brand identity: from theory to practice in creating visual identity

Typography from Disney, mascots like the Red and Yellow M&M's, the turquoise Tiffany box—what do they have in common? They are all elements of brand identity. Today, quality is considered a default attribute, and it's not enough for a brand's success. Good marketing is needed, and it starts with visual identity.

Let's talk about what brand identity is in design, what it consists of, and how to create it.

What is brand identity?

Brand identity encompasses the external components of a brand that make it recognizable. The most well-known element is the logo. Brand identity, in simple terms, comprises those details by which we recognize a brand.

You can't mistake the initial pages of Google and Yandex: the color, font, logo—everything precisely indicates which search system you are using.

Why brand identity matters?

Corporate identity creates a recognizable image of a company through a set of colors, fonts, and graphics on any medium: be it a logo on a car hood, a business card of the company owner, or the design of a website in a corporate style. And corporate identity, at the same time, is the best way to distinguish counterfeit from the original.

Brand identity often extends beyond visual elements because a brand can be identified through all five senses. Therefore, brand identity can affect sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

The visual component includes everything that can be seen: the logo, colors, and illustrations.

There is also recognizable music, patented sounds, or even the way company employees communicate. All of this constitutes audio identity.

Remember Coca-Cola's signature melody "Holidays are Coming"? Surely you've hummed along? Or Tarzan's yell — this sound, as performed by actor Johnny Weissmuller, is patented by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.

It's very rare to encounter brand identity that creates an association with the brand through taste. For example, meatballs with sweet sauce from Ikea—a signature taste of the brand.

Standing out through olfactory impact is quite expensive. Hotels typically use "aroma identity" by diffusing fragrances in their spaces—this way, guests will associate the scent with the hotel brand. Porsche deliberately imbues the interior upholstery with a special oak-scented compound.

Brand identity can also impact touch. This usually occurs through packaging, business card paper, and jewelry box materials.

Thus, through brand identity, a company accomplishes several tasks at once:

1. Establishes its brand in the market and "compels" the consumer to remember, creating a lasting association with the company — so that later, among numerous products, the person can choose the one marked with the identity of the desired brand.

2. Conveys the brand's character, reflects its values, and positioning. This creates an emotional connection with the consumer. Ultimately, this increases customer loyalty and trust in the brand.

3. Indicates the brand's affiliation with a thematic group. For example, fast food brands often use bright colors like red or yellow.

Studying typical colors for a niche also helps in the opposite direction—completely distancing oneself from competitors and creating a completely unique style.

4. Creates a community of people — employees of the company or brand advocates, and even ideas. For example, Greenpeace chose the color green for its brand identity to emphasize its goal of environmental conservation. This color has become a symbol of the eco-idea, and now various symbols in green unite people and brands with shared views on environmental and climate issues.

Brand identity differs from brand style?

Brand style encompasses the colors, fonts, styles, shapes, graphics, and patterns of a brand. On the other hand, brand identity is a broader concept: it determines how the brand style is applied across various mediums. Brand identity interacts with the consumer not only visually but also through other senses.

For example, the owner of Coca-Cola might say to you, "We've designed a script font with curls and a vibrant red color, described the shade of the color and the tilt of the curls in our brand guidelines."

"Tell me how this will look on a bottle and other mediums," he says to you. And you develop product packaging, business card mock-ups, and examples of decorating a holiday truck.

It turns out that they came to you with a brand style and you created an identity for it.

When is brand identity necessary?

Do you really need brand identity at all? If you have a small corner grocery store, then probably not. If you plan to be recognizable beyond your neighborhood, then yes. Brand identity is needed when:

1. Opening a branch, a new location, or scaling up your brand — this will help create a recognizable image of the company from the very beginning.

2. Striving for a unified style — standardizing all mediums from signage to employee uniforms.

3. Taking sales to a new level — even if you have a great product, brand identity will help attract additional customers.

4. Venturing into new markets — you need adaptation of mediums to the mentality or cultural specifics of another country.

5. Creating a new company image — updating brand identity will help the brand look more modern and interesting.

6. Emphasizing your unique selling proposition (USP) — brand identity will convey your message to the target audience.

In short, if you plan to grow your brand in any direction, you should consider creating brand identity.

What is included in brand identity?

Brand identity creates an image, which can be broken down into components. At a minimum, brand identity includes a logo, font, and color. However, the maximum number of elements can be significantly larger:

— Naming

Ideally, it should be catchy, understandable, and have an available domain. Then you need to determine its spelling, acceptable languages, and declensions.

— Logo

You'll need several options—color and black-and-white, in different resolutions and formats. This way, you'll have adaptive versions for any medium.

