How can you make your visual identity stand out on every platform?

1 Define your brand personality

Before you start designing your visual identity, you need to have a clear idea of what your brand stands for, who your target audience is, and what emotions you want to evoke. Your brand personality is the human-like attributes that define your brand, such as friendly, adventurous, elegant, or quirky. Your visual identity should reflect your brand personality and align with your values and goals. To define your brand personality, you can use tools like a brand archetype quiz, a brand voice chart, or a mood board.

2 Choose your visual elements

Once you have your brand personality, you can choose the visual elements that will communicate it to your customers. These include your logo, color palette, typography, imagery, and icons. Your visual elements should be consistent and coherent, but also adaptable and flexible for different platforms and contexts. For example, you can have a primary logo for your website and a simplified or abbreviated logo for your social media profiles. You can also have a main color and a few secondary colors that complement each other and create contrast and harmony.

3 Create a style guide

A style guide is a document that outlines the rules and guidelines for using your visual elements. It helps you and your team maintain consistency and quality across all platforms and touchpoints. A style guide should include the specifications and examples of your logo, colors, fonts, images, icons, and tone of voice. It should also explain the dos and don'ts of applying your visual identity, such as how to resize, align, and space your elements, how to use white space and grids, and how to avoid common mistakes.

4 Test and optimize your visual identity

Creating a visual identity is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process that requires testing and optimization. You need to monitor how your visual identity performs on different platforms and devices, how it resonates with your customers and prospects, and how it compares to your competitors. You can use tools like analytics, surveys, feedback forms, and heat maps to measure and improve your visual identity. You can also conduct A/B tests to experiment with different variations and see what works best.

5 Update and refresh your visual identity

As your brand evolves and grows, so should your visual identity. You need to keep your visual identity fresh and relevant, but also consistent and recognizable. You don't have to change your visual identity completely, but you can make subtle tweaks and adjustments to reflect your current goals and trends. For example, you can update your logo, add new colors or fonts, or use new images or icons. You can also create seasonal or thematic variations of your visual identity for special occasions or campaigns.

6 Showcase your visual identity

The last step is to showcase your visual identity to the world and let it shine on every platform. You need to make sure your visual identity is visible and attractive on your website, your social media, your email marketing, your packaging, your signage, and any other channel you use to communicate with your customers and prospects. You also need to make sure your visual identity is consistent and coherent across all platforms and touchpoints, and that it matches your brand personality and message. You can use tools like templates, mockups, and generators to create and display your visual identity in different formats and scenarios.

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?