Language around brand and brand identities can be pretty confusing. Talking about brand can sometimes feel like little more than throwing around annoying corporate-speak, like you should also be talking about core competencies or outside-the-box thinking.
But brands are as old as the hills. Or at least as old as humans. Sure, businesses have a brand, so do political parties, community organizations, and solopreneurs. But in truth, just about every person also a brand, whether they want to or not.

NOT YOUR GRANDPA’S BRAND

Your Grandma has a brand. Maybe it’s that she’s sweet and comforting and a reliably awesome cook. Or maybe she’s hilarious and short-tempered and heavy-handed with the gin. Either way, that’s part of her personal brand. She builds on it every day, when she makes a pot roast or mocks your haircut. She shows it in the way she wears her clothes, how she talks to people, what she does in her spare time. Her brand is where she came from, and what she wants to do tomorrow. It’s her relationship with those around her. It’s her story. Chances are, she’s pretty clear on what she values, what her principles are, how she works to live her life. Your experience of her—who she is and what she does—is her brand. If she lived by herself in a cave, with no other human contact, your Grandma would not have brand. She’d just be “me in a cave”. But as soon as she came out into the world, her brand would be right there too. And the more people that got to know her, the stronger her brand would become. She might start out as “nice old lady” and over time, turn into “woman with the best advice” or “most fun person to play rummy with”. It takes two, the originator of the brand AND the observer of the brand, for the brand to exist. That relationship is key.

If your Grandma wanted to up her game, she might sit down and work out the nitty gritty details of what she’s all about, how she wants to be perceived, who she wants to appeal to. This would be her defining her brand message. She might hire someone to help her with all of this, and that person might also work with her to develop some visual cues that would aptly reflect her interests, values and goals. Maybe she’d end up with a logo that was indicative of her warmth. Maybe she’d dress in patterns and colours that reflected her fun, approachable nature. Maybe she’d get some sweet stationery and a business card she could hand out to potential grandkids (ones who are more promising communicators than you.) All that, my friend, would be your Grandma’s brand identity.

In a nutshell: your brand is how you are perceived—the experience you provide, the relationship that creates with your audience. It’s the story of you, your business. And the way you visually tell your story is your brand identity.

BRAND IN BUSINESS

I think we both know the whole Grandma thing is a simplification. If you ever told your Grandma she had a brand, she’d probably give you the side-eye and tell you to shush up. That’s not what she’s about. She doesn’t need to sell herself to you.

But businesses—and other organizations—do well to value the power of their brand and their brand identity. Companies can benefit enormously from taking a long, hard look at who they are and how they want to be perceived, and then consciously developing the values, mission statement and goals of their brand. Just like Grandma, a business’s brand is also its story. It’s where it came from, and where it’s going. It’s the personality it nurtures, the environment it creates and sustains. It’s the promises it makes, and breaks. It’s the whole experience it provides. It’s not a tangible thing—instead, it’s the story that’s developed and refined by the business itself, and then told to its audience.

Brand identity is the tangible stuff. It’s the visual language a business or organization uses to tell this story about itself. It’s all the things you can see that relate to the business, to the brand. A qualified designer can help a business develop a visual language that is intentional, appropriate and clear, one that creatively enhances the brand message.

Brand identity can include a number of visual components. A logo, for instance, is an essential part of a brand identity. It’s a singular mark that acts as a stamp, a signature, a nod to the brand whenever it’s used or seen. And there’s a broader range of items used by a business to visually support and represent the brand. These might include:

• the typeface used on all their printed material
• the colour palette that is used for their website and their brochure and their signage
• the type of photos they use for promoting their staff and their events
• the style of icon they use in designing their app and describing their services
• the design of their business cards, letterhead, envelopes.

To ensure their identity components are used consistently and correctly, businesses can refer to their brand guidelines, which outline how to use the different visual components across different applications. These guidelines can also be used by anyone creating brand collateral on behalf of the company.  Brand collateral is any visual used to promote, market or communicate on behalf of the brand, like reports, presentations or cute party favours. Any collateral item should be designed to be cohesive with the overall brand identity. This builds on the reliability of the brand, on its value, on the relationship it has with its audience.

A solid sense of brand coupled with quality, consistent visuals can and should benefit any business or organization. The signage, promotional bookmarks and quippy coupons of your local little bookstore should all aptly reflect the experience you have inside with the funny, knowledgeable staff. The reports, presentations and business cards of a parachute manufacturer should enhance the business’s message of safety, reliability and unwavering professionalism. Consistency is key in keeping the brand’s message professional and memorable. Working together, a strong brand and a savvy brand identity can build a powerful and lasting relationship between a business and its audience.

Not unlike the one you have with your Grandma.