— Typography

If there are several fonts, it's important to specify which ones to use in different cases, font sizes, margins, and spacing between lines.

In the brand guidelines of Airbnb, acceptable font sizes, colors, and distances are specified.

— Colors

It's necessary to adhere to exact shades and specify the numbers and codes for printing.

Imagine if you downloaded the Sber app not in the company's trademark life-affirming green color, but in a khaki shade. Surely, you would think it's a counterfeit.

— Backgrounds

If you have specific patterns, specify the details: colors, combinations, cases where they are appropriate to use.

— Illustrations

All drawings, photographs, symbols, web elements, and company mascots are also part of the brand identity. It's worth determining the style, colors, and techniques in which they can be executed.

How does brand identity differ from branding?

If we simplify, what is brand identity? It’s the brand’s external language: the logo, color palette, typefaces, graphics, applications, and the rules for how they’re used. Branding is a broader system of decisions that shapes meaning, strategy, and the experience of interacting with the company. Hence the question: what’s the difference between brand identity and branding? The difference lies in the level of tasks: identity ensures recognition and consistency, while branding drives positioning and communications.

In short, put simply, brand identity is a set of visual and behavioral markers that make a company recognizable at any touchpoint. Among professionals you’ll often hear “identity is about design,” but its role is wider—it reflects the brand’s character in voice, sound, scent, and motion as well. In crowded markets, instant recognition matters even more.

How are branding and identity connected? Branding sets the strategy and meaning, and identity “dresses” them and makes them reproducible across applications. That’s why it’s logical to define the positioning and brand platform first, and only then assemble the visual code. If you reverse the order, you risk ending up with something pretty but ineffective.

Now to practice: what does brand identity include? The core elements are logos, color palette, typography, grids, proprietary graphics, photography and illustration style, layout principles, rules for digital interfaces and offline media, tone of voice—and sometimes sound, motion, and even scent. All of this is captured in documents. This is where a common question appears: what’s the difference between a brand guideline and identity? A brand guideline describes the rules for application, while identity is the set of elements themselves and the logic that connects them into a system.

One more nuance: the identities of brands within a company’s portfolio may follow a common principle (a product family) or be intentionally different. In both cases, identity should remain implementation-friendly: easy to scale and adaptable to new formats without constant manual tweaking by designers.

Bottom line. Branding answers “who we are and why,” while identity answers “what that looks and feels like.” When these two parts work together, it’s much easier for a brand to earn recognition and trust.

The main types of brand identity: static and dynamic

Brand identity is usually classified into static and dynamic categories.

Static brand identity is a design that transcends time. In other words, these are elements that do not change over the years of the brand's existence. These can include colors, fonts, or logos. The goal of such an identity is to create a recognizable image and enduring associations with the brand.

An example of static brand identity is the Hollywood veteran, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, which has remained true to its chosen image for 108 years since its founding—the roaring lion within the filmstrip "frame."

Dynamic brand identity is a flexible version of identity. It changes depending on the situation of use, adapts to market trends, and maintains the brand image in a modern style.

A wonderful example is the city identity of Melbourne. The variable logo creates a recognizable design for different purposes, surfaces, and aspects of city life.

Both types of brand identity are notable because they can be used together for one brand. For example, the logo can be dynamic, while its shape can be static.

Stages of brand identity development

Several stages need to be completed before directly starting the development of brand identity:

Audience analysis — define the task that brand identity should solve for your target audience.

Competitor analysis — examine the brand identity of competitors to differentiate from them.

Communication points with the target audience — identify the platforms and channels through which you communicate with consumers.

Big Idea — determine the main message you want to convey through brand identity, what emotions you want to evoke in people, and what associative connection to create.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP) — identify if there is an original element that can be used in the design.

Logo and graphics — develop simple symbols and illustrations that can become part of the brand identity.

Color palette — determine the colors that help create the desired association and emotional response from the consumer.

Typography — select font options that align with your goal.

Only after completing these stages should you proceed to adapt the entire concept to specific mediums.

Examples of brand identity from ICU

When developing the brand identity for the marine transportation insurance company, RO Marine, the ICU team chose the image of a ship with a shield in front of it as a symbol of protection. To reflect national symbolism, we developed the identity using the colors of the Norwegian flag. And in the dynamic aspect of the key element, we reflected the following: no matter what turbulence occurs in the business, RO will provide protection and navigate the right course.

When creating the brand identity for the tire manufacturer Nokian Tyres, we took into account the need to convey innovation in the new campaign. This led us to the metaphor of otherworldly technology, which formed the basis of the visual style.