Do you run a business and want to take it to the next level? If your answer is yes, then you should absolutely consider coming up with a winning brand design; and if you want to achieve the winning brand design, why not partner with a graphic design firm to help you out? However, what is a winning brand design anyway, and why do you need it for your business? Let’s find out!
Brand Design And Its Significance
You can look at any successful company in the world, Apple, Microsoft, Adidas, Casio etc. All of them offer quality products and services as well as good customer service. However, there is one more thing common to all. It’s top-notch branding.
All the successful companies in the world have unique and attractive brand designs that help them to stand out and attract their target demographic. So, you should also create one for your business that you can use online, off line and with all your of social media platforms.
The good news is that for your help, we share the following 10 tips:
1. Do The Research
Doing your homework before actually working on the brand design can save you a ton of time and money. You can find your top 10 rivals in the industry, which would be pretty easy with the help of the Internet, and then identify their brand designs.
Doing this can help you learn what’s working for these brands and what isn’t. It can also help you in avoiding designing something that’s already used by your rival brands. After all, you want a unique and original brand design that’s nothing like what’s out there.
Remember- the advantages of knowing your competition are many. Help in creating excellent brand design is just one of them.
2. Understand Minimalism
When it comes to professional brand design, then it’s important to remember that less is more. So, rather than creating a brand design that’s replete with all kinds of design effects, colors, fonts, and icons, you should try to take a simpler approach. You can even study the company logos of brands like Apple and Nike.
Do you notice how simple their logos are- one that uses a silver apple from which someone has taken a bite, and the other using a “tick” one for “just do it”? See? Simpler designs are more memorable and impactful. Besides, many expert marketers are of the opinion that “to keep your customers, keep it simple”.
3. Keep The Target Demographic In Mind
When you are designing the perfect brand design, then you have to keep the ideal buyer in mind. There is no point in creating attractive visuals when they don’t appeal to the target demographic. For instance, when you are targeting working professionals, then you want to lean towards formal colors like black and grey.
On the other hand, when you want to appeal to youngsters with a brand that’s full of energy and passion, then red is the color that you can’t go wrong with.
4. Be Special
If you don’t have experience with graphic design, and even if you have, chances are that you will need to refer to other popular brand designs for inspiration. However, it’s important to know the difference between drawing inspiration from a design and directly copying the elements of popular designs for your product.
In other words, while it’s completely fine to study other designs, you want to be original with your own design and get to work after putting on your thinking cap.
5. Understand The Importance Of Typography
Did you know that some of the most popular brand designs in the world are heavily influenced by unique and attractive typography? Take Coca-Cola for instance. Its iconic logo is known by the unique typography alone. Similarly, popular brands like Puma, Sony, Microsoft etc. are widely recognized due to their distinct fonts.
6. Get The Message Across
There is no point in designing the best logos and websites when they fail to communicate the right message. For instance, Coca-Cola strives to communicate the zest and passion for life, which it successfully does so with bright red colored logo (red represents passion, energy, and excitement). Similarly, Cadbury uses the color purple which denotes luxury and it’s coupled with a cursive font.
Thus, Cadbury chocolates are marketed for special occasions that you celebrate in life. Every brand must have a clear and strong message. It’s important that your brand design is able to communicate the same with ease while preventing confusion.
7. Maintain Consistency
A brand can be powerful only when it’s consistent everywhere. In other words, when you tell your brand’s story on Facebook, Instagram, website, guest blogs, etc. then it’s important that you use the same colors, fonts, logo, etc. that you have picked and set in your brand book. Your ideology and values should also be consistent in your messaging no matter which platform you are at.
8. Don’t Use Too Many Colours
It’s natural if you want your brand design to look colorful and vibrant. However, it’s a bad idea to use too many colors on your website, logo, and other brand assets. Greater variety in colors can lead to confusion and brand dilution. It is better to keep the palette limited to 3-4 colors only.
9. Write A Catchy Slogan
Many of the successful brands that we know today, viz. KFC, Nike, Subway, McDonalds etc. have catchy and relatable slogans. “Finger-lickin’ good”, “Just do it”, “Tastes good. Feels good.” etc. – we recognize them all. So, if you want to establish a powerful brand, then it’s a good idea to create a catchy slogan for it too.
10. Keep The Future In Mind
Your brand design might be perfect today, but it may lose its impact over a few years. To avoid this problem, try to come up with designs that are future proofed. Think of simple and evergreen icons like Nike’s “tick” or HP’s letter mark logo. You should also stick to classic color combinations and styles so that your logo and website look appealing just like they do today.
So, there you have it- Top 10 tips for creating winning brand design. Apply this information and you will be able to come up with spectacular designs for sure! Good luck!
[See related post: Crafting A Logo That Benefits Your Company]
[Images – Main: Image by Alexey Klen from Pixabay; other images from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Gordon Meagher is the organic team lead at Tailor Brands an AI branding and logo design platform that helps small businesses easily create a brand identity, and other branding materials such as business cards, brand books, and presentations.