OUGD601 - Practical Application - 5 tips for a strong identity system

Anne Swan is Global Creative Director for consumer brands for Siegel & Gale in New York. She has 5 beliefs on what can make a strong and lasting brand identity for an institution or company.  

From this article

01. Know the business

The most important and first step of an identity engagement is developing a complete understanding of the company. You can't begin to divine the future without first looking at the past. Do your research.

Set up meetings with and talk to employees across a wide range of departments in order to start to understand the company's true personality. This will help you understand the company's voice and be able to represent it.

02. Understand how brand identity impacts the bottom line

Brand identity isn't just about what looks the prettiest. It should have a direct link back to business strategy. People all have their personal tastes as to what looks best visually, but what is most important is how the visual design will drive the business forward. Is the larger goal of the company to come across as strong and stable? Intelligent and nimble? Creative and pioneering? Those attributes are all reflected in very different visual representations, and your identity should reflect that.

03. Tell a story

The brand identity should evoke a feeling in your customers, speak for the brand, and tell a story about where the company is going. Your customers should immediately understand something about the brand just by seeing its visual identity.

04. Design for adaptability

Your brand identity is not just one stagnant image. It needs to be able to change and adapt based on the medium. It goes without saying that social media is a vital component to today's brands. When designing a brand identity, you must take into consideration all the different mediums across which the brand will exist, and design something that is flexible enough to remain identifiable across all channels.

05. Don't launch a new identity in isolation

When launching a new brand identity, it is most strategic to launch alongside another piece of company news or a new initiative. The unavoidable fact is that people don't like change and no matter how wonderful the design, some percentage of your customer base will not like it. By aligning the brand identity with a corresponding announcement, you can support the change beyond just aesthetics and prove to customers why it is needed.

Building a strong brand identity is both an art and a science. But, by mixing research, data and creativity, you can create an end product that resonates with customers and drives the whole company forward.

Therefore before my redesign of the identity for the Grand in Leeds I must contact them to ask questions about the organisation, it's personality and their aims. I must also research into the Grand's history and the kind of clientele it attracts or wants to attract. I will also find out whether there are any new, up and coming programmes that the Grand are releasing.