How graphic designers can transform businesses with brand identity design

Graphic design is no longer an afterthought for businesses 

Marketing is crucial to the survival of any company. The days when simply building a better product or offering a better service assured continuing success are long gone. Today’s corporate environment makes it equally important for products and services to be memorable as they are high quality. 

That is why one of the first steps any company usually takes is to craft a good branding strategy to decide the brand persona and corporate identity. This is a service provided by real, qualified graphic designers who understand market strategy, visual symbolism, colour