5 Principles of Awesome Brand Design

Featured article by Dan Radak, marketing professional and independent author

There’s no need to say that design plays a crucial role in building a brand for your business. And if you manage to get it right the first time, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of time and money. Still, there will be times when you’ll have to refresh your brand and make it keep up the pace with current brand design trends. No matter if you’re developing a new brand or updating an existing one, having these 5 awesome brand design principles in mind can be very helpful.

It should reflect your character

Making your brand reflect your character is the first tip you’ll receive from most of the marketing experts. Both your mission and statement should always be reflected on your brand design. This means that if you run a law company, you shouldn’t go for vivid colors and dynamic shapes. On the other hand, if you own a beach bar, a plain and boring logo is hardly going to do the trick for people looking to have a drink or few and have fun.

Avoid looking similar to another brand

One of the worst things that can happen to your brand is that it gets mixed up with another one. This can happen unintentionally, but quite often business owners go too far when it comes to copying other brands. If you do this, chances are another business will file a lawsuit against you and you’ll end up in court. Not only this, but having a brand too similar to another one can confuse your customers and make them turn to another business instead of yours.

Your packaging should be different

No matter the kind of products you’re offering, you should always make sure they arrive in interesting packaging. This way, not only will more people decide to buy your products but they’ll also be more likely to remember it the next time they go shopping. If you get stuck with trying to design a perfect packaging for your product, you can always seek help from local marketing specialists. For example, if your business is based in Australia, you can always turn to a design agency in Sydney.

Three colors are more than enough

One of the main design rules you need to follow is not to use too many colors when designing your logo. No matter which industry you’re in, using too many colors will only have a negative effect on your brand. First of all, that way, neither your logo nor your brand will be able to stand out. Also, you’ll probably have to pay more when printing promotional material and other stuff with your logo on it. Not to mention that you’ll also have to find a way to incorporate all of those colors into the uniforms you and your employees are going to wear.

Slogans should never be too long

If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to come up with a slogan for your business. And in case you’ve been open for business for quite some time, you’ll still want to reconsider the slogan you’re currently using. An effective slogan is short and easy to remember, and that’s what you should be aiming at. Just think of some world-famous slogans such as Nike’s “Just do it” or McDonald’s “I’m loving it” and try to come up with something as short, so your customers can remember it more easily.

Branding is not as easy as many people believe, but when planning carefully and following all of these principles, you should be able to come up with an awesome brand design for your business. On the other hand, should you fail to pay enough attention to your brand, your business will be taken less seriously and you’ll have trouble attracting customers and business partners.

Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.