Design
Brand identity
Brand identity is the set of decisions that make a company recognisable: the logo and its variants, colour, typography, imagery and the rules for using them. It is what the brand looks like, as distinct from what the brand is.
People use the phrase for two different things. The narrow meaning is the visual system: mark, palette, type, photography direction, and the document that records how they are used. The broad meaning adds positioning, voice and personality, which are decisions about what the company says rather than how it looks. A project should be explicit about which one is in scope, because pricing and timelines differ substantially.
The part most identities get wrong is testing. A mark is designed at large size on a clean background, a palette is chosen as swatches, and a typeface is judged in a headline. Then the identity meets a 48-pixel header, a paragraph of body text and a coloured button that has to pass contrast, and the decisions come apart. An identity designed against its real applications survives contact with them.
Identity is also not a logo. A logo is one element, and rarely the one doing the work; consistency of type, spacing and colour across everything a company publishes carries far more recognition than the mark alone. If the budget forces a choice, the system is worth more than the symbol.
Brand identity and websiteDesign