How to create a brand identity in 12 SIMPLE steps

How to create a brand identity in 12 SIMPLE steps

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The Definitive Guide to Brand Identity How to create a brand identity in 12 SIMPLE steps?

In this article you will learn "How to create a brand identity" effectively in 12 well-explained steps.

If you have doubts, do not forget that you can schedule a a brand diagnosis with me. I am here to help you.

rebranding tinsmith san judas - graphic designer Oliver Puente
Design of visual brand identity that I did for Hojalatería San Judas

What is the brand identity design process like?

The design process of brand identity it is used either for the development of a new logo, corporate stationery or a completely new brand identity. It consists of 3 phases: Research, conceptualization and graphic development.

infographic what is brand identity

Why is the brand identity design process important?

Brand identity design (or also called corporate identity) is a very important process for the development of the most relevant intangible asset for any company. Your brand. In the brand identity, the differential aspects of the brand and its attributes are worked on.

It is more comfortable for the designer and his client

The development of these aspects accompanied by an orderly process allows increasing the effectiveness of the final result through the clouds and making the identity design process much more comfortable for the designer and their clients.

Brand identity design process

To create a brand identity I follow these steps based on my personal experience and the combination of multiple design methodologies such as "Design Thinking" and the MEL or "Landivarian Strategic Method". Which are 2 very useful design methodologies.

How to create brand identity

1. Brand diagnosis, initial meeting

Every brand identity design process begins with knowing the client and their needs.

It is important to diagnose the client about his specific case, NOT to sell him something that he may NOT need for the simple fact of selling.

Here the objective is to help by orienting and informing.

During this brand diagnosis that is carried out in a brief video call, the client's case is carefully listened to in order to identify symptoms that support a communication need that your brand has.

Common symptoms include:

  • Launch of brand or product/service to the market.
  • The brand shares many similarities with others on the market and needs to stand out.
  • The company is growing and needs a more professional brand identity.
  • The company is going through a process of rebranding or brand refresh.
  • The identity of the brand generates a misperception in customers.
  • Brand name change.
How to create brand identity video call

NOTE: Once the video call is complete, the information is written confidentially to be able to proceed to make a proposal with the communication solution.

2. Proposal and contract

Once you have the key information, you must proceed to make a proposal that contains the solution to the problem in question.

This proposal must contain relevant information about the designer, services to be offered, time estimates, prices, detailed deliverables, terms and conditions and finally, budget.

Said proposal is sent by email or is ideally presented through a video call to clarify doubts.

photo contract

SOW (Statement Of Work)

Subsequently, with the confirmation of the client's interest in carrying out the project and accepting the proposal that we show, a SOW (Statement Of Work) is sent, which is a detailed statement of work that defines the services that we are going to deliver. The statement of work will act as a formal agreement between the designer and the client.

What the SOW statement of work includes:
  • Project description.
  • Project phases.
  • Rounds and Reviews.
  • Deliverable definitions.
  • Project scope checklists.
  • Estimated duration of the project.
  • The project budget.
  • Terms and Conditions.

NOTE: Once the SOW is approved and signed, it is advisable to ask the client for a standard deposit of 60% to start.

3. Planning and schedule

Once the contract is signed and the standard deposit of 60% ready, it is time to get down to work and define the project planning in great detail.

In this stage, a document is created with all the delivery dates, meetings and stages of the project in an orderly and systematic way.

How to create brand identity
Success doesn't just happen. It is planned

You know what they say “Success doesn't just happen. It is planned". And if it is our goal to achieve it; planning, logically, becomes a natural prerequisite of it.

This document after being created is sent to the client for prior approval regarding the meeting dates displayed in the calendar.

Aspects to define when planning a brand identity project

To learn how to create a brand identity, it is necessary to learn the essential aspects to define during our planning of this great project. These aspects are: The means of communication to be used in the project and the development tools. In addition, take into account delivery dates and meetings with the client.

Cómo crear identidad de marca comunicacion
Means of communication to be used in the project

In what media are you and your client going to communicate? Define what will be used for meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, In-person) Define by which means the files will be sent (Google Drive, Email, WeTransfer, Dropbox) and finally define which means will be used for the direct communication (Email, phone call, WhatsApp) This is important to make clear to the client from the beginning of the project or labor agreement.

NOTE: I personally recommend using Google Meet for meetings, email to send files and that direct communication be maintained by email and only in emergencies through WhatsApp or direct phone call.

