By Rachel Won / 7 January 2019 / Tags: Design Insights

Hello to a brand new year! I am Rachel Won, just share with you my design background, a creative designer who has been working for the past 15 years. I have the audacity to setup my design studio and helped many companies with branding. Till date, I have designed, created and revamp more than 50 brand identities.

Let’s have a mind game.
What is the first brand, will you think of when comes to fast food?

What about local universities?

How about local banks?

Why do you think some brands we can remember easily and some don’t? Because these brands connect with us emotionally.

Today, I am going to share with you about Branding. It is a huge topic to talk about and it is something that is close to my heart because I am able to relate it every day, so can you. We see brand visuals at shopping malls, retails, schools, clinics and even supermarkets. There is always confusion between branding and brand logo. Let me share with you more.

What is Branding?
Branding is the overall perception of how your consumers perceived you as a company.

There are 3 tiers:
Corporate Branding
Brand Identity
Brand Logo

Let’s start from the foundation.

Corporate Branding
The perceived emotional corporate image as a whole. It is the soul of the brand.
A designer cannot “make” a brand – only the consumers can do this. However, as a designer, I can build the foundation of the brand. I work on the brand strategy with some of my clients. I work with the clients on how the company wants to be perceived. I asked questions like what are the company belief and direction? What are their company core values? I work with clients on the company’s vision, mission, values, taglines, brand attributes. It doesn’t stop there but needs to communicate throughout the entire company and its consumers.

Brand Identity
The visual aspects that form part of the overall brand. It has the different parts of the brand.
The identity or ‘image’ of a company is made up of many visual devices:

• A Logo (The symbol of the entire identity & brand)
• Stationery (Letterhead + business card + envelopes, etc.)
• Marketing Collateral (Flyers, brochures, books, standee, websites, etc.)
• Products & Packaging (Products sold and the packaging in which they come in)
• Apparel Design (Tangible clothing items that are worn by employees)
• Signage (Interior & exterior design)
• Messages & Actions (Messages conveyed via indirect or direct modes of communication)
• Other Communication (Audio, smell, touch, etc. these will evoke our emotions to enhance the impression of the brand)

Anything visual that represents the business.

All of these things make up an identity and should support the brand as a whole.

Brand Logo
A logo identifies a business in its simplest form via the use of a mark or icon. It is the heart of the brand.

A logo is not your brand, nor is it your identity. Logo design, identity design and branding all have different roles, that together, form a perceived image for a business or product. The logo however, is the corporate identity and brand all wrapped up into one identifiable mark. This mark is the avatar and symbol of the business as a whole.

To illustrate this concept, think of logos are like people. We prefer to be called by our names – Rachel, Jackie, Sally – rather than by the confusing, long and forgettable description of ourselves such as “the lady who always wears jumpsuits and has black, shiny hair”. In this same way, a logo should not literally describe what the business does but rather, identify the business in a way that is recognizable and memorable.

It is also important to note that only after a logo becomes familiar, it functions the way it is intended to do much alike how we must learn people’s names to identify them.

To recap:
Corporate Branding
The perceived emotional corporate image as a whole. It is the soul of the Brand.

Brand Identity
The visual aspects that form part of the overall brand. It is the different parts of the Brand.

Brand Logo
A logo identifies a business in its simplest form via the use of a mark or icon. It is the heart of the Brand.

Want to improve your brand identities or create new brand logo that sticks in people’s mind?
Make your appointment with us

#Corporate Branding #BrandIdentity #BrandLogo