How to build a brand identity, step by step
Brand identity and design
6 min read
Published: · Updated:
The first question in most logo briefs is colour: blue or green? Brand identity is a much bigger job than a logo, and colour comes in the middle of it, not at the start. A brand identity gets built in this order: first the brand’s message is settled, then the way it speaks is written down, then the look is designed (logo, colour, typefaces, image style), and finally everything goes into a short brand guide.
What the brand says, meaning who it serves and what sets it apart, isn’t covered here. That’s in how to build a brand strategy. This post assumes those decisions exist and shows how to make them visible and audible.
The example is fictional: a neighbourhood bakery that makes sourdough.
Why do people confuse a logo with an identity?
The logo is the most visible part, so it gets the attention. But identity has two faces. The visible one is logo, colours, typefaces and the style of photos or drawings. The speaking one is how the name is written, how sentences are built, which words get used and which never do.
When the two don’t match, people struggle to recognise the brand. If the bakery’s packaging is quiet and handmade while its Instagram says “an unforgettable taste experience”, they read as two different businesses.
Write the voice before you draw anything
Setting the voice before the look sounds backwards, but voice steers the look. A calm, knowledgeable brand wants a thin, quiet logo; a loud, playful one leans to heavy letters. If you write the voice first, you give a designer direction beyond “make it nice”.
Three things to write:
- Three adjectives for the brand. For the bakery: calm, knowledgeable, local.
- Two sentences that sound like you. “The dough rested overnight and went into the oven this morning.”
- Two that don’t. “We deliver an unforgettable taste experience.”
It’s a small list, but it’s the first thing anyone writing copy later will check. A quick test is to read a text out loud. Could it come out of this brand’s mouth?
Which decisions make up the look?
Now the design work. The decisions are:
- The logo and its versions: light background, dark background, tiny size, one-colour print. It has to read on the corner of a bread bag and in a round profile picture.
- Colours. A few, with clear rules for which colour sits on which background.
- Typefaces. One or two families cover headings and body text. If your audience writes in a language with special characters, test them. Some typefaces borrow those letters from another family and the result looks off.
- Image style. Photography or illustration, how much empty space, rounded or sharp corners.
Few choices keep the rules short. A bakery with three colours and a single typeface can tie packaging, shop sign and social profiles together without effort; with ten colours it would need ten rules and a good memory.
Where do all these decisions go?
Into a brand guide. Think of a recipe card pinned up in a kitchen: it is there so everyone works to the same measurements, not to look good. A guide typically holds a one-paragraph description of the brand, the voice with example sentences, logo rules, colours, typefaces, a few sample uses and a list of things not to do.
It doesn’t have to be long. It has to get used. When someone new joins, or when you brief a designer, it should be the first file they open.
In what order should you work?
You don’t need to finish in a day. We’d go voice first, then two or three directions for the look, and the guide last. If you want to see several directions, judge them against the same questions: does it fit our voice, does it read at small sizes, does it suit packaging and a social profile together? “I like it” shouldn’t be the only test.
We don’t put timelines on this, because they vary too much from brand to brand. A “finished” test for each step works better: three adjectives and six example sentences for voice, a one-page rule set for the look, a readable guide at the end.
After the identity exists
Go back to the guide when you open a new channel, launch a product, or notice the voice drifting. If something needs to change, change the guide. When the guide says one thing and the work shows another, the identity only lives on paper.
The usual mistakes: starting with the logo and thinking about the brand later, copying a competitor and losing what sets you apart, choosing too many colours and typefaces, writing a guide nobody opens, and using a different voice on every channel.
A quick test for your guide
Give the guide to someone who has never seen your brand and ask them to write a short label for a new loaf. If the text lands close to your voice, the guide works. If it doesn’t, the problem is rarely the writer. Examples may be missing, or the principles too abstract. Try it with a few different people; you’ll see who gets stuck where.
Frequently asked questions
What is brand identity?
It’s the organised form of how a brand looks and sounds. The visible parts are logo, colours, typefaces and image style. The speaking parts are the name, sentence style and word choice. Collected in one guide, they keep the brand consistent across channels and across the people who work on it.
Is a logo the same as a brand identity?
No. A logo is one part. Identity also includes colours, typefaces, image style and the way the brand writes and speaks. A brand with a beautiful logo but a voice and palette that change on every channel doesn’t really have an identity yet.
Can I build a brand identity myself?
Partly. You know what your brand says better than anyone and how it should sound, so those parts you can write alone. Designing the look benefits from a designer, mainly because a logo needs testing at different sizes and on different backgrounds, and that takes practice.
What should a brand guide include?
A short description of the brand, the voice with example sentences, logo usage rules, colours, typefaces, sample uses and a list of things not to do. Usefulness matters more than length: it should be the first document a new person opens.
For what to check on delivery, see what a brand identity project includes.
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