Chapter 11 - Pt 2

Goal of a Visual Identity

Ideally, a visual identity communicates meaning, adds value, is relevant to its target audience

Identifiable

The shapes and forms are identifiable and decipherable.

Memorable

The shapes, forms, and colors are sufficiently coherent, interesting, and unusual.

Designing Visual Identity

The design concept is conceived with a brand's or group's core value/quality and significance (as manifested in a brand construct, a quality or position a brand "owns" against the competition), visually communicated through its logo and visual identity.

Flexible/Extendable

The name, shapes, forms, and colors are flexible to work across media, to grow with the entity's new services, and to adapt to brand extensions and sub-brands.

Distinctive

The name, shapes, forms, and colors are uniquely characteristic to that entity and differentiate it from the competition.

Sustainable

The name, shapes, forms, and colors would endure, be relevant for a period of years.

Logo Visualization

A logo has to tell a story; it must communicate meaning - clearly express a voice, communicate an essence.

Letterhead

A core application of any visual identity or branding program is the letterhead. Letterhead is a formal business tool used for many purposes, official or legal. Again, letterhead is printed on a sheet of fine paper or viewed as a digital page includes specific content and is part of a broader visual identity system with consistent elements that allow for identification of the brand.

Creating Coherence

A program of strategic, unified, and integrated solutions for a brand or group results in harmonious brand experiences for its audience.

The Business Card

Besides television advertisements that come into your living room, a business card is, perhaps, the most intimate design application. Often passed from hand to hand, a business card quickly and directly tells its reader who you are, what you do, with whom you are affiliated, and how to contact you.

Identity Standards

Graphic designers create standards for the use of identity design and logo on all applications to ensure consistency and logo recognition across media. Consistent use guarantees immediate recognition in a cluttered commercial environment and ensures integrity of meaning.

Letterhead Design Components

Components of a letterhead program can include: General letterhead and general envelope Executive letterhead and executive envelope Digital letterhead Fax cover sheet Contracts Invoices Memos Envelopes: Large, window, etc. Mailing label

Logo Color and Type

Many brands are synonymous with the color or color palette of their visual identities. Color contributes to distinction and influencing people's brand perception. Choosing a typeface for a logo should be done for its form, appropriateness, and expressive potential, with knowledge of both the denotative meaning and the connotative meaning (heritage, voice, expressive meaning) of the face.

Identity Standards for Business Cards

Standard content guidelines usually include: Individual's name Job title Unit or department name Address or office location Phone and fax numbers E-mail address(es) Web address To include more information or graphics, some design a two-sided card, utilizing the reverse side. Establishing coherence entails creating identity standards and then employing them consistently.

For visual/verbal coherence, common components across brand applications are:

Strategy Logo Tagline Look and feel Color or color palette

Visual Identity

The basic purpose of visual identity is the same as a branding program—to identify, differentiate, and build a sustainable presence and position in the marketplace, as well as to engender trust in the brand or group. A visual identity is the visual and verbal articulation of a brand or group, including all pertinent design applications, such as the logo, letterhead, business card, and website, among other applications; also called brand identity, branding, and corporate identity.