Most people often mistake the notion of a company brand being a personal logo or identity. A company logo carries everything associated with the related company, and it is not a unique identity. Everyone wishing to run a business or a start-up will always yearn to develop a logo for a particular reason. While most people have a different understanding of the role performed by a logo in any company website, it is essential to develop a shared understanding of what you prepare for a website in the name of a logo. Usually, most people confuse logo design, identity, and brand. Is a brand a logo or either way? Is a logo an identity? What is logo design? Therefore, this piece aims to understand branding, identity, and logo design.

While it is true that there are differences between the terms, there are no clear clarifications of where the differences lie. In this piece, we, therefore, look forward to making apparent-cut differences so that even as you look at the three functional terms from different perspectives, you will understand what each of them does and how it will serve you in one way or another.

In simple terms, the brand will always mean the perceived emotional image corporate in its wholeness. We can consider identity as the visualization aspect that cuts a section of pie in the entire brand – it is just part of the brand in its wholeness. A logo is a common thing that probably everyone knows. A logo can always be a personal one, a company one, or a business logo. It is a crucial entity that helps identify a business or an organization in its simplest form. On most occasions, logos occur as icons or some given unique marks. When you create a logo, each element in a logo may hold some shared meaning.

Let’s dive deeper and gain an inner understanding of the three dimensions crucial for a web developers, designers, or any other expert related to a business organization.

Understanding branding

Branding is a crucial area to discuss, and there are thousands and thousands of books written to address the same. In the layman’s language, a brand would mean a service, product, or organization with some specific personality shaped through the entirety of the customer’s perception of the same. Therefore, for any given brand, customers associated with the same brand have their perceptions that help shape the brand and, thus, distinguish it from the rest. Therefore, it is undeniably true that there is no association between a designer making a brand. Consequently, it is crucial to understand that designers do not make brands. Instead, the customers are the only people associated with making a brand distinguishable and unique. However, designers also have a role in generating the foundation of any given brand. They can also provide a proper path or perception of the brand at the start.

A brand holds several elements. Brands often have their color, slogan, music, or logo. On most occasions, some brands stretch to a further extent to maintain a tagline that makes it more specific while distinguishing it from the rest. While these are just a few elements in a brand, it is essential to realize that developing an authentic brand will command way more than colors and whatsoever. Therefore, the perception of a brand should be that of a corporate image. Having an excellent corporate idea is critical.

Consequently, ensure that the foundation idea underlying a corporate image should be diverse and cover a wide range of things associated with the operation of the related company. The core idea in the brand should also address anything and perhaps everything under the ownership of a company. The products related to a company are all-inclusive in the brand. Therefore, we can confidently state that the brand is a holder of the strife, aims, and values associated with the businesses within a company as a whole.

Whatever makes a brand what it is, is the consistency of the core elements and ideas related to the company. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain the character of the features that form the core idea of a brand. It is the critical element that will ensure the company moves forward in its undertakings. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that brands have consistency in what they believe in and the key elements that form the basis of their existence. It is essential to understand that a company is more than a slogan, logo, and typeface, among other entities. The crucial idea behind branding is clear when described in an example. Consider the renowned IT company – Apple. Upon its mention, what comes to your mind? Apple is famous for producing Apple products ranging from iPhone to MacBook.

Despite their central role in manufacturing such products, the company strongly exudes a humanistic corporate culture. It, therefore, has a good course in ensuring great corporate ethics within the society. It has an impressive corporate team that works around volunteerism and support for crucial activities and causes within a societal setting. Again, whatever steers the company’s growth is the manufacture of more fantastic products and a robust set of values and beliefs that provide a ground into innovativeness in societal settings. The company’s conduct is visible through its products, innovativeness, and the consumers who consume its products. It is thus what makes it a brand. The Apple company provides a futuristic and humanistic emotional connection between customers who buy its products. Therefore, such customers feel belonging to a unique class with the joy and pride of belonging to the brand – Apple.

Consequently, we can call Apple customers an Apple brand an emotional connection. A brand is not all about a logo or something of the sort. Instead, it holds several considerations, as discussed herein in this section.

Understanding identity design

Any company, brand, or organization has a crucial role in establishing its identity. Therefore, with identity design, we shall base our discussion on the visual resources and consumables of the company assembled through strict adherence to given guidelines. It means keeping consistency in layouts, logo design and logo fonts. The guidelines associated with developing a company’s identity serve a crucial role in determining the identity’s administration and applications in different dimensions. The initiation of identity often requires approved entities unique to each company. For instance, entities associated with companies for identity purposes could be approved fonts, color palettes, and unique layouts. There are also crucial specifications for measurements and other finer details related to only given companies. Adhering to the guidelines will ensure coherency and hence the vital need for the identity of any given organization. Several visible devices link with identity design in a given company.

The visual devices that fall within identity design include the logo, signage, apparel design, products and creative packaging, stationery, marketing collateral, massaging and action, and other communication associated with a given company. Anything that serves as a visual representation is good enough to stand in place of being an element of identity design. Therefore, such devices fully support identity design and support the brand in generality.

Understanding the logo

Another element serving a vital role within an organization is the logo. It is a corporate identity. But a proper understanding of the logo requires that you first understand its functionalities. On most occasions, the logo serves to identify a company or organization. It is also an identifier of a company’s products and could be a mark, symbol, or signature in the organization. It is crucial to understand that the logo does not sell a company and its products. The derivation of a logo generates from the initial function, role, feature, or entity it represents. Therefore, logos identify the company but do not describe it; however, they derive from what they mean in the related company. It is crucial to ensure that logos identify the business rather than tell more about it.

Identity also carries many other factors within the logo. A logo needs identity and recognisability, which brings about memorability. In short, if you come across any company logo, you should always recognize it without failure and also memorize it. The familiarity of a logo brings about its intended functionality. Keep this in mind when you create your own logo. Therefore, at all costs, companies should always strive to ensure their logos have a high level of recognition from people and should also have a significant aspect of memorability.

Conclusion

Branding, identity, and logo design are standard and related terms that, on most occasions, may occur together. However, understanding the three with their clear-cut differences is essential. From the discussion, it is clear that there are differences between them. A brand is, in short, a perceived emotional corporate image of a company as a whole. A logo is an entity for identifying a business in a more straightforward form and could be some icon or a mark. The visual aspect creating a section of the entire brand defines its identity. If you own a company, you should therefore have a proper understanding of the logo, brand, and identity to understand what you can work on extensively to advance your company operations.

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