brand guide: the complete glossary for brand terms from design and creativity to promotion and strategy

To dive deeper into the project, build communication with specialists, and enhance your knowledge, we have compiled a Brand Guide. In it, we have gathered the terms most frequently used at ICU Branding agency.

Contents

1. 1. Design and visual identity
2. 2. Brand
3. 3. Content and promotion
4. 4. Ads and creativity
5. 5. Analytics
6. 6. Strategy and planning
7. 7. Web development

Design and visual identity

Color palette — a set of colors that complement each other, used in the visual identity system (digital color values according to the RGB, CMYK, Pantone color models).

Design concept — a set of unique graphic solutions based on the client's brief and the creative vision of the specialists, intended to visually demonstrate the future design of the product.

Design layout — the visual representation of a future website, developed considering the technical capabilities of HTML coding.

Font — a unique graphic design of letterforms and symbols, forming a unified stylistic and compositional system. Fonts can be installed on a computer and used in text, graphic, and other editors. Fonts made in a single style can be part of a font family.

Graphic design — the design of symbols, logos; services of designers who create printed products, as well as training in graphic design and typography.

Guidelines — a guide for using the visual identity system, presented as a PDF document. This document describes the style logic, its rules, limitations, and principles for creating layouts for various media.

Infographics — a graphical method of presenting information, data, and knowledge, aimed at quickly and clearly conveying complex information.

Packaging design — the process of designing or decorating product packaging in accordance with the approved visual constants of the brand to which the product belongs. In a broad sense, it is an independent artistic discipline with its own laws, history, and canons.

Pattern — a unique design formed by cyclically repeating style-forming elements or brand icons.

Logo — a unique graphic image used to identify a company (trademark, brand), its goods, or services.

Resize — changing the composition of a previously developed layout (print, outdoor, or digital banner ads) according to new size and proportion data. Resizing can be simple (e.g., transforming a horizontal layout of one size into a horizontal layout of another) or complex (e.g., transforming a horizontal layout into a vertical one).

Reference — a sample that serves as an example when searching for stylistic solutions.

Scaling — changing the size of an image while maintaining its proportions.

Typography — the art of presenting textual information, transforming text into a graphical design.

Visual identity — a combination of visual and conceptual elements that shape the unique image of a company or brand. It includes the logo, color palette, typography, brand-specific graphic elements, as well as standards for document and marketing material design. The main goal of corporate identity is to ensure consistency and brand recognition across all levels of communication.

Brand

Brand — a design developed for a specific product in a style that distinguishes it in the market through packaging, graphic symbols, logos, and multimedia technologies.

Brand attribute — the external form of the brand perceived by human senses, ensuring recognition (color, shape, composition, image, etc.).

Brand audit — a systematic analysis and evaluation of all aspects of a brand to identify its current state, strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. During the audit, elements such as brand recognition, image, values, market positioning, consumer loyalty, and the effectiveness of ads strategies are studied.

Brand core — the semantic field of the company, a description of its unique distinctive properties, and a system of visual, image, and marketing elements. It is a marketing document that describes the brand's attributes, its mission and big idea, and its value to the audience.

Brand guideline — a guide to the ideological, material, and stylistic standards of the company.

Brand identity — project activity in graphic design aimed at creating a "corporate" or "company" style.

Brand metaphor — an imaginative comparison of the company with something similar in essence. It helps the company gain emotional meanings and be memorable to clients.

Brand strategy — activities aimed at creating a long-term preference for a product, based on the combined and enhanced impact on the consumer of all elements of the brand and the company's branding policy.

Branding — applying brand symbols (logo, pattern) to corporate products.

Descriptor — a tagline under the logo that directly describes the company's activity.

Naming — the development of a name, brand name, or brand name; professional development of a brand, product, or service name.

Product differentiation — the creation of unique and distinctive characteristics of a product or service to stand out in the market among competitors.

Rebranding — a change in the ideological and image part of the brand.

Restyling — in design and publishing activities, bringing the corporate style in line with modern aesthetic requirements while maintaining the generic stylistic features of recognizability.

Slogan — a message that conveys to the consumer the main idea of the ads campaign or the brand's philosophy as a whole (brand slogan).

