Brand elements create a unique brand identity, as they are ALL of the specific assets that make up your overall aesthetic and message.

WHAT ARE BRAND ELEMENTS?

LOGO: the main, full-version logo for a brand.

SQUARE: a version of the main logo that fits into a square. Mainly useful for social media, favicons, and other similar reasons.

SUBMARK: an icon of sorts that easily relates and aesthetically matches the main logo.

GRAPHIC ELEMENTS: optional, but can be impactful when used the correct way. Graphic elements are icons, drawings, or other illustrations that assist in telling the brand’s story, and are easily recognizable as the brand.

COLORS + PATTERNS: the color palette of the brand is essential to creating a unique brand identity. This is so the customer can easily identify the brand and build recognition for those colors. Patterns are optional, but can be effective in telling certain stories.

FONTS + LOGO SPECS: fonts should remain consistent throughout ALL forms of communication and advertising with your customers to maintain that brand recognition. The logo specs can be any final design notes from the designer for the rest of the brand (such as spacing, alignment, etc.).

HOW TO CREATE A UNIQUE BRAND IDENTITY

COHESIVENESS IS KEY! The most helpful tool in creating your brand identity: cohesiveness and consistency. These brand elements we’re chatting about create your unique visual brand identity. BUT – it’s up to you to put them into use and carry them throughout all of your communication avenues.

Think of a brand that you love and why you love them. Take a look at their advertising and notice how the fonts, colors, and general vibes are carried throughout the brand to make it noticeable to you no matter which platform of theirs (Instagram, Pinterest, website, email, shop, etc.) that you are on.

This means you need cohesiveness throughout:

1. Logo + logo elements
2. Colors + design elements
3. Fonts + typography elements

AS WELL AS your copy! Your brand voice and brand story also need to be consistent and cohesive because they are another asset to getting your audience to connect with your brand. Tie in the visual brand elements to the copy assets and you’ll be on your way to a solid and established brand identity.

EXAMPLES OF BRAND ELEMENTS

Let’s take the example of Primrose + Petals, a brand we designed for a wonderful SoCal florist! Now that she has all of her brand elements (and templates) to get her started, she’s can create her own graphics and other branded necessities. This helps her establish her brand identity across all platforms, and allows her to have total control over her well-designed and established brand elements.

LOGO

Her main logo is simple, modern, and sophisticated.

SQUARE LOGO

With the main logo being longer, the square version of the logo is stacked on top of each other, with the option of the wreath graphic element. This allows for the full logo to fit in places where the horizontal version may not.

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SUBMARK

The submark also has an option with or without the wreath, and includes a simplistic version of the logo with the two P’s, still easily correlated and identifiable to the main logo.

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GRAPHIC ELEMENTS

We love adding a graphic element to a brand! It can give us an extra storytelling piece, or can provide value as something beautiful that’s tied to the brand. In this instance, we used a floral illustration that we used on its own, or as a wreath. See all of the various ways we were able to use these graphics: in Instagram story templates, quote graphics, stationery, and more.

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COLORS + PATTERNS

It’s no secret that Primrose + Petals has a beachy, sophisticated color palette, featuring a dark and dusty blue. Keep scrolling to view the full color palette shown in the branding board below.

We did not use a branded pattern for this brand, but click here to view a great example on how to emphasize a pattern in a branding board!

FONTS + LOGO SPECS

The fonts give so much emotion to a brand, and set the tone for how the brand will make you feel. Primrose + Petals is a very relaxed, yet sophisticated, brand. Her fonts reflect that, as well as her connection to natural elements.

See the examples below with the visual Instagram graphics, email signature, and business card mockup.

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BRANDING BOARD

If you hire a brand designer, they will create a design board, or branding board, that helps to visualize these brand elements. This is most helpful when deciding on a logo because you can see how it will appear to your customers, and not how it’s simply shown in a proof. See how Primrose + Petals’ branding board consisted of digital mockups, stationery mockups, and a website mockup.

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NEED MORE HELP WITH BRAND ELEMENTS + CREATING A BRAND IDENTITY?

Are you…..

• Not the most creative and looking for someone to take your brand to the next level? Let’s chat!
• Need some extra guidance and not sure where to start? Schedule a free consultation!
• Looking for somewhere to be able to create your own graphics?
  • Click here for our favorite stock photo shop! Those social graphics above have images that were pennies for me to use, but fully licensed. Extra helpful when creating a branding board for a company without many images (especially ones with negative space) in their portfolio.
  • Click here to head to Canva, our favorite graphic creating tool. Super easy, and free for certain features!
  • Click here for the free Brand Checklist – a list of all the necessary brand assets. An essential business resource to see where your brand lines up.

Hope this helps you in your journey of creating a unique brand identity!