Brand image is a perception of the brand of a business entity, in the minds of the customers. This brand image develops over a long time. Customers form an opinion based on their interactions and experience with the brand. These interactions take place in several different ways and not necessarily involve the purchase or use of products and services being sold by a specific brand.

Companies can only establish themselves in the free market and achieve recognition only when they carefully piece together their brand identity. The brand identity is the foundation of the company to build trust, goodwill of their clients and customers and it enables them to carve a little niche for themselves in the market.
A strong brand identity can help the company gain attention and largely helps and aids customer or client retention as well. Now, let us explore the fundamentals of a carefully constructed brand image and the basics involved in the process building the image which will strengthen their commercial identity in the market and sustain the earned goodwill associated with the brand image. Let us learn the fundamentals that build the basics of a brand image.

Brand Logo – Brand identity is a lot more than merely having a logo. Here are the little details you need to pay attention to: A logo is a graphical symbol. your organization should also design multiple variations so that you can use the correct one based on where you are using it.

For example, you should have a reversed option when you use your logo or wordmark on dark background versus a light background. Now, let’s understand the basics of a word mark and how it is different from a brand logo.

Variations in Logo – You may need variations for square and horizontal applications or circular or square applications. However, all these variations should have the same qualities and features that your original logo has.

Wordmark – Wordmark is one of the primary elements of an organization’s brand identity. It is simply the name of the company that utilizes a distinct text-only typographic treatment. More and more companies are moving to clean, modern wordmarks as they easily deliver an easily recognizable brand in a professional way without the need for other graphical elements.

A few examples include well-known brands such as FedEx, Facebook, TATA and Coca-Cola. However, if need a wordmark instead of a logo, ensure that the words are designed professionally and use a font that resembles your brand.

Corporate Font – The fonts you use on your website and on your other marketing collateral such as email campaigns and social media marketing should reflect the same corporate font, for developing consistency across all platforms in both print and digital. In many cases, your brand design agency will select a typeface from the logo itself. But if the logo style is too decorative then it cannot be used for proposals and letters. Therefore, it will be necessary to search for a complementary typeface that can be used in all marketing materials to develop an integrated brand identity.

For materials that are shared, like PowerPoints and external communications and brand marketing such as webinars, you and the design team should ensure that the fonts they use are available for both PCs and Macs and readily available on both systems.

Style Consistency – Style consistency is essentially important for images and it must have consistency in their look. For instance, your images can be brightly lit photos in which people are looking directly at the camera or the images may use a perceptive colour palette with people not looking at the camera but rather engaged in their work. The styling consistency is essential in all communications, to develop a sense of familiarity and develop ease of awareness which leads to brand recognition.

Apart from pictures or aforementioned photos, your organization can use illustrations, line art, or other similar graphical elements. No matter what type of images you decide to go with, all should have a consistent style and corporate font across all marketing channels, in digital and print media.

Along with imagery and corporate font, brand colours play an important role in brand recognition. Ideally, selecting two to three main colours to represent your brand and one to two accent colours help recognise the feeling that it tries to evoke. The main and accent colours should be chosen based on the feelings they evoke and how you want to convey your business.

For example, light blue expresses trust and tranquillity, while dark blue conveys professionalism and security. You can also use different shades or tints of the same colour to adjust the emotions that the colour signifies.

Shape and Form – Another vital aspect of brand identity is the shape and form of different elements that represent your brand. This effective yet subtle element can be utilized for branding purpose. For instance, if your logo comprises soft edges and circles then people will react differently to it compared to when they see a logo that is square and sharp.

Different shapes and lines kindle different feelings, let us briefly understand the role of shapes and forms in brand identity:
Round shapes symbolize the feeling of warmth and helps in creating a feeling of harmony.
Straight lines such as vertical lines imply strength and masculinity and on the other hand, horizontal lines express mellow vibes and tranquillity.
Shapes with straight edges evoke the feelings of productivity and forte. In addition, the straight edges and lines resemble dependability and consistency.

All of these elements in a brand image demonstrate how you can effectively utilize other visual brand elements as part of branding your business. These graphical elements assist in quickly identifying a brand without having to rely on extensive use of words and adds a subtle touch to reach the inner psyche of the customer.