How the visual style of the brand is formed
The visual style of the brand, in other words the identity, is a set of visual elements, called to create the right image of the brand in the consumer’s mind, to allow the user to identify the brand in all channels of communication. Logo and its variations, color palette, fonts, graphic elements, illustration style, and photo images transmit the essence of a brand, and it depends on them which audience the product or service will attract.
When we create a visual style of a brand, it is important to remember that an identity cannot change often; it is responsible for persistent associations with the brand, so it has to work for a long term perspective. And when creating it it is important to be guided not by trends, which are momentary and may not correspond to the essence of the brand, but by the request of the target audience, its “pains” and values, as well as the ideas that we want to translate by our brand.
The brand identity can also change, but rather in case of serious changes in the company, implying a radical change of brand ideology and values: in mergers and acquisitions, in an overdue lack of consistency and uniformity of visual images and an obvious lag of branding from time to time. All of these things happen quite rarely on the scale of brand life.
Visual trends in branding
So what does the emergence of trends in branding depend on? Just like in other aspects of life, trends are directly influenced by what is happening in the world, in society. And to understand what will be relevant in the visual branding in the near future, it is necessary to look around.
Adaptability and digitalization.
Ubiquitous digitalization, the expansion of brands’ presence on the Internet demanded a high adaptability of brands’ visual style. A large, detailed logo won’t “read” into a small, round Instagram avatar. And page branding created for PCs may not be reflected correctly in the mobile version of the site.
As a result, many brands are going for minimal logos, simplifying fonts and abandoning details. Such logos are easier to operate online.
The major market players try to predict in what environments their visuals will have to exist in the future. For example, Nike is creating a new universe: the company has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for registration of trade marks for virtual clothing.
More and more often QR codes are integrated into the packaging, which, when scanned, allow you to download additional information about the product or even get into augmented reality, as Kinder did, which developed the application Applaydu, which allows “revive” toys.
- A New Look at Ecology
The theme of ecology is widely used in branding. Products that position themselves as “bio” and “eco” actively exploit green, sandy and brown hues and photographic images of forests, fields and animals in their visuals. It’s great that more and more companies are drawing consumers’ attention to the important theme of environmental care, but the market is overcrowded with “eco” design, and the consumer’s eye is “blurred.
Today, brands that previously used eco-themes in their visual materials are reconsidering the forms of expression of the concept. Copywriting comes to their aid for successful communication with the user.
- rejecting stereotypes
Gender neutrality is now in demand by brands who want to show their social responsibility and innovation. Such companies are moving away from other stereotypes, including those related to appearance, race, orientation, education and income levels of consumers.
Unilever released its Act 2 Unstereotype manifesto over the summer, in which the company plans to change its approach to marketing in general and support the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion with each of its brands.
- Back to the 2000s.
Branding, which has long been dominated by pastel colors, has turned back to the brightness of the 2000s and its accompanying images. Vivid details, Internet frames, holographic elements, large fonts, neon colors – all this awakens nostalgia.
Spanish fashion brand Bimba y Lola has been actively exploiting this trend in recent months. Their logo remains black and white, but the rest of the content changes freely, emphasizing the rule: the more neutral the identity at the start, the more room for experimentation with the content in the future.
- Refusing to be perfect.
Today brands reject excessive gloss, and a visual that gives the impression of lines adjusted to the millimeter. In fashion is a “relaxed” style, as if hand-drawn fonts, a slight carelessness.
Advertising layouts, packaging, created as if in 5 minutes, sketched by artists on the corner of a notebook, sketches, doodles – the trend for the next year. However, we should not forget that in such a visual every line is not random, and carelessness is an element of design, which reflects the values of the brand.