Cómo crear identidad de marca recursos disponibles

NOTE 02: The clearer, more formal and controlled the communication, the less likely the project will interrupt other areas of your life outside the work area.

Development tools

Define exactly what tools or programs you plan to use for this project.

You can define that for presentations to be used (PowerPoint, Illustrator, Keynote, etc.) for formal documents (Indesign, Word, Adobe Acrobat) and for the specific deliverables of the project to develop the design programs to be used (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign , After Effects, Premiere Pro, Figma, Cinema 4D, etc.)

The important thing is to make clear the resources that are going to be used and what they will be used for.

Cómo crear identidad de marca illustrator
Tools like Adobe Illustrator are very useful for creating a brand identity.

NOTE: I leave you this video below on how to plan a design project step by step so that you can complement what you have learned in this article about how to create a brand identity.⬇️⬇️⬇️

4. Discovery and briefing

The brief is a short and concise document that contains key questions about a company that serves to gather information on the project in question.

In my particular case, I like to have a video call with my clients to fill out the brief together and clarify any doubts about it.

These questions revolve around 4 central axes, the company (general data), the positioning of the brand, the target group and finally the identity of the brand.

ejemplo brief Cómo crear identidad de marca
20 HIGHLY recommended questions to include in a branding and brand identity brief
  1. What is the main objective or objectives to be met in this project? What does the success of this project look like to you?
  2. How long has your business been in the market? Does it have a track record or is it new?
  3. What are the goals of your business today?
  4. Describe the need that your brand/business satisfies?
  5. What services or products does your brand provide?
  6. What unique value do customers get from buying your product/service?
  7. What values does the brand promote? What would you highlight?
  8. What makes your brand different from the others?
  9. How are you seeking to position yourself in the market?
  10. Who is this brand for? (tastes, needs, ways of living, age, social class, budget, etc.)
  11. How do you want them to perceive your brand? (key words) In. A close and friendly brand –A serious, elegant brand with many years of experience. – A premium and exclusive brand etc.
  12. What are your biggest opportunities to improve? Identify the things you would like your new visual brand identity to communicate.
  13. What do you want your logo and the visual identity of your brand to transmit and communicate? What objectives does this visual identity have to meet to function correctly?
  14. What are the possible applications in which the logo will be used? Where will this logo be displayed and used?
  15. Where will the logo MAINLY be used?
  16. What palettes / range of colors would you like? Any particular reason?
  17. What graphic elements should the brand not have? (Elements that have a bad image within the sector/industry or that are part of the competition).
  18. Would you like your brand to include a symbol / icon? if so, which one?
  19. Any reference brands that you like? (They do not have to be from the same field)
  20. Does the brand have a slogan or motto?
How to create brand identity define objectives

5. Need and objectives

Once we have the brief, it is time to write what is the need for communication of the project and what are the objectives that must be met.

This implies sitting down to explain who is the sender, who is the receiver, what communication problem is involved and what are the business objectives that must be met.

What is the business need for this project?

It is necessary to determine what business objective and design objectives have to be met in order for this project to be considered a success.

Once this, this small paragraph and list, will be the commercial guide of the project; where all the decisions we make must go in favor of satisfying the commercial need or complying with its objectives.

How to create brand identity example need and objectives
Example of need and objectives for my "Liminal Day" project

6. Research

Research cannot be lacking in any project. It is in fact, the first approach to the work to be done.

For investigations, it is usually focused on 4 central axes: the client, the industry, the target audience and design solutions.

Investigate the client

With the client, we're going to dig into what they've done before, their graphic background, their history, what their work has been, what their graphic line looks like, and if they don't have one, what type of graphic line they want to achieve.

Cómo crear identidad de marca análisis competitivo investigacion del cliente
Customer research through a competitive analysis example
Research the industry

On the other hand, with the industry we are going to investigate, the subject to work on, the direct competition, the history of that industry, the processes involved. Essentially we will put ourselves in the context of the client's case and what surrounds the world of your company.

How to create brand identity benchmarking example
benchmarking example
Cómo crear identidad de marca investigacion del cliente
It is important to research the industry using digital tools
Research the target audience

It is also important to research the target audience specifically, how they behave, what they say, what they do, etc. The important thing is to learn to clearly identify it. Creating a "buyer persona" is very useful to achieve this.

How to create brand identity buyer persona example
Example of a buyer persona
Cómo crear identidad de marca investigar grupo objetivo
It is important to research the target group when you are creating a brand identity.
Investigate similar design solutions

Finally, we are going to investigate design solutions similar to ours, such as projects in the same branch, design projects with the same objectives, design pieces that solve this problem, designs used in this industry.

