Brand identity agency
Brand identity refers to the visual and emotional representation of a brand’s values, personality and characteristics. A rebrand or brand refresh ensures a unified and professional appearance that builds user trust and loyalty, aligns a brand’s messaging with its values, and ultimately leads to higher engagement and conversions.
Introduction to brand identity
Rebranding is a strategic decision that should be carefully considered. Therefore, it’s crucial to distinguish whether an organisation desires a brand, a rebrand, or a brand refresh. The latter may have varying requirements, while the former two follow a similar process, which includes establishing a logo, a colour palette, typography, etc. While a rebrand calls for a new identity for a business, which may include a revised name, slogan, visual identity or brand values, a brand refresh entails changes to an existing colour palette, logo or font style to keep the visual identity fresh, up-to-date and appealing.
What is brand identity, and why is it important?
Brand identity, in essence, comprises a spectrum of design components such as colours, typography, imagery, logos, and visual styles. It is the amalgamation of these elements that serves as the visual representation of a brand’s essence. This identity is crucial as it permeates through every interaction point of a digital product, shaping how the brand is perceived by its audience. From the logo displayed on a website to the colour scheme used in marketing materials, each element contributes to building a cohesive and memorable brand image. Therefore, meticulously considering and crafting these elements ensures consistency and reinforces the brand’s identity, ultimately fostering recognition, trust, and loyalty among consumers.
The role of brand identity
Establishing a brand identity is important as users become able to develop a strong and recognisable connection with a brand, which consequently fosters trust and loyalty.
Benefits of rebranding or a brand refresh
A well-designed brand identity system maintains a coherent look and feel, creates the perception of a trustworthy and reliable website and increases the likelihood of users recalling and recommending the website to others.
Supporting your users' needs
Builds emotional connection
Creates long-term value
Differentiates from competitors
The stages of establishing a brand identity
Stage 1: Discovery: Initially, at Make it Clear, we aim to gather all the details that are currently in place. We will conduct interviews, surveys, and market analysis. This discovery stage aims to understand the organisation from both internal and external perspectives. We aim to uncover insights that will inform the subsequent stages of our brand identity project, ensuring that our strategies align with the organisation’s goals and aspirations.
Stage 2: Audit current materials: Rebrands and brand refresh benefit from an audit and review of existing brand elements at this stage. This can help update any existing market segmentation to include any new audiences. It can also shed light on any potential negative perceptions that need to be counteracted as part of the brand updates. This can involve social media listening, surveys, focus groups and data from any loyalty programs.
Stage 3: Workshop: During our workshop with you, we will collaboratively define the direction, goals, and aims for your brand. This session also provides an opportunity to review the materials you’ve supplied to ensure we have a comprehensive understanding of your brand landscape. Our goal is to ascertain your preferences regarding core brand elements, such as preferred or disliked colours, styles, fonts, illustrations, graphics, photo treatments, and photographic styles, among other relevant aspects. If you’re unsure about these preferences, we can utilise mood boards to gather more information and help you visualise various options.
Stage 4: Creative: At this stage, our focus is on establishing the visual direction of your new brand. We begin by presenting concepts for the core brand elements. Typically, we offer three conceptual directions to provide you with a diverse selection to consider. After reviewing these concepts, we aim for a clearer direction on how to proceed. Ideally, we prefer to review feedback in person or via a call involving all key stakeholders. Additionally, the initial deck will showcase identities in black and white, allowing you to evaluate the design without the distraction of colour. This ensures a thorough and insightful evaluation of the proposed designs.
Stage 5: Create brand guidelines: In our branding projects, we document the brand personality through comprehensive guides tailored to your specific needs. While not all elements may be included in every case, a light brand style guide is typically the minimum documentation provided. This guide covers essential aspects such as logo usage, colours, typography, and, if applicable, icons/illustrations. Additionally, we may include other key documents such as core brand or company values, guidelines for tone of voice, and a brand manifesto. These guides serve as valuable resources to ensure consistency and cohesion in your brand representation across various channels and touchpoints.
Stage 6: Implementation and rollout: This stage includes the rollout of the new brand identity across all relevant touchpoints, including digital platforms, print materials, physical spaces, and marketing communications.
What’s included
Depending on project requirements, a light brand style guide (covering logo usage, colours, typography and icons/illustrations if applicable) is the usual minimum documentation supplied in branding projects.
Why choose Make it Clear
At Make it Clear, we take an evidence-based approach to everything we do. Understanding your organisation, audiences, and the context in which they interact is paramount to the way we work and deliver a best-in-class user experience.
