Visual Branding: The Effective Way in Creating Brand Guidelines

A visual branding guide or style guide is often called the Brand Bible. Do you know why? Well, it contains all sorts of essential elements that your company needs to represent in front of the world visibly. Unless you have millions of loyal customers and you need to keep yourself up in the competitive market. Then having impressive, unique, and expressive visual branding is the gateway to this.

We’ve come up with a beginner’s guide on visual branding for small enterprises and startups. Take a break from whatever you are up to, and go through the whole post.

What Is Visual Branding?

The first step of getting into any topic is to understand what the definition says. As long as visual branding or brand style in branding are concerned, here goes the basic know how-

Visual branding is a process or set of presentable components that codifies how your brand would present itself in front of the world. In most cases, it defines what a particular brand looks like, how it sounds like, what impression they create at first glance, and what vibe the brand carries along with its identity.

How To Create A Brand Style Guide?

1 of 3: Create Your Identities-

Dictate Your Logo, Its Size, and Placement

We don’t know how much you believe it, but the logo is a key player in any brand’s visual vibe among the potential audience. If you contain consistency in your company, your logo should reflect it right away.

Instead of talking about the theories, let’s have a look at how some of the iconic brands have mastered their branding elements and strategies with correct logo placement-

Temply

They have created two versions of their logo. One is for light, and another is for the dark theme. Both of them sport the same design, but the frontier colors and the background colors go through change.

FedEx

In case you have a number of parallelly running concerns of your business, then you are given two options. One is the strategy that FedEx follows. No matter what the sister concern is(FedEx Services, FedEx Express, FedEx Home Delivery, FedEx Supply Chain Services, etc.), it has a direct inspiration from the parent logo. The themes and colors can be different, but it should seem like part of one big corporation.

Ever Tried Choosing The Right Color Palette?

This is one step that most startups stumble upon, and that is selecting and re-phrasing the color palette. A Color palette is something that companies use to design a brand, and that combination of colors becomes a representation of the brand itself. Therefore, it should be simple but elaborative. Here are some tips regarding color palettes for perfect branding-

If you have more than one color in your color palette, assign different colors to the marketing content. For example, let the first couple of colors go for the logo, the next two for the website and blog, and so on.
Once you choose the right color palette, collect each color's HEX and RGB codes if it’s possible, and patent those colors to your name.
Make sure that your color palette covers all these components of marketing elements- Logo, Website Design, Printed Advertisements, Digital Advertisements, and Even collaterals.

Visual Branding Stage 2 of 3: Master On The Tiny Details

Font and Typography

A massive part of brand identity designing is selecting the right font and text formats. There are thousands and hundreds of typeface families, and you can choose your own typeface family.

While going through the process, here are some rules to keep in mind-

Don't use the same typefaces that you have used in your logo. This contrast will help you to stand out.
Ensure a top-notch alignment and spacing of the fonts. Set some fixed values for these two parameters, and stick to those for all our physical and digital marketing campaigns and labels as well.

Don’t Miss The Imagery.

Although you are not being forced to do this portion of the visual branding, many have made revolutionary progress. See, a set of images in your style guide will create an instant impression. As the themes of the images, you might embed the theme of your brand. As an example, if you’re an insurance company, you can make a thematic representation of how uninsured accidents can cause way more than what they might think.

Here are some more tips-

Show up examples of images that have performed well for your brand. It can be from the analysis of Facebook ad campaigns or billboard marketing.
Get inspired by the stories of your audiences. Small success stories can be big changemakers.
Through your imagery, convey the right mood that you want your customers to be in a while purchasing your products.

Visual Branding Stage 3 of 3: Web-Based Priorities

The last segment of our list is the visual branding of a company through prioritizing the web-based platforms. In other words, we are suggesting you keep the web-based elements in mind. And we can’t deny that the practice is quite a young age comparing other elements of visual branding. Here is a list of elements that you have to take care of-

The Website

Not only to sell retail products to end-users, websites mean way more to you as a brand. Here are some of the tips for making your business website killer-

Make sure that you can give your user a complete experience for your users through the web. It should be a familiar zone for them, in terms of logo, color palette, iconography, typography, etc.
In case you have the chance to relate your services or products with your website, do that. For example, if you take pre-orders for your to-be-released products, this can be done through the website.

The Mobile Application

Marketing digitally is not only confined to creating a website anymore. It’s an age of mobile, and everyone uses those tiny screens for business and entertainment. As it’s possible to embed a few more facilities into a mobile app compared to the website, here are some tips-

Don’t replicate anything directly from your website. In case you need to show them, drive to the website instead.
Let the users have their purposes for using the app. You can offer discounts, promo codes, or whatever perk you want on the first sale.
Use GPS-based features in your business app if possible.

The steps of visual branding seem to be relatively easy to understand for even a first-time entrepreneur, and now you know how to create a branding guide. But as you get on the field to implement your own reign over the market, that’s where the question of smartness, talent, and business sense comes.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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What are the key elements of visual branding?

The key elements of visual branding include the logo, typography, color palette, imagery, design style, and any other visual elements that help create a recognizable and memorable representation of a brand.

What is visual identity vs. brand guidelines?

Visual identity refers to the overall look and feel of a brand, including its visual elements such as logo, colors, typography, and imagery. Brand guidelines, on the other hand, are a set of rules and guidelines that dictate how a brand should be presented across all platforms and materials to ensure consistency and coherence.

How do you do visual branding?

Visual branding involves designing and implementing a set of visual elements that accurately represent a brand and its values. This includes creating a logo, selecting a color palette, choosing typography, designing imagery and graphics, and developing a design style that is consistent across all platforms and materials.

What are branding standards guidelines?

Branding standards guidelines, also known as brand guidelines or style guides, are a set of rules and guidelines that dictate how a brand should be presented across all platforms and materials to ensure consistency and coherence. They typically include guidelines for logo usage, color palette, typography, imagery, design style, and tone of voice, among other things. The ‍purpose of branding standards guidelines is to maintain the integrity and consistency of a brand's visual identity.