If you have a mission statement, you can paste this here.

Your ideal customer should shape almost every aspect of your brand identity. Think about what your customers value in a brand. By understanding your customer’s pain points and priorities, you can formulate a quality profile.

Do you offer peace of mind? Workplace efficiency? Regardless of how your brand connects with your customers, your ability to solve problems should be at the core of your brand identity.

Brands with a strong, well-defined personality instantly win some like-ability points because customers are able to relate to them on a personal level.

Competitive analysis can be a helpful first step towards developing any marketing strategy. Brand identity is no exception. Regardless of where your competitors stand, use their statuses as a starting place for creating a brand identity that's objectively better.

When your most satisfied new customers communicate with you about their experience, what do they have to say? Listening to the interactions of new, satisfied customers can reveal a wealth of information about how you make your customers feel.

What does your brand offer that your competitors can't? Perhaps more importantly, how can you communicate this in your brand identity? It is important to note that simply being different isn't enough. You need to actively "make a difference." This means actively carving out a niche, and continually playing to your strengths.

Conducting customer interviews or talking to your customers can be an important tool for learning why your customers ultimately pick your company. Use this feedback as a guide for defining why your brand is different, and building an appealing brand identity.

Brand stories are an important component of branding. This includes both your literal history, such as how and why you were founded, and the story of the role you play in your customer's life. Your brand's story should ultimately make your customer the hero as it can be an important basis for your brand identity and marketing content.

An important exercise towards defining your brand's identity can be developing a list of five adjectives that describe your brand's personality, look, and voice. By examining the values that run through your company, you can begin to develop a list of descriptive words. e.g. serious, playful, corporate, lively etc

If your company is considering a rebranding, it may be important to consider why you're initiating this. Is your existing brand poorly-defined to the point that it's almost non-existent? It it a poor fit with who you really are? Have you introduced a new leader or ownership team that's drastically changed your culture? Understanding the reason you need to define your brand can reveal some important room for improvement.

You don't need to look towards brands with similar products, services or customers. Developing a list of brands you admire can offer various types of lessons that can be helpful. Perhaps you admire a company for their minimalist aesthetic or their intense focus on customer service. These concepts can easily be translated to companies in a different sector.

Minimalism is the concept of stripping down a design or object to the bare elements necessary for function. While a truly minimalist brand identity may be appropriate for a creative agency or hotel chain, it could feel out of place for a corporate organisation. Simplicity is always better than confusion, but it's important to ensure you're still communicating the right message.

Once you've developed a brand identity, it could be important to "test drive" it in front of a group of your existing customers, as they may be able to provide important insights that you missed.

Your company's logo is one of the most important aspects of your visual brand identity. Your logo will be one of the few original aspects of your visual identity, and an effective logo can create a lasting impression.
An effective logo design is:
Original: contain some visual design elements elements that no other company has.
Timeless: avoid adding trendy design concepts, to ensure your logo will "age well" over time.
Adaptable: the logo should scale well from thumbnail to a much larger scale. It should also translate well to both print and digital formats.
Memorable: While "memorable" can be a difficult concept to test, your logo should leave a lasting impression.
Relevance: Your logo should be clearly connected to your industry or products and services..

Typography communicates a lot more than just words and letters. It can impart feelings of energy, fun, humour, elegance, traditionalism and more. Most brand's visual guidelines include a number of typefaces that will often include a primary and supporting typeface.
Common typeface associations include:
Serif Fonts: Authoritative, Traditional, Respectable
Sans Serif Fonts: Modern, Clean, Stable
Slab Serif Fonts: Bold, Strong, Modern
Script Fonts: Elegant, Friendly, Creative
Modern Fonts: Fashionable, Stylish, Exclusive

Humans associate colours with emotions. Your brand's primary and supporting colours are an important component of your visual identity. By selecting colours that are associated with your brand values, you can communicate your company's mission.
Common colour associations include:
Blue: Integrity, Trust, Tranquility, Loyalty, Intelligence
Green: Money, Growth, Freshness, Environmental-Friendliness
Yellow: Happiness, Originality, Energy
Purple: Royalty, Spirituality, Luxury
Pink: Femininity, Compassion, Playfulness
Red: Power, Strength, Passion
Orange: Courage, Originality, Success
White: Cleanliness, Purity, Freshness
Black: Elegance, Drama, Strength
* It is important for global brands to take note that colour associations can vary according to culture. Blue's perception in the U.S. may be drastically different than in the Middle East

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