Branding & Identity
Brand Identity
Brand identity is not to be confused with brand strategy. It can be a head-scratching concept, but that’s where we come in!
Are you and your target market aligned?
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said: “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
But do those sentiments align with what YOU think your brand is? Are you and your audience on the same page? That’s exactly what brand identity is all about.
The key elements of brand identity
Bringing brand thinking to life
In simple terms, brand strategy defines the thinking, while brand identity expresses the look, feel and behaviour that brings that thinking to life. The two are connected but serve different purposes.
As a full-service agency, we have all the knowledge, expertise, skills and disciplines that encapsulate all aspects of branding.
Our expert brand strategists do the thinking, while our design team with a collective industry experience of more than three decades, bring it to life.
Back to our onion, we briefly mentioned its two inner stratums above, but let’s look at each of them in more detail, starting at the core – the logo.
Ready to start something?
Whether you’re looking to bring your brand to life through striking visuals or just want to explore how developing your brand identity can support your goals, we’d love to chat.
The logo – your recognisable face
Your logo is your recognisable face, the sum of the parts that went into the thinking.
We can’t stress enough the importance of a well-defined brand identity born of a brand strategy. By creating a recognisable ‘face’, your logo differentiates your brand from your competitors. Think burgers: which logo springs to mind with the greater ease, McDonald’s or Burger King? (They’re both excellent, by the way!)
Here are some more benefits of a clearly defined brand identity:
- Connection – it’s your opportunity to build an emotional connection with your target audience(s).
- Consistency – being consistent in your marketing and communication increases brand recognition.
- Clarity – this links in with consistency, it will help you define what can evolve and what should not.
A unique, recognisable brand identity is the goal of any design process. Nothing too complicated – just distinct and memorable.
Colour palette and typography
This builds recognition and emotional tone. What is your brand saying about you? Are you high end and classy, young and fun, serious and studious?
These are messages that be conveyed through the colours and fonts you choose. For example, you probably wouldn’t choose mystical woods smooth script in a bright pink if you wanted to portray your brand as serious and studious, although that would work perfectly for a brand that’s young and fun.
Imagery, illustration and iconography
These are the elements that support your brand story and make your brand recognisable.
Did you know the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than written words?
Research at the US-based 3M Corporation concluded the human brain deciphers image elements simultaneously, while language is decoded in a linear, sequential manner taking more time to process.
In fact, psychologist Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, has demonstrated that 93% of communication is non-verbal. Not only does the brain recognise an image more quickly, but it also remembers visuals much better than it does words.
Humans are visual creatures, which is why it’s so important your imagery, illustration and iconography accurately reflect your brand.
Design rules for consistency across all touchpoints
This is best illustrated by taking a leaf out of the Cornerstone brand guide, which says having a clearly defined, consistently communicated and understood brand helps us to:
- Project a single, strong and real image of Cornerstone.
- Market ourselves more easily.
- Increase our clients’ perception of us.
- Reinforces our positioning within the marketplace.
- Instils confidence in our brand and service offering.
- Attract clients who proactively want to be part of what Cornerstone has to offer.
It is that type of understanding that enables us to apply design rules across all the touchpoints your brand enjoys with your target market/audience. Putting in simply, if your corporate colour is blue, don’t change your logo and visual assets to purple.
Brand voice and messaging
This is the written expression that aligns with a brand’s tone of voice.
Tone of voice is not just about what it says, but how it says it. It’s been described as something akin to a person’s personality – it determines if your brand sounds friendly and casual, or professional and authoritative, and sometimes a little of both (our expert copywriters love a challenge).
Tone of voice encapsulates many elements – your mission and vision, values, and unique qualities. We’ll ensure they are expressed consistently.
How to flex brand identity across different applications
In this multi-channel world, a brand needs to work across many applications.
Once again, the key is consistency. We recommend core elements that can’t be changed – a client-approved master logo with pre-defined versions for different channels, if needed. For example, it could be a simplified version for use on social media, or a differently sized version for a website header.
The same thought process applies to the corporate colour palette, with clear indications of pre-approved primary and secondary colours.
Digital fonts can be stretched or squeezed, but again, we set parameters of what is acceptable to keep appearances unified and consistent.
Brand guidelines even Jeff Bezos would approve of!
We create brand guidelines for all of our major clients to ensure brand identity meets all the demands that even Jeff Bezos would approve of!
For more insight into our all-encompassing brand capabilities, visit our case study about a rebrand we did for one of our longest-serving clients, Hill’s Panel Products (HPP), which makes and supplies board, doors, fittings and accessories for the interior fitted furniture market.
HPP asked us to define a new marketing strategy and reposition its branding to drive the organisation through its next period of growth.
Take a look at what we do.
Living Quarters
What our clients say about us.
We’re proud of our extensive experience and expertise, but don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what our clients say about us.
We’d been really careful and thoughtful about our criteria and brief, and felt Cornerstone hit every single point, coming across in a down-to-earth, practical way while still showing understanding from strategy through to tactical execution. Our overall experience with the Cornerstone team is great because we feel really supported as a team.
Alison Robb, Cheetah Transformation
We have developed a great partnership with Cornerstone over the past 6 years and their dedication to our marketing needs and website development is evident in all aspects of our online presence. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to all aspects of the business and look forward planning our new initiatives together.
Scott Bryce, Burnley Leisure & Culture
Cornerstone are a unique PR/ Marketing Agency who provide one of the most competitive holistic services versus many competitor agencies. The team are knowledgeable in their field of expertise, enthusiastic, fun, extremely creative, always ahead of the game, and great at managing tight deadlines. I would recommend this agency with no hesitation, their work speaks for itself!
Rekha Joshi, Dexcel