Tone of Voice — the tone of communication a brand uses with its consumers, based on verbal messages when promoting a product.

Trademark (TM) — a designation used for the individualization of goods, necessary for forming the right of ownership of a specific product with the visualization of this right in the form of a compact carrier.

Content and promotion

Content marketing — a marketing strategy based on creating and distributing valuable, informative, or entertaining content to attract an audience and encourage interaction with the brand or product.

Content plan — a plan that defines goals, topics, formats, and the schedule for publishing posts to maintain activity and attract an audience on social networks.

Copywriting — writing text for the purpose of ads or other forms of marketing. These are texts that stimulate sales growth or popularize a product, company, service, person, or idea.

Crossposting — the practice of publishing content on multiple platforms or social networks simultaneously to expand its reach and achieve a larger audience.

Influencer marketing — a marketing strategy based on collaboration with influential individuals (influencers) who are opinion leaders and have significant influence over their audience on social networks, blogs, or other online platforms.

Rewriting — writing texts based on an existing version to improve its properties.

Social media marketing — a set of activities for promoting a product on social networks, including market analysis, hypothesis formulation to achieve results, design and verbal communication development, account management, and reporting.

Storytelling — the art of storytelling in social networks to convey information, ideas, or emotions. In the context of branding, storytelling is used to create a connection with the audience through stories about the brand, its values, and its history. This helps to engage, interest, and make the brand memorable.

Targeting — an ads mechanism that allows identifying from the entire available audience only the part that meets the specified criteria (target audience) and showing the ad to them.

Trigger — a signal prompting the consumer to take some action.

Viral content — content that quickly spreads on social networks due to its uniqueness or relevance. It often elicits emotional reactions from users and encourages them to share the publication.

Ads and creativity

Ads campaign — a strategically planned and organized set of ads actions and events aimed at achieving specific marketing goals, such as increasing sales, brand awareness, or attracting new customers.

Art direction — the process of guiding the visual execution of a creative idea or concept.

ATL/BTL ads— these are two main types of ads that differ in methods and distribution channels.

ATL (Above the Line) — a form of ads aimed at a broad audience through mass media such as television, radio, press, cinema, and the Internet. It is used to create brand awareness and achieve maximum audience reach.

BTL (Below the Line) — a form of ads targeted at a more specific audience through more personalized and direct communication channels, such as sponsorships, events, promotions, etc. It is used to stimulate sales.

Creative ads — the concept, idea, or execution of an ads material created to attract the audience's attention, convey a specific message, and stimulate actions.

Creative concept of an ads campaign — a comprehensive vision for the implementation of an ads campaign, including insight knowledge, idea, slogan, and the concept of how the idea will be replicated across different media types.

Moodboard — a visual collection of images, textures, colors, photos, and other elements gathered together to convey a specific mood, style, or concept. It is used in the creative process to visualize ideas, inspire the team, and ensure a unified understanding of the visual direction of the project.

Outdoor ads — a form of ads placed in open spaces and objects to attract the attention of passersby and potential clients. This can include billboards, signs, banners, ads structures on buildings and buses, bus stops, etc.

P.O.S. (Point of Sale) materials — ads or informational materials placed and used directly at the point of sale to attract customers' attention and increase sales. These can include signs, banners, posters, product samples, brochures, and more.

Sales funnel — a model that describes the sequence of stages or steps that a potential customer goes through before making a purchase. It helps track and manage the customer acquisition process, optimizing it to increase conversion and sales efficiency.

USP (Unique Selling Proposition) — the key beneficial offer that distinguishes a product or service in the market and motivates potential customers to make a purchase. The USP should differentiate the offer from competitors and be clear to the consumer.

Analytics

Ads analytics — the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data related to ads campaigns to measure and evaluate their effectiveness and results.

Conversion — the percentage or number of users who completed a desired action after viewing or interacting with the ads content.

Organic traffic — the number of visitors who come to a page or social media profile through natural, unpaid channels such as search engines, hashtags, or social media recommendations. This traffic is not a result of ads campaigns or paid content promotion methods.

