Anatomy of a Brand

resource

Jun 16

Whether you’re building a new brand or working on marketing materials for an existing brand, it’s important to know what a brand is and how its components work together.

Let’s start with what’s encompassed in the term “brand.” The American Marketing Association defines it as:

“...any distinctive feature like a name, term, design, or symbol that identifies goods or services.”

That’s broad—not to mention that each element in the list requires thoughtfulness and strategy. While there are many components to a brand, we’ll focus on what’s essential to our brand work together: Identity and Voice.

Brand Essentials

Every brand needs a solid foundation to reach its audience successfully, and to make sure your audience interprets your brand as intended. Keep reading to learn what we consider essential to the visual and voice elements of a brand.

Identity

Identity refers to how your brand presents itself visually, playing a primary role in how your brand is perceived. HALO 22 identity kits include:

Your logo(s). Robust logo kits are valuable. Why? If you just have one or two logo files, you probably don’t have everything you need to market your brand well across different types of materials. Could a single logo benefit from an alternate layout for better visibility in small spaces, like social media avatars, versus larger spaces, like print materials? We provide a variety of logo layouts and file types to make sure your identity looks its best in different deployments.

Primary and secondary color palettes. Like logo files, you’ll need variety for different uses. Primary colors cover what’s in your logo—your most dominant colors on every piece. Secondary colors fill in other needs, like background colors for contrast and variety, link and button colors for online use, etc. But keep in mind that a successful color palette doesn’t have to be a full spectrum rainbow: Rather, your palette will include a manageable amount of colors, chosen with intent, that work together to make your brand image and messaging clear.

Collateral typography specifications. Believe it or not, you don’t have to use the same fonts as your logo for your collateral typography! Some fonts are made for display, i.e. logos and headlines—and others are made for reading, i.e. paragraphs and smaller text. We select typography that complements (or contrasts!) your overall brand styles while allowing your materials to be their most legible, which is the best way to make sure your message reaches your audience. But we don’t stop there: We provide alternative font options for occasions when your access to fonts is limited, like email marketing or presentations.

Bonuses

When budget allows, we expand visual definitions in your identity kit in the following areas:

Photography standards
Icon & illustration standards
Templates (letterhead or other office collateral; social media posts; etc.)

When we can specify those standards from the beginning, it results in a more consistent look and feel across all materials.

Voice

Alone, identity only goes so far. Brands need both a strong identity and voice. Voice is how your brand communicates and how your audience perceives your messages. We’ll do a deep-dive on voice in a future resource. For now, here are the basics we consider in all our brand voice work:

Character/personality/persona is your brand’s overall approach to communication and what you say. It’s informed by your goals, values, and mission, and then shaped by the elements that follow in this list.
Tone is how you say something. For example: Would you rather your brand sound professional with approachable qualities, playful yet knowledgeable, or something else? Tone is how you communicate your brand character.
Vocabulary (often in the form of lexicons) is a tool we use to contribute to a unique tone and character. For example: Our client, Atomic Empire, is a game store with a smart, detail-oriented audience. They refer to their informational, non-sales messages from the store as “memoranda issued from The Ministry of Truth.” It’s a fun vocabulary aspect that their nerdy (a quality we apply to ourselves!) audience loves.
Stylistic conventions are a broad category, but they can completely change your writing—like whether you use AP or Chicago style, how you structure sentences, what kind of grammar rules play into how you communicate, etc. Laying out stylistic conventions helps everyone stay on the same page when communicating on behalf of your brand.