When people use your brand name as a verb, it is remarkable. ~Meg Whitman
Building a brand is serious business. There are many aspects to branding you must master to effectively build a business. We usually look at them as three distinct elements: brand, identity and logo.
Brand must have a point of view. If you’ve already taken our 4-part Branding course or read our Insider Secrets for Building a Better Brand, recall that brand is the promise you make to customers expressed in emotional shorthand.
Identity, on the other hand, describes the collection of visual elements you use to represent your business/company offline and online. These elements are pre-defined and their use subject to style guidelines that you implement and enforce to ensure consistent use across multiple applications.
For example, your identity appears in your business materials and signage, marketing collateral, products, packaging, digital signatures, projects and web sites and so on. With so many points of visibility, you can see the importance of controlling how, where and when your identity systems are used.
Logo is the visual element that helps customers find, share and remember your brand. It can be an icon (mark or symbol), logotype, or a combination of the two.
So where your brand is how you communicate with your market and customers, your brand logo is how they recognize and identify you in a crowded marketplace. Further, your logo speaks to them visually and sub-consciously so it’s extremely important to the success of your brand that it sends the right message.
Working on your logo design, whether it be on your own or with the help of others, is demanding work. Not only because of the professional skills involved but also because of what’s at stake with the end result. When you are ready to take the project on, The Big List of Logo Design Resources posted on PixelProspector.com is a good place to start. This list is a goldmine of tips, tutorials and inspiration well worth exploring.
PS You’ll want to leave yourself plenty of time for this research. Then let your creativity flow and enjoy the process!