How can you design a visual identity that resonates with a global audience?

2 Define your brand personality

The second step to designing a visual identity that resonates with a global audience is to define your brand personality and voice. Your brand personality is the set of traits and characteristics that describe how your brand behaves and communicates. It reflects your brand values, mission, vision, and positioning. Your brand voice is the tone and style of your brand communication, and it should match your brand personality. For example, if your brand personality is friendly, fun, and playful, your brand voice should be casual, humorous, and engaging. Your brand personality and voice should guide your visual identity choices, such as colors, fonts, shapes, and imagery. They should also be consistent and coherent across all your touchpoints and platforms.

4 Test and refine your visual identity

The fourth step to designing a visual identity that resonates with a global audience is to test and refine your visual identity before you launch it. Testing your visual identity is crucial to ensure that it works well across different markets, cultures, platforms, and devices, and that it achieves your brand goals and objectives. You can test your visual identity by conducting surveys, focus groups, interviews, or usability tests with your target audience, and collecting feedback and insights on their perceptions, preferences, reactions, and behaviors. You can also test your visual identity by using tools and software that simulate different scenarios and environments, such as screen sizes, resolutions, colors, languages, and accessibility. Based on the results of your testing, you can refine your visual identity and make any necessary adjustments or improvements to optimize its performance and impact.

5 Maintain and update your visual identity

The fifth step to designing a visual identity that resonates with a global audience is to maintain and update your visual identity as your brand evolves and grows. Maintaining your visual identity means ensuring that it is applied consistently and correctly across all your touchpoints and platforms, and that it follows your brand guidelines and standards. Updating your visual identity means keeping it fresh and relevant to your audience and industry, and making any changes or additions that reflect your brand changes and innovations. You should monitor and measure your visual identity performance and feedback, and review and revise it periodically to ensure that it stays aligned with your brand strategy and vision.

6 Learn from the best

The sixth and final step to designing a visual identity that resonates with a global audience is to learn from the best examples and practices of other brands that have successfully created and managed their visual identity across borders and platforms. You can learn from the best by studying their visual identity elements, strategies, and techniques, and analyzing how they communicate and connect with their global audience. You can also learn from the best by following their updates and trends, and observing how they adapt and innovate their visual identity to meet the changing needs and expectations of their audience and industry. You can use these learnings as inspiration and guidance for your own visual identity design and management, and as benchmarks and standards for your own performance and impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?