Branding is a complicated subject. Everyone uses the word “brand,” but few can describe it precisely. Every brand has the same branding components, such as a logo, a color palette, a particular user experience, etc. These branding components combine to create a brand identity, which designers then utilize to create appealing, engaging brand designs.
While websites and digital presence are essential, they are just one component of your entire brand. It is essential to grasp these concepts to have a clear expectation on branding for your company and define the actions to achieve an aspirational condition. This is why we’ve compiled a list of the eight most often utilized branding elements and explained them using simplified examples.
8 Branding Elements
1. Positioning
Positioning refers to the market niche that a brand occupies. When you define your brand’s character, you’re determining what it provides consumers and how it fits in with other companies in its category. Are you charging more, the same, or less than your competitors? What distinguishes your offer from the competition?
The positioning of a brand has a direct effect on its branding. A low-priced company, for example, that wants to convey that they’re the most affordable option could use bright, value-communicating colors like yellow and orange and create a brand voice that’s straightforward, pleasant, and cheerful.
On the other hand, a higher-priced brand may use darker colors and a mysterious voice to position itself as the more exclusive choice.
However, brand positioning is more than simply carving out a market niche. It also entails contact with other brands, both inside and outside of the same sector. This is where positioning and brand imaging intersect: the brands you work with, including influencers, impact how the rest of the world sees you.
2. Logo
Every brand necessitates the creation of a logo. It would be challenging to discover a company that did not have a logo, making it an essential aspect of branding.
A logo is a brand’s whole personality condensed into a single, easily recognizable picture. It is often the initial contact you have with a brand, the picture that stays in your memory and brings up memories such as sound, hostility, or indifference when you see it again.
As previously said, a logo is a standard-bearer for the whole brand experience—a brand piece that lives everywhere and that your target audience may even have tattooed on their body.
Your brand’s logo appears on virtually every asset your company has, including business cards, a website, products, social media sites, branded templates, and advertising and marketing materials. As a result, your logo should reflect your company’s essence and capture the idea of your brand identity.
3. Imagery
Imagery encompasses all types of pictures used in branding, marketing, and advertising. This isn’t your logo or particular pieces of content; it’s the photographs and stock images you employ, the style of the graphics on your website and other brand assets, and your overall brand aesthetic.
Consider gradient and patterned backdrops, packaging, or banners—you don’t need solid images to convey a brand effectively; you can simply accomplish it with abstract imagery through form and color choices.
Brand imagery interacts with other branding components such as color and form. However, it does not end with drawings and visuals. Brand imagery also refers to how a brand visually displays itself, including when an individual develops a personal brand. This is common with superstars who dramatically change their public image.
4. Fonts
Another important aspect of branding is the typefaces that a company employs. Wherever a company employs text, such as in their logo, on their website, or as part of an email template, the typeface used is carefully chosen to convey the brand’s personality and values.
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5. Color Palette
Colors are another essential component of any brand’s identity. Look at the color samples below and attempt to figure out which brand each palette represents. Color is so essential in branding that some businesses have trademarked their distinctive brand colors. UPS brown, Tiffany blue, and Fiskars orange are a few examples of trademarked hues.
But what is the significance of color? Because colors convey important values and personality characteristics. We’ve already discussed color psychology and how to select prosperous colors for your branding, so if you’re not sure which colors are ideal for your brand, have a look at them.
And don’t feel obligated to use just one color—the colors in your palette work together to represent your brand while giving it a distinct appearance.
6. Shape
Another aspect of a brand strategy example is the shape or form. Not only do the forms in your logo stand out, but so do the shapes in your web page backdrops, layout design, packaging, and even your business cards and other stationery.
In earlier blog articles, we explored how various shapes communicate particular brand values and other elements of your identity. Determine which shapes best represent your brand’s character as you create your brand identity. Keep in mind that you are not limited to a single shape or kind of form—if your brand’s appearance necessitates the usage of two or more shapes, go ahead and utilize them.
7. Tagline
A memorable slogan, such as Bounty’s “The Quicker Picker Upper” or Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” These are some of the most well-known catchphrases in the world. Taglines, often known as slogans, serve as the centerpiece of brand marketing.
Brand messaging is the method through which you convey your brand’s distinct offering. Sometimes the offer is self-evident, such as Subway’s “Eat Fresh” tagline. Subway adopted the tagline “Eat Fresh” to distinguish itself from other fast-food companies by presenting itself as a healthier option. Subway drove home this message by using green in their logo and airing ads showcasing consumers’ testimonies about losing weight while eating Subway.
Other companies’ distinctive offers are more abstract, such as Nike’s encouragement to “Just Do It.” Even though it is somewhat abstract, Nike’s message is clear: don’t hesitate, take action. Get up, exercise, and do what you know is good for your body and mind—there are no excuses; just do it.
Your tagline adds information and context to your logo. It not only informs people what you do, but it also tells them what to anticipate.
8. Tone & Vocabulary
There is no such thing as a bit of coffee at Starbucks. You can buy the smallest of their three regular sizes, but the size is called “tall.” This is because Starbucks created its own branded language to distinguish its product offerings from other companies. Even while they did not invent the terms for the various drink sizes, they were the first to utilize them in this novel manner.
This isn’t the only unusual naming practice that Starbucks is renowned for. They’re also notorious for misspelling clients’ names on beverage cups, sometimes comically incorrectly. Although Starbucks has not formally admitted to making a conscious decision to misspell customers’ names, they have acknowledged putting names on cups as a fun aspect of their brand. Individual baristas, on the other hand, have varied perspectives about misspellings.
A brand’s tone of voice includes a particular lexicon. The tone of voice is the voice you hear in all of their material, such as the emails you get from them, the information on their website, and the language they use on social media.
One of the most potent ways to influence – and redefine – how the world sees your brand is via your tone of voice. Wendy’s is one example of a business that carved out a new image for itself by establishing a consistent, one-of-a-kind social media presence. Before Twitter, they were just a fast food restaurant that served square burgers, fries, and chili. They’re now a fast-food joint that serves square burgers, fries, and chili and never misses a chance to be sarcastic and cruel.
