Unify your Brand with Graphic Design

Nothing reinforces your brand more than graphic design does. If you lay out all your marketing collateral – brochures, business cards, social media posts, website banners, and other branded materials – what do you see? Do they look cohesive or are their designs looking dissimilar from each other? Would your customers easily recognise them at a glance? SOY, a digital marketing agency with teams in Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, has worked and improved on the visual brands of many Australian businesses, and here’s how you can do the same for yours. 

The goal is to make your brand identity stand out by having a unifying look using your chosen elements – logo, colours, type, and composition. With a cohesive visual design, you will be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors in the market. But beyond just a united and impressive design, keep in mind that this should leave a lingering impression on your audience. That’s what your brand identity is – it’s what they think and feel long after they’ve seen your collateral. Here are three important things to think about when developing your brand identity through graphic design. 

Design alignment 

There are three things your designs should align with – your products or services, your audience, and your vision. 

First, do your designs feature your products or services well? Are they immediately discernible? For example, if you’re a drink brand, are they easily recognisable in your social media posts and ads? And if your business is a car transport service, do your photos clearly show that you are a service and not a car brand? 

Second, do your marketing collaterals speak to your audience? If your product is geared towards busy professionals or corporate decision-makers, it might be better to have marketing collateral that aren’t riddled with words and exposition. The photo should make sense and appeal to the needs of your audience without further scrutiny. 

One way you could address this is by creating a buyer persona to understand who your general target audience is, and determining their behaviours and perspectives around ads and photos. By having a clear picture of who they are and what their motivations are, you’re better equipped to understand what designs will appeal to them. 

Composition 

SOY’s graphic designers from Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines know how to put all your design elements together to create eye-catching and engaging designs. The interplay of your logo, colour palette, images, text and their proportions are crucial in your designs. As much as possible, stick to two fonts that complement each other, chose photos that truly represent your brand, and use colours that support your brand’s colours. 

It’s easy to put these different elements together, but the end product may seem busy and conflicted, which will leave your audience confused about your brand identity. Collateral that are off-putting don’t get much attention, and essentially defeat the purpose of having marketing materials. 

Consistency 

Effective graphic designs are founded on clear brand guidelines. Our graphic designers from Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines highly recommend creating a branding guide that detail how all your brand elements should be used, how photos should be styled, and how collaterals should appear in different digital platforms, as well as in print. Having a style bible that everyone in your team has access to, reinforces your consistent messaging not just in design, but also in copy.  

With clear branding, your visual identity will make waves no matter the platform, be it your website, social media, print materials, even videos. This will help you tell a distinct story of who you are, what you offer, and how you can make a difference in your audience’s lives. 

SOY, a digital marketing agency with teams in Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, works with different businesses across a range of industries, creating designs that help attract, engage, and convert audiences. To have a more in-depth discussion on how you can improve your graphic design, and ultimately your brand identity, contact SOY today.