One of the best ways to develop a business and ensure that its message is conveyed correctly is to use visual branding. Your branding is the first impression that many people will have of your business, and so it is important that you establish a deep connection through a properly crafted visual branding campaign.Â
However, if you are new to visual branding, there are some mistakes you will need to avoid. Not keeping your designs consistent, copying other brands in your industry, and focusing only on your logo are just some of the mistakes that you should avoid when building your visual branding campaign. Below we take a more in-depth at these and other issues to avoid. Â
Inconsistent Design Choices
You might have a perfectly-designed logo, sharp images and on-brand colours, but these will not mean much if you are inconsistent in your other design choices. Your visual branding is used to convey a certain, specific message to your clients, and being inconsistent with your branding can make your business come across as disorganised and unreliable.Â
To avoid inconsistencies in your design and visual branding choices is to create a defined style guide for your business. A style guide can be distributed throughout your business to every department, and will tell them what every piece of visual content should look like for your brand. This includes all letterheads, email signatures, and social media posts that might be shared with clients and consumers.Â
Relying On Your Logo
While your logo is an important part of your visual branding strategy, and overall branding, relying solely on your logo to convey your message might mean that it is not properly conveyed at all. It is important to remember that your brand is so much more than just your logo; your business’s name, colour choice, fonts, and imagery are all a part of your visual branding.Â
Your logo might be the memorable “face†of your business, but all of the other details combined are what truly help your brand to reach your audience. Think of it in simple terms: relying solely on your logo to engage with your audience is like designing a beautiful book cover…but not writing the story. Each element of your branding should complement one another for a cohesive message.
Not Performing Visual Research
As with any endeavour in the world, you will need to perform research into what the best practices are. In this initial stage, you will need to clarify the goals and vision of your brand, look at who your competitors are, and understand who your target audience is. This will help you to differentiate yourself and learn what visual tactics will work to engage your audience.Â
While you do not want to copy your competitors, it is important to know what they are doing right…and what they are doing wrong. Your target audience is reacting to these visual branding choices and, in order to compete, you need to know what choices your competition made. Knowing what message your brand wants to send to clients will help you to build the visual identity you wish to create.Â
Don’t Be A People Pleaser
Appealing to a wide, diverse audience is ideal, but unfortunately, your visual branding choices will not appeal to everyone who sees them. If you try to be liked by everyone, you may end up being loved by no one, which could be hugely detrimental to your brand’s success. The colours, fonts, and logo that you choose will likely not appeal to everyone – but this is a good thing!
Your visual branding will appeal to your target audience, allowing you to focus on what they respond to the best. By focusing on your target audience, you will be able to improve your chances of engaging with them and this will increase your brand awareness. You will be showing your consumers that you truly care about what they want from a brand, rather than creating visuals that appeal to the masses.Â
Curb That Copycat Craze
When you see a visual branding choice that you particularly like from a competitor, it can be easy to fall into the trap of wanting to copy the elements of their design that you like in order to boost your own. But, copying another brand, however small the elements may be, leads to unoriginal branding and even possible legal issues form your competitors.Â
You might, on the other hand, come across a logo that looks similar to your own, showing that your design choices were inspiring enough to be copied. It is important to continue using original ideas so that you are not seen as just another face in the crowd. Visual branding might seem like a complicated task, but if you avoid some common mistakes, you will have branding that highlights your business.Â
If you would like a brand refresh or are looking to build your current brand, contact NetMechanic today to find out how we can help you.Â
