This is perhaps the phrase we have most often repeated to our clients in recent years, and maybe also the best way to start talking about branding. In a world where we often talk more about visual identity than branding, many brands think the most important thing about their brand is their logo. As if they had little to do with each other, or as if one were not a consequence of the other. But we are not here to complain. Are there a large number of brands that think the most important thing about their brand is their logo? There are. Is this even true in terms of purely visual identity? It is not.
So let’s first disprove this part. It turns out we are at a point in design where brands are identifying themselves more with a neutral, flat logo lacking much character. What this does is leave much more space for all the other elements that can signify a brand. In terms of visual identity, we talk about the aesthetic universe, the moment when other visual resources – like corporate colours, fonts, photographic style and iconography – are displayed. Then everything starts to make sense. Each of these elements matters. They help build the brand.
In this case, the logo would not speak for itself but have a meaning, a personality and unique values thanks to the visual proposal accompanying it. This is why it cannot function on its own, needing the other elements to exist and make sense. This is why a brand is not a logo. Beyond that, for all this to coexist and be coherent, we must build our brand. Think it.
We say everything we do builds a brand. How nice that sounds – yet how complex is everything behind it. Interwoven meanings and conceptual structures. We will devote another post to all the terminology the sector uses that we like so much. But the truth is that what we love most about branding is when it is understood. What if we could design our brand in such a way that we could decide what others perceive about us?
Building a brand at a strategic level is nothing more than defining clearly what we want to mean to others. What will make us unique, stand out from the herd? What will our value proposition be? After all, branding is nothing more than simply mattering to someone. Because what would become of us if no one cared about us? A brand is a promise to our audiences. A promise that connects and excites. A unique, differentiating value proposition.
A brand helps us choose in a world where we have infinite possibilities. This is the chance we have to make a link to something deeper, a set of values, a personality and a specific purpose. The brand even helps us manage our emotions. Because in a world brimming with impact, brands offer us an identity symbol.
So when we talk about branding, we go below the brand’s surface, delving into everything that makes it work: business models, competitive advantages, corporate cultures and even organisational charts. Yet we also examine everything that imbues it with feeling: meanings, behaviours, experiences, initiatives and actions. The elements that let it express: visually and verbally, through its attitudes and our senses.
Because a brand – beyond any symbol or language – is the sum of everything we do. Every detail counts in building or destroying our brand. So let’s keep that in mind when asking for “a new logo”.
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