A Versatile Design: The Idea Behind Consistent Brand Identity
The last time I've write about brand design was quite some time ago. From the day I've touched London until now, most of the brand advertised on public are stranger brands for me. From new artist debut to job finder, telecommunication company begging you to change your broadband service, concert/ theatre, fashionwear sales, new tv program, exhibitions and more. One thing to notice is that billboard and print media such as magazines and newspapers are the big brothers of advertising media.
However, many people still struggle on how to create a consistent set of design elements that helps to connect your brand to the mind of target audience. Many designers would say that use consistent colour and typefaces throughout your designs, but let's bring this to another level, can't we?
Before I share my idea on versatile design, let's talk about celebrities on billboard.
Celebrity endorsement let audiences remember a brand easily, and whenever the celebrity appears, we knew it's about that damn advertisement. Soon after we are more familiar with the brand due to constant exposure, we immediately think of the brand when we need something. Celebrity endorsement is such a successful technique thanks to our brain which recognises face. We simply remember that one person that associates with the brand. For example, Dato' Lee Chong Wei, badminton, Yonex, easy.
It's that one element ( in this case, celebrity's face) that makes design recognisable and easy to remember, thus, easy to recall. What if we change the face to other design element, which I call it "design language across brands".
Versatile Design Language
Few days ago, we were given a task to create a blog as a whole semester journal (which explained why I'm not posting for few days). The first thing that came across my mind was to establish a strong visual identity which is easy to recognise. Below are two graphics for Jackdahorse, one is the logo itself and one is the collage background made of fragmented logo.
Easily, I can identify the minimalistic idea of the logo and simply apply it everywhere I want regardless of the colour and composition in any print or digital media. For example,
And for now, as long as I'm using the fragmented background as my minimalistic approach for my upcoming designs such as name cards or print media advertisement, the brand will be consistent.
And perhaps, I can make a face collage out of the fragmented logo. See how interactive it is! When you understand your design concept (in this case, minimalist) and what you want to do (a face collage), you can pretty much come out everything with distinct style if juxtaposition is done right.
My point is, we could extract or establish a design language of a brand so we can reuse the elements for consistent and flexible branding designs. That's the formula for versatility in design.
