Simple rules to follow when creating visuals for you branding

When creating visuals for your branding there are key elements and rules that you should follow or at least take into consideration, to ensure that you deliver the right message to your audience.  

The purposes of the visuals that are created for your brand, are to: 

• create an emotional response from your intended audience - think of a country’s flag, school badge or sports team’s crest; all these make people feel something. 

• to inform people about your brand personality - if it’s neat and minimalist, your brand will be similar; if it’s flamboyant and colourful, that will show what you’re like. 

• to allude to the service or products that you offer - so, a restaurant’s brand will probably be quite different from a bank, for example. 

• to unify the many different aspects of your brand through visual clarity and consistency - repetition of the same thing drives it into people’s memories; when you keep changing things, people won’t remember your brand.

All brand visuals should meet and be consistent with the visual identity, and fit within your brand style guidelines (a set of rules, usually on a pdf, which outline how your staff and suppliers must use your brand, and which include typefaces, colours, logo sizes and formats as a minimum) to ensure consistency and a unique brand expression that stands out from the crowd.  

To achieve the greatest impact and create visuals that tick all the design credentials, as well as ensuring your brand is readily recognised and remembered, there are a few simple rules that you need to follow.  

Simplicity 

The key is not to overcrowd information; ensure it is all is legible and delivered cleanly. Unless your intended audience is actively searching and seeking out your brand, the visual information you are delivering has a matter of seconds in which to capture the attention of your intended audience.  

It is extremely easy to get carried away and to think you need to throw a lot of information and different design elements into a visual.  

Remember, you have limited time to make an impression so keep it simple and make sure the layout, typography choice, imagery and graphics create the sharpness and interest. Your brand style guidelines are the jewel in creating quality visuals.  

Contrast can be created in a number of ways and is achieved when two or more elements are total opposites within a visual composition. To ensure maximum impact the difference needs to be strong and obvious. The greater the difference, the easier the visuals will be to take in and follow (when designed correctly).  

Visual interest can be achieved by a contrast between large and small elements, classic and contemporary styles, thin and thick lines, cool and warm tones and many more.  

Contrast plays a crucial role in the organisation of visual information and for it to work for you and not against you, the contrast must be strong and obvious.  

Creating a sense of balance within your brands visuals is essential to achieving a look that feels premium and is well thought out. Balance is achieved by the weighted distribution of elements on a page. There are many ways to create balance; for example, you can ensure symmetry by using an invisible central line where the weight of the elements sits evenly on each side of the page. If someone presents you with a piece of work, perhaps draw a pencil line down the middle of it, to see if it is symmetrical.  

Another is through tension, whereby three quarters of page could be filled with text and imagery and is balanced out by the remaining quarter being left as white (or negative) space. White space nearly always enhances strong designs. Think of a room, packed full of furniture and knick-knacks, as opposed to a room with some empty wall, floor and surface areas. The latter makes it easier to enjoy the space.  

The importance of repetition in marketing cannot be underestimated, and will ensure your audience recognises your brand from the visuals you create and repeatedly push before them.   

Hierarchy 

Hierarchy ensures information is processed in a logical and informative way within a well-designed visual. Hierarchy simply means, what’s the most important element; that which requires most space and weight? It might be a ‘hero’ visual, or headline.  

Hierarchy creates visual organisation in a design, and gives the reader an idea of where to begin and finish reading. This can be applied by the distribution of size and colour to emphasise one item over another and draw your audience’s eye to a certain item above others. Without hierarchy it is incredibly difficult to deliver information in an effective way, as your audience is unable to determine the order in which to read.  

Branding and corporate identity are a vital marketing component to any organisation – it is not simply a logo or visuals but an ethos and personality that runs throughout a business.