Quality design is important to have for many reasons, but one key aspect of design is brand consistency. Brand consistency is not something a company merely stumbles upon, but it’s gained through vision and careful oversight throughout the design process.
Importance of Brand Consistency
The importance of brand consistency cannot be overstated. A brand simply can’t be a brand without staying consistent throughout its many functions. A company without brand consistency is a company that leaves its brand image up to the interpretation of their employees, journalists, and customers. While it is true that some interpretation will happen between what you create for your brand and what consumers see that as, you don’t have to leave people guessing.
Creating a cohesive brand that looks and feels the same from your website and social media to your product can be difficult. However, with the proper help and expertise from a qualified design team, you can achieve the consistency you are looking for.
Graphic Design
Step #1 to creating brand consistency: work with your design team to create a style guide. A style guide can include things like different forms of your logos, specified colors (the numbers for RGB and CMYK), banners, fonts, etc. A small paragraph may also outline proper use of your logo and name for journalistic and media purposes. Starting with this step will allow your internal designers to get an idea of what to expect and in turn, your marketing team will be able to move ahead with on-brand content creation.
Social Media
Brand consistency in social media is foundational in your marketing efforts. It’s likely a majority of your clients will find you through social media. Given this, you’ll want to make your first impression a good experience. Social media branding can include things like following your style guide for your posts, color-blocking your feed on Instagram, using the right voice/tone, and only posting high-quality images.
Website
Your clients will head to your website next, if not first. Create a custom website rather than choosing a bland template from your domain host. Involve a web design team, and allow them to use their creative talents to produce something professional and consistent with the branding message you’ve created thus far. Reference the style guide.
Once you have a website up, you can begin creating content like blog posts and other updates. Be sure to use a consistent font, voice, and tone. Try to avoid writing blog posts using “I”, “me”, and “we”, and write with more professional (less personal) terms.
Product Design
Brand consistency continues to be important when it comes to product design. Many people overlook this step, but it can make a huge difference in the success of your brand. Product design involves everything from the physical shape of the product to the texture of the materials used in manufacturing. It is highly recommended that you become involved with a quality product design team to help you keep your product in line with the branding you’ve envisioned.
No matter how great your marketing is or how consistent your brand is on social media, you simply won’t see the same kind of success or repeating customers if you use cheap materials and manufacture poor-quality, unusable products.
Packaging
Packaging – similar to product – can do a lot for your intended audience to either add or subtract from perceived value. Great design will include great packaging design. You’ll need something that makes sense, as well as a great look to keep your branding consistent. For example, if your company is branded as environmentally friendly, you’ll want to use less plastic or recycled material in your packaging.
Conclusion
There are many intricate aspects of your business design as a whole. Jupiter Design is a full-service design firm that can help you with any or all of your design needs. The best way to maintain brand consistency? Have the same design team work on all moving parts of your brand. Reach out today to begin your comprehensive design process.