The important thing is to collect references, to generate ideas and be able to apply them to our project.

Cómo crear identidad de marca ejemplos de referencias
I personally recommend creating trend panels on Behance with projects similar to the result you want to achieve to later capture or filter the best design pieces in a moodboard or stylescape.

7. Conceptualization

Conceptualization is the process by which we define the creative direction that the project will have and the design solutions that we are going to develop.

The concept can come in the form of 3-4 keywords or a phrase that summarizes what is going to be developed.

For example, I can say that the concept for my brand of vehicle accessories is "drifting, nocturnal and exclusive", and these 3 words will help me to develop my work taking into account that this has to be communicated.

How to create brand identity concept example
Example of a brand concept that I developed for a mental transformation academy.
The conceptualization consists of 3 key steps:

The application of one or several creative techniques, The elimination, modification and choice of concepts, and the compilation of references based on the chosen concept. 

Creative technique application

The first step is to apply a creative technique that stimulates our brain.

Techniques such as Brainswarming, InspiraVideo, Brainstorming, forced morphological relationships, among others, are extremely effective to start stimulating the creative side of our brain and generate concepts or ideas that we can use to our advantage.

Cómo tecnica de conceptualizacion crear identidad de marca
Mind map as a creative technique

The most basic technique is brainstorming, which consists of sitting down and writing all possible ideas without prejudging them for a limited time.

Personally, I do not consider it the most appropriate method when starting our conceptualization because it is very easy to go blank if you do not have practice in it.

Cómo crear identidad de marca ejemplo de técnica creativa brainswarming
Example of creative conceptualization technique: Brainswarming

On the other hand, my favorite technique is brainstorming because it helps me to understand the topic in depth and also helps me to clarify and organize the relevant pieces of information to detect important connections.

Deletion, modification and choice

Once we have a large enough list of concepts (More than 30 concepts) we can begin to eliminate those that are not viable or directly impossible, to modify those that can be improved and choose a top 3.

Once you have a top 3 concepts that are different from each other (Not the same concept said in 3 similar ways) we can go on to collect the references regarding the words of our concept.

How to create brand identity concept elimination example
You can develop 30 concepts and make a top 5 of the best.
Collection of references

We are going to take a concept and collect visual references of each of the words of that concept, if for example our concept is "cyberpunk pencils" then we must look for images, projects and everything visual related to pencils and on the other hand do the same with the word cyberpunk.

I recommend creating a folder on your computer and collecting all the references there as PNG or JPEG images.

Cómo crear identidad de marca ejemplo de recopilacion de archivos
The purpose of collecting references

Essentially we are going to see how other people have solved this type of problem to take those that work for us and discard what does not serve us at all.

This part of the process is fun and very interesting because we discover in many ways how other people have managed to solve this and that we can take advantage of in our favor.

Where can I find good references to create a brand identity?

You can use websites like Behance, Dribble, Instagram, Pinterest or Google and real references like art, museums or nature to fulfill this task.

I personally find Behance and Dribble the best places to look for references if you're a designer, because other designers upload their work there, Google and Pinterest are heavily used places so it's easy to get generic when using them as a reference.

8. Stylescapes and Moodboarding

The Stylescapes and moodboarding process is a vital part of the creative process during the creation of a brand identity.

A moodboard is a compilation of images that revolve around a concept and communicate a specific "Mood" for the type of project to be carried out.

It is typically used in design projects such as the creation of a brand identity, the result of an illustration or animation or the appearance or "Mood" that an editorial publication has to give.

How to create brand identity example of moodboard and result
This is an example of the moodboard I made to develop a 3D illustration for a Coffee brand and the final result of this process.

What is a stylescape?

A stylescape is a compilation of carefully chosen references to be able to represent an approach to the final result that a creative project will have.

The Stylescape is a type of moodboard used in graphic design that includes aspects such as fonts, colors, illustrations, images, among other elements.

The references used within a stylescape are chosen in advance to best represent the type of end result we want to achieve.

Example of references How to create brand identity
Example of references and moodboard

NOTE: During this process, 3 Stylescapes or Moodboards are created and placed next to the concept that is intended to be represented to later show them to the client and ask them to decide which Stylescape is closer to the result they are looking for for the project.

9. Hand sketching

Once the concept to be developed and the stylescape or moodboard with the most important and influential references have been decided, we can start taking pencil and paper to design the first sketches of our solution.