Engagement — reflects the audience's activity in relation to the content, expressed through likes, comments, shares, and other actions. It is an indicator of how successfully the content engages and retains users' attention.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) — the key metrics used to measure the effectiveness of a social media promotion strategy. These metrics can include the number of followers, audience engagement levels, website traffic, conversions, and other indicators depending on the company's goals and objectives.

Target action — the action a business expects from the user. Examples of target actions include registering on a website, filling out a feedback form, watching a video, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a brochure, etc.

Strategy and planning

Big idea — the concept or idea at the core of a marketing or ads campaign, which is key to its success.

Brand event — an event or happening organized by a brand to promote and attract attention to its product, service, or idea, as well as to establish and strengthen connections with the target audience.

Brief — a document containing a list of questions regarding the execution of a specific task; an "instruction" from the client to the contractor, which outlines in broad terms what the future product will look like and consist of.

Communication strategy — a comprehensive impact of the company on the external environment to create favorable conditions for stable profitable activities in the market through communication with the client. It includes a set of research and the creative ads concept based on them.

Crisis PR — a strategy and set of activities aimed at minimizing the negative consequences of crisis situations for the company. Crisis PR focuses on restoring trust in the brand and minimizing the damage caused by the crisis situation.

Media plan — a document that details the strategy for placing a company's advertisements on various media platforms or channels to achieve specific marketing goals. The media plan includes the selection of media channels (television, radio, internet, print publications, social networks, etc.), budget determination, allocation of ads resources by time and location, evaluation of effectiveness, and expected results of the ads campaign.

Promotion strategy — a plan of action aimed at increasing brand awareness, attracting the target audience's attention, and creating a positive perception of the brand in the market.

Research — an organized creative process that results in the analysis of competitors, trends, and styles.

Target audience (TA) — a segment of the population most frequently interacting with the product or in need of this product.

Web development

Backend — a set of tools used to implement the logic of a website. Simply put, the backend is the CMS or the site's engine with all its connections to hosting mechanisms, i.e., the database, web server, mail services.

Business card website — a small website containing general information about a company or person, their products, and services.

Corporate website — a web resource created to represent a company online. It usually includes information about the company, its history, mission, products or services, contact details, and other information useful for customers, partners, or potential employees. Corporate websites may also contain news, blogs, customer sections, and other areas to enhance audience interaction.

External ranking factors — factors influencing a website's position in search engine results, which are not under the control of the website owner (external links to the site, etc.).

Internal ranking factors — factors influencing a website's position in search engine results, which are under the control of the website owner (content, design, etc.).

Landing page — a web page a user lands on after clicking an advertisement, link in an email, or other marketing material. Typically, a landing page is created for a specific purpose, aiming to attract user attention and persuade them to take a particular action, such as filling out a form, making a purchase, or subscribing to a service.

Prototype — a simple schematic representation of a website page or other product in the form of a sketch, draft, or HTML document, showing structural elements. A prototype can be a static image or a dynamic HTML document.

Responsive design — a version of the site that is convenient for viewing from any device, regardless of screen size, be it a desktop computer, mobile phone, tablet, existing or any new device.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) — a set of actions aimed at improving a website's position in search engine results for specific user queries, optimizing the website for better display by search engines.

SMO (Social Media Optimization) — optimizing a website to meet the needs of visitors, social networks; promoting a website through social networks, forums, and other sites with large audiences.

UX (User Experience) / UI (User Interface) — two key aspects in the development of digital products. UX is the overall impression a user gets from interacting with a product or service. It encompasses all aspects of the user's interaction with the product, including ease of use, navigation, load speed, etc. UI is the visual component of the product, defining how the user interacts with it. It includes design elements such as colors, fonts, icons, and other graphical elements.

Web design — the design of websites and their individual elements, creating graphic materials for placement on the Internet.

Website content — the content of the site, including textual information, graphic elements, and other materials placed on the website.

Website layout — a stage in website development; creating the structure of the site that will determine the display of text and graphics on the site in various browsers.

The Brand guide systematizes concepts related to branding, design, ads, and marketing. It provides definitions of terms and helps to gain a deeper understanding of the processes occurring in a branding agency.