Brand Identity Logo – What’s the Difference?
Your Logo alone is not your Brand!
Many people I come into contact with on Social Media are quite aware that their logo alone does not form their entire brand. But do you really know what the difference is between a Brand, Identity and a Logo?
Your logo will be the main part of your identity, and together with other identifying cues make up your brand.
You could represent it like this below:
I understand that these three terms can be confusing, simply rubber stamping a document or website with your logo doesn’t ‘brand it’; however, if you leave off the logo, would your brand stand up by itself? I believe all three need to be used together in the right way to promote authenticity.
The article about the Anglia Business Exhibition explains how we arrived at the logo design and how the brand began, here we go into those details in more depth:
What is a Logo?
A logo is a graphic device that sums up the business, person or organisation. It can be made up of a memorable shape, typographical text, or more commonly both of these.
We create confident, professional logos that capture the essence of your brand. To see our portfolio, please visit this page>
- A logo is a design which represents the company in its simplest form
- An established logo can be recognisable by its graphic element alone, think of Nike
- A logo can be purely typographic, this is known as a logotype or wordmark and is usually created with unique lettering
What makes a good logo?
A good logo should employ the following:
- Memorable
- Clear
- Unique
- Timeless
- Strong
- Crisply executed
From time to time I get asked to rescue a poorly executed logo – the idea may be good enough, but on occasion a customer may have employed a designer to create a logo for them and be fairly pleased with the result. However, after a few days have passed they realise there is something wrong with it, something that they cannot put their finger on. It may simply be badly executed or try to do too many things at once – we can get such a logo into a better shape and will never claim the logo as our own. We don’t display those on our logo page.
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Examples of Great Logo Design
1. Symbol/icon/pictorial Logos – a visual element or graphic device recognisable with no wording:
2. Uniquely Typographical (Wordmark) – where a font or just the lettering has been hand crafted:
3. Combination:
What is an Identity?
An identity is made up of the logo and other visual branding cues to make a whole picture. It should be flexible across different media applications and can involve the following:
- Logo position and size
- Core colours
- Secondary colours
- Font Styles
- Secondary graphic devices
- Image/photography styles
Once a brand is established you should be able to recognised the identity even if there is no logo. A memorable set of visual cues that is fixed in the public’s mind is usually the domain of large brands, national and international.
Whilst the logo is unchangeable, the identity needs flexibility and authenticity. To do this it is important not to switch and change the logo and colours too often, this just adds public confusion. Early in the life of a new company a logo can be changed and improved, especially if it has been badly executed or thought out, best to rectify as soon as identified as poor. Logos can evolve over time and not lose their core elements, think about the Coca Cola logo throughout history.
Some of the evolutions of the Coca Cola logo:
Images for demonstration purposes only.
For more information please visit the Coca Cola site.
What is a Brand?
Once you have your logo sorted and involved other elements that make up your identity, you will be able to move forward as a brand. A brand is the emotional feel that you give out to the public, make it authentic and true to your business. To do this make sure you speak in the same voice throughout Social Media, on your website, your documentation and in person. The following are core values that you need to consider when defining your brand:
- Brand Vision – A short, snappy line that sums up what you do:
Eg: Oxfam ‘A just world without poverty’ - Brand Mission – The mission statement offers an insight into how your brand vision will be fulfilled:
Eg: Oxfam ‘To create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and social injustice’ - Brand Value – A code of conduct or ethical values:
Eg: Marks and Spencer ‘We are committed to delivering sustainable value for our shareholders and enhancing lives every day’ (more info on the Marks and Spencer site here>) - Brand Personality – How companies assign human attributes to their brand:
Eg: Supermarkets = thrifty; Gucci = Upmarket, quality - Brand Tone of Voice – The words you use define your brand:
Eg: Tabloids = Jokey, informal, gossipy; Broadsheets = Serious, formal, considered
See our Vision-Mission-Culture here>
Love your business, love your brand and treat it with consistency and authenticity.