Hand sketching is the process by which we use our hands and typically pencil and paper to generate sketches that are the first visual approaches to something.

manual sketching How to create brand identity
Hand sketching for logo design: Mindphosis

Manual sketching to create a brand identity

In the case of brand identity or corporate identity design, we will begin by sketching isotype proposals, because it involves the symbolic representation of a simpler brand and is used as the basis for the rest of the brand identity pieces.

In manual sketching we will generate multiple design solutions and carry out the most creative part of the design process. Once we have multiple proposals, we will choose the 3 sketches that we consider most appropriate to continue with the next step.

10. Digital sketching

We are going to take our star sketches and scan them for better resolution, although if you have a phone camera you can also take a picture of it.

Then, we will go to Adobe Illustrator or our preferred program and we will convert our proposals to vector.

This process is known as vectorizing or digitizing.

How digital sketching example how to create brand identity

Polish the vector

After digitizing, we will correct and improve our vector until we reach a version that convinces us. I highly recommend duplicating the vector on each relevant modification or "version" you make so that you can take a step back if the result is not on track.

Choosing the right font

Finally, we are going to add the typography of our logo and we will try different fonts until we find the right font family for your logo proposal.

choose typography brand identity

Choose a color palette

Once you are sure that it works in black and white and is the final version, we will add colors to our vectors. A palette between 1-3 is more than enough for any logo.

Color palette How to create brand identity
Creating a survey to decide the color of a brand is a highly recommended decision in the brand identity process. Because it goes much further than deciding based on personal preference or color psychology.

NOTE: I recommend that you initially work this sub-process in black and white to avoid that the color creates a BIAS or unnecessary inclination towards any proposal. NEVER fall in love with a logo proposal, it clouds your judgment and damages your self-esteem, especially if it is not ultimately chosen by your client.

11. Presentation of results

When we already have our design proposals finished, it is time to go with the client to present our results.

This involves putting together a complete and comprehensive presentation that documents the creative process and justifies our solution.

Review the objectives

It is important to mention the client's objectives and the brand's target audience to put everyone in the meeting in context prior to showing the results.

Use mockups or photomontages

At this stage it is highly recommended to accompany our results with mockups or photomontages that allow the client to visualize how their design would look in a final format such as the store, their corporate stationery or social networks.

Ejemplo de publicidad identidad de marca
This is a mockup I did for the Mindphosis brand

NOTE: The important thing about this stage of brand identity creation is to demonstrate the effectiveness of each proposal and humbly await any feedback.

12. Adjustments and corrections

Once the results of the design process are presented, doubts may arise that lead to thoughts that cause changes in the final result of the project.

These changes are considered adjustments and may lead to the option of submitting more design proposals (if within the budget) or directly modifying an aspect of the current one.

The #1 Enemy During the Brand Identity Process

Enemy #1 during the brand identity development process is emotions.

A client can agree with the designer, understand a proposal, agree with the logic behind it, and even be ready to use it.

And even so, proceed to ignore any logic and send hours and hours of work to oblivion if the client is invaded by an emotion such as anxiety, uncertainty or restlessness.

Get ready for the most tense moment of the process

This part of the brand identity design process is usually the most tense for the designer, because it involves reviewing the work done and having to spend more time changing it and in some cases, even redesigning everything from scratch.

I personally recommend cementing the early stages of this brand identity creation process very well to reduce the probability of having to completely change the proposals at the end.

brand identity results
Satisfied customers will talk about why they are happy with the result. In this case this is a testimonial from one of my clients.

Packaging and delivery

Finally, if the design has already been successfully approved and all the deliverables completed, it is time to order our files and pack them in a .zip file for later shipment to the client.

You can use Google Drive, Wetransfer or if you are more of the "oldschool" give them a USB.

The most important thing is to get the client their files on time and give them their proper name and attach some kind of guide or at least explain to the client in a video call how to move within the folders or subfolders to find what they are looking for faster.

file packaging How to create brand identity
I recommend you to use plugins like "Logo Package" to generate very tidy folders with files in a matter of a couple of clicks.

Do you need help with your brand?

Consider Get in touchif you need support with the design of your brand identity. If you are committed to bringing your brand to market, consider scheduling a free brand diagnostic with me by clicking here.

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Oliver Puente
Oliver Puente
Freelance brand identity and UI/UX designer based in Guatemala, Oliver Puente helps companies modernize their brands.
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