Develop Your Branding Design Like a Pro

Impactful and strategic brand design is the secret to a well-defined brand identity.

A strong brand identity can go a long way in a competitive marketplace. It is a business must-have–a powerful tool that can shape consumer perceptions and influence purchase decisions by building trust, loyalty, and close connections with the target audience. More importantly, it holds the key to a successful brand presence made possible with an excellent branding design.

What is Branding Design?

As more brands offering similar products and services populate online and physical markets, brand design becomes vital in helping your brand stand out and make a lasting impact and connection with your audiences.

Branding or brand design visually represents brand identity in digital and real-world settings. Using the fundamental design elements, it immortalizes your mission, vision, personality, voice, and unique selling point.

Developing Brand Design

One of the mistakes most brands make is rushing into creating logos and materials using the latest design trends without developing their brand identity design. This means failing to strategically use the typography, colors, and shapes that best represent their brand image. If you struggle to develop your brand design, we got you covered. We have listed below the critical elements that help create a compelling branding design and identity.

Typography

Choosing which fonts to use for logos and other brand collaterals is essential for aesthetics, building brand recognition, and influencing decision-making. The typography you select, therefore, should be engaging and mirror your brand’s personality.

Serif Fonts
Times New Roman and Garamond are popular serif fonts often used in newspapers and books. Accentuated by a mark or anchor at the end of letters, the classic-looking serif fonts exude authority and integrity. They also suggest history and tradition, which explains why they are the premier choice of brands that want to earn the trust of their target market.

Sans Serif Fonts
Smooth edges and lack of extra marks are the primary identifiers of sans serif fonts. Used by leading brands, including Google, Dolce & Gabbana, and Spotify, they give a sleeker and more modern feel that directly contradicts the traditional look of serif fonts. Helvetica, Arial, and Calibri (Microsoft Word’s default font) are prime examples.

Script Fonts
Brands that use script typography give off a luxurious and feminine impression, which explains why it is common in businesses and products related to weddings and jewelry. Some brands also use script fonts that mimic handwriting to emphasize relatability.

Display Fonts
Think of display or decorative fonts as typography customized for your brand. They showcase specialized elements, such as unconventional shapes and outlines, that can effectively present your brand identity.
Pro Tip: Use these fonts moderately.

Color Palette

Colors reflect brand personality and core values. They also evoke emotions from your target audience, which also helps influence their purchase decision and brand loyalty. Have you ever wondered why most brands use blue in their logo?

Here are the traits commonly associated with popular colors:

Red – Passionate, exciting, angry
Orange – Friendly, playful
Yellow – Happy, young, optimistic
Green – Nature, hope, money
Blue – Stability, trustworthiness, security, professional
Purple – Royal, luxurious, creative
Black – Power, modern, classic, sophisticated
White – Clean, healthy, simple
Pink – Feminine, innocence, youth
Brown – Masculine, rugged, old-fashioned

Form or Shape

Like colors and typography, form matters when developing your branding design. Adding shapes to your logo will change how it looks, dictate the brand voice, and influence how your audience perceives it. But take note of the various meanings different forms convey.

Round Shapes
The smooth, continuous curves and the lack of sharp edges and angles make circles, ellipses, and ovals help round-shaped logos stand out. But that is not the only reason round shapes are popular logo elements. Instead, it is also the attributes they are most associated with.

Round shapes give a semblance of continuity, unity, and security. An excellent example is the Mastercard logo, which shows two overlapping circles. Other examples are the logo of WordPress, Nivea, and the Olympics.

Angular Shapes
Filled with sharp edges and angles, logos with rectangles, squares, and triangles communicate power, dominance, and confidence. They can also be perceived in branding design philosophy as reliable, ingenious, and stable since these shapes can form a solid and secure structure when stacked.

The Adidas logo, which shows three stripes forming a triangle, has become so iconic over time that consumers easily identify the brand name by looking at the logo. The same goes for the National Geographic logo.

Organic Shapes
These shapes have a better potential to give brands a strong recall. People can easily recognize natural shapes like trees, animals, and flowers, which explains why brands who want to convey their message through form prefer organic shapes in their logos.

Besides these three logos, another great example is the Burger King logo. Showing two burger buns sandwiching the brand name is a wise depiction of their best-selling product: burgers.

Straight Lines

Branding design also includes lines, which present different meanings depending on their orientation. Vertical lines represent strength, superiority, and progress, while horizontal lines are associated more with speed, security, and calmness.

DHL and Cisco are two brands that strategically used lines in their logos. The horizontal lines in the DHL logo suggest the company’s fast shipping and delivery services, while the horizontal lines in the Cisco logo establish the brand’s leadership in the IT and networking industry.

Having Trouble With Branding Design?

Our creative designers and branding experts can help you reach your target audience, build more connections, and strengthen brand loyalty through engaging design assets that reflect your brand identity and expert branding strategies that continue to boost our clients’ credibility and sales.