By Blythe Langley
Designer

Family resemblance.
Have you heard the phrase “family resemblance”? Think of your brand identity and collateral designs as members of a family. The head of the family is your brand’s graphical manifestation; your logo. Everything that falls below that, such as your letterhead, business card, flyers, and brochures (essentially everything that is embodied as collateral designs of your brand) should share a “family resemblance” not only to your logo, but to each other. You want a commonality between all the elements within your collateral design that identifies them as a family, which supports your overall brand identity.

Finding strength in numbers.
Having a visual commonality between the different elements of your brand identity helps your brand become more identifiable. The more elements that you have within your collateral design that embody the look and feel of your brand identity, the more support your brand will have. When you have too many different elements that do not tie together, or use a multitude of colors without having one common feature to tie them together your brand becomes more obscure. These elements can range from the treatment of your logo, to the fonts you use, to various design elements. People need to see visual relations in order to associate things as related. The more you visually relate your items and the more creativity you use to do so, the more your brand will become more memorable. The ultimate goal here is for people to recognize your look and feel through extension of your logo design. When it works, your logo can become a stand-alone symbol of your brand. Think of the NIKE swoosh.

Target. Enough said.
The more you can reinforce your brand the more successful you will be. Each element, whether large or small, should embody some part of it. Take the company Target for instance. I bet you are already picturing the little red and white target/bulls-eye logo mark that represents their company. This is a pure example of effective brand identity and collateral designs that has helped to expose and continue to support a brand everywhere, from the store sign to their letterhead and business cards to their circulars and television ads. By integrating this one visual element into their various collateral designs, they have built a great support system for their brand that makes it easily recognizable and memorable. They do this through something as simple as a bulls-eye logo design. Every time you see that bulls-eye, I bet you think of Target.

Start a family.
Build a family for your brand and create chatter around your company. Whether it is through something as simple as a green bar that appears consistently within your collateral designs, or the way you treat your brand logo across all the elements. Give your brand a look and a voice and make sure that all your collateral designs inherit those family traits. And don’t forget to give them an environment to live in … every family needs a happy home.

Let us help you get started on creating your brand family and introduce it to the world.