Branding: Creating a Look and Feel

Now that you’ve started developing your logo, it’s time to design the look and feel of your branding. The look and feel entails everything you do for your business — from the photos in your brochures and the font you use to the style of writing and even to your business’s décor.

That said, there’s no need to go overboard. You don’t have to order special wallpaper printed with your company’s logo all over it. We’re talking about subtle things that reflect you, your industry and your business’s personality.

Consider Target, the popular discount store where you can buy everything from clothing to groceries. Target’s logo, a red-and-white target symbol, reflects the company’s name and easily identifies the company’s colors. The point is made simply and quickly. When you walk into a Target store, you see red shopping carts, red walls, and red accents. This is how the company has extended its brand to its décor.

A few years ago, Target upped the ante, incorporating modern and indie music and attractive models into its TV commercials. The company also brought freshness to its television and print advertising by using lots of white space. This gives the company a simple, elegant, even sophisticated image, particularly important because it has been pushing its clothing lines, inviting big-name designers to create limited-time fashion and accessory collections especially for Target. The print ads are airy and attractive, not overcrowded like other discount stores’ ads. Both the television and print advertising reflect the Target brand’s look and feel.

Target’s less-is-more approach to advertising has successfully boosted the company’s image, and Target was ready to meet the expectations of its customers; the company improved the quality of goods offered in every department.

So what image do you want to project for your company? Start with your logo, then determine the image you want to project; e.g., family friendly, modern, avant-garde, classic, traditional. Choose key colors that speak to that image. Use photos and graphics (clip art doesn’t count!) that depict that image. Examine photos closely; you’ll notice that some styles of photography have sharper, more defined lines (good for modern and technology companies), while others have softer edges (good for the health care industry, retailers and nonprofit organizations).

Choose a font that you will use for your letterhead, business cards and brochures. Again, a font says something about your company. Serif fonts tend to reflect a more traditional and “corporate” attitude, while sans serif fonts tend to look more friendly and contemporary. To be safe, you might choose one serif font, maybe for body text, and one sans-serif font, perhaps for headings. Be very careful of using overly stylized fonts that are hard to read and those that don’t look professional (will someone please kill Comic Sans MS). These fonts have their place, but it’s not in your business.

Once you’ve created your look and feel, hold to it in everything you produce. When you lay out all of your marketing materials, it should be obvious that they are all for the same business. Each should resemble the next, and your website should resemble all of these materials. Once you have that, you’ve achieved a cohesive look and feel for your brand.

Does your brand have a consistent look and feel? If so, how did you achieve it?

Envoy, Inc., understands that not everyone is a branding genius. That’s why we’re here to help you create, develop and implement your branding strategy. Call Envoy to give your brand a boost.