos, produce/service awareness and more. The possibilities are endless.

Videos help with brand development

You can present your logo, colours and brand images and messages across an array of videos over a long time period to strengthen your brand as your consumer market grows. Not only are they professional, but animation adds another dimension to your brand by adding motion to it.

Videos share more information faster

Animations are effective in bringing across in-depth information in a short period of time. Instead of having a sales person explain his products from the beginning to end to each and every client, he can simply show them an animation that will cover the overview of products and services and the company’s character. This leaves him with more time to build a personal relationship with the client. Another example involves a visitor just browsing through your website and instead of having to read a long tedious explanation about every product, they just watch the 1-3 minute video. All of the best features and benefits are shown in the shortest, but most interesting, way possible.

Better information retention with video

People will also remember your product or service information better through an animation video than if they had to read it from a brochure or a website. The visual movement triggers additional areas in our brain, thus allowing for better memory recollection. That’s what makes animations so powerful.

YouTube AdWords Videos

YouTube allows different bandwidth options for faster or slower streaming, meaning that animation videos won’t be a concern for fast or slower internet. Playing an animation video through a device like a tablet or phone means instant high quality at a smaller size. Animations can be used as YouTube adverts as part of a Google AdWords campaign. This gives an improved reach compared to the standard AdWords text or image advertisements.

It doesn’t matter which industry you’re in, animated videos are clearly one of the most effective ways to target your specific market, grab their attention and entice them into a buying action. Find out why you need to consider YouTube video advertising.

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General Page Content Structure

Websites are there to influence opinion and to inspire specific actions from the visitor. Most websites focus on introducing a visitor to what makes that company special, what they offer and how to get access to those products or services right now. The competition is tough, so respect the time of your reader and give them what they want.

A good page structure have the following parts, generally in this order. Try to give yourself a Time Budget. Tell yourself that a person needs to be able to read this page in 60 seconds and be convinced to choose your company:

1. The big promise (AKA Hook) – What big problem does this product or service solve? Make a bold statement. Quantify it with numbers if you can i.e. “Save 20% on your running costs” or “You are 2 minutes away from care-free motoring”
2. Features and Benefits – Pick 3 to 8 top features that the product or service has that substantiates the promise made above.
3. Call-to action – Use one line of text to tell them what they can do now to get the product or service. Add a telephone number and a short contact form (Name,Email,Contact Number, Message). First get the lead info, then convert them into a sale. The idea is to show the call-to-action early in the page to inspire action, before they are overwhelmed by information. Remember that you may be competing for attention against the 5 other competitor websites that the visitor has already loaded. You can expand on these contact channels by using a Live Chat Service like www.eseka.co.za to greatly improve the trust value of your website through actual interaction. Live Chat greatly improves the amount of contact info you get from visitors that may not phone or fill in the form.
4. More information – The person may not be convinced yet. Show more information about the product or services, throw in certification logos, brochure downloads etc, but keep it very short. Allocate between 30 to 90 seconds time budget for the extra information. Leave long articles for Press Room posts or general articles. Those can be 1500 to 2000 words in total since Google shows preference to well researched, in-depth content. Sales pages should be focussed around quick conversion.
5. Frequently Asked Questions – This will cover the frequent questions that the visitor may have. This may include tipping point info to convert the visitor into a sales lead. This is also great for Search Engine Optimisation as it gives you an excuse to always expand on the website, just adding more answers to FAQs.

TIP: The more you say why your company is different and special, the less you have to worry about relying on discounts. If you offer more value, then you are sidestepping toe to toe price competition. Promote your company just as much as you promote your products & services.

Writing for better Search Engine Ranking

You are not just writing for the reader, but you are also writing for the search engine bots that read your website. Here are some basic tips on showing Google that your page relates well to a keyphrase that is being searched for :

1. Keywords – Google gets a good idea what the page is about by looking at what you wrote about. Use keywords and synonyms that you think will be searched for by your target market. They may use layman’s terminology to refer to something that may have a different official name. Use language that your clients understand. Use important keywords in headings. Do not use the same keyword too much as Google can penalise you for ‘keyword stuffing’. Google puts more emphasis on the first 100 words in your page so make sure to include important keywords there. Mix it up with synonyms to make the content read easier.
2. Linking Out – Add text links external websites of authority. If you show Google that your page is written after in-depth research and that you offer helpful links to the readers then it will improve your page ranking in search results. Add 5 links maximum.
3. Link Internally – Add text or image links to other pages on the same website. If a website becomes popular then it can share that popularity with pages that it links to on the same website. Try to keep it to 3 internal links maximum.
4. Heading Styles – Use H1, H2 and H3 headings if you need to structure your content better. Only use one H1 heading with important keywords in it. It may already be part of the page title. Do not skip from H1 to H3. Do not go further than H3, since it is rarely required. Your web developer can allocate these headings for you during development.

Content focus per focus page

1. Products and services – Follow the General Page Content structure above when writing your content. If you have a lot of products or services, and they are quite different, allocate a page to each. Having a separate page for each will allow for better landing page targeting, if you are running a Google Adwords campaign. It will also have a great Search Engine Optimisation benefit for your ranking. A visitor might not want to see information about all your products and services on one page. Having more focussed pages will also show that you specialise in those fields. You will see your conversion rate from visitor to sales lead increase a lot.
2. Your clients – This is where you showcase your top clients. This will impress your visitors if your clients are moderately to well known. Having client logos or names on your website shows that big companies have chosen to work with you. It makes you look more established and increases trust. Do not just mention big companies, since you might alienate any smaller companies visiting your site. They might feel intimidated or might think that your pricing is geared at large corporations. Show logos for the type of business size that you want to attract.
3. Testimonials – Clients and testimonials are related. Testimonials give your visitors a chance to hear the clients speak for themselves. It’s common practice for buyers to shop purely by testimonials so keep this in mind when a project completes. Ask your client for a testimonial. This is a massive part of improving trust as it shows that other people took a risk in dealing with you, but that they were very impressed by the results.
4. About us – The purpose of the About Us section is to show that your company has come a long way, it has specific sets of values, can be trusted and that the company will give consistent service in the long run. The About Us section reveals a bit of the soul of a company and why your values will translate into a great experience for them. At the end of the day companies do not provide services, people do. Add a bit of personal flair to show that humans are behind the logo.
5. Contact us – The contact us page shows the complete contact information about your company. It could also include a contact form as well as an interactive Google map. If you have multiple branches, then you could have a page per branch. Make sure your clients can contact you easily. The Live Chat feature mentioned above will expand on your ability to connect with visitors.
6. The team – This section talks about the top individuals of the company and what they bring to the business. Choose personnel from your top management, add a nice looking photo and explain why they are each key elements in the running of a successful company. Do not include CV information. Include a summary of why they are important to the company.
7. Press room – This is also known as the news section of a website. The press room is where you can post all of your news about the company, new products and services, news about new clients or big projects that have been completed. You could also add industry-related articles that clients may find useful. Remember that adding fresh content to your website will bring more returning visitors, who will continually get exposed to your products and services. It will also improve your Google search ranking through Search Engine Optimisation. Keep it fresh and stay in the minds of readers.
8. Certifications and awards – These are very important in convincing visitors that your company has the required skills to perform the job properly. Certification logos look great and add to the official-looking nature of the offering. Awards are even more impressive than certifications. They show that, not only does your company know how to do the job, but that it excelled above the rest of the competitors. This is a sure-fire way to pull in a lot of new business. If you have reputable awards, then you must have done something right. An award can be seen as a testimonial from an official organisation, so mix these with client testimonials.
9. Multimedia – Multimedia can include photos, audio and video and is a great way to add life to your website. Photos of completed projects, the head office, personnel and events will add a lot of eye candy to your publication. It will make the company seem more alive and approachable. Youtube allows for easy uploading and embedding of high quality videos. This media could be used for ‘explainer’ videos that give a well-animated overview of how a company process works. It can be used as a step by step explanation on using a piece of equipment, software or service. It can be easily shared, and people can add comments onto the video at Youtube. Google owns Youtube and the video sharing website is the second biggest search engine. Expand on your online marketing with video.

Get Writing!

In conclusion, there’s a wide selection of company topics to cover. You can split these into individual pages for your website or merge them as required. Each of these is aimed at informing the reader about the company, while always keeping the overall goal in mind: influencing the opinion of the target market to increase sales and brand equity.

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When it comes to design, some people will prefer corporate directions and some artistic, elegant or bold, playful or serious, feminine or masculine and so forth. Hundreds of logos can be placed before a client from a hundred different designers. All of these will be equally good and relevant to the client’s company, but the one that is chosen will most likely not be the same as the one that a colleague, or business partner, would have chosen.

Sometimes people expect to receive a euphoric reaction when they see their designs for the first time, whether these are logo concepts or website designs. Sometimes this does happen, but using an emotional response as a yardstick for good design can lead to disappointment. The client should feel excited about a logo, but the expectation of such a feeling should be within reason. Designers take pride in what they do and only want the best for their clients. It places them squarely between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they want to show their creativity and push the boundaries of design, but ,on the other hand, they need to follow the design feedback from the client since it is being guided by personal preferences.

Here are some guidelines to make sure that personal preferences are implemented as part of the design in the most constructive way.

Follow the guidelines of a good logo design.

There are some core design principles involved in the designing of great logos. Follow these basic tips and the logo will be fresh, exciting and will impress the target market. Take a look at these top 10 tips to designing a good logo.

Listen to reason.

The personal taste in colours and imagery are important, but remember that the graphic design studio was hired to create the logo because they specialise in it. The designers of the studio have been doing logo design for years. They know the ins and outs of what makes a good logo, and they will bring it to the table. Then again, the table is only that big. The more the client’s personal taste begins to override the suggested direction of the graphic designer, the more the graphic designer will need to stand back until the project ends up with a client-driven design. The designer has become a blunt instrument and the logo has lost the potential of being great.

Styles differ between graphic design studios.

As with fashion designers, graphic design companies have their own design styles. This is driven by a mix of the designers, the art director and the creative director’s own styles. The result would be a logo that is unique to that design studio. These unique design styles might clash with the overall design preferences of the client. This could result in a client that would never be happy with the work of studio generates since the styles are incompatible. In that case, the client could look at sourcing another studio that might satisfy their design direction.

It is important to note that the final logo should have a 50/50 mix of client’s personal preferences and the designer’s creativity. This will create a logo that the client will feel attached to, and it will be imbued with the practical style from the designer. The goal of the logo is to tell the client’s target market what is being offered, be easily remembered, easy to apply to different media and to be unique. If the client and the graphic design studio work together and leave each other some elbow room, then the product will be something that both parties can be proud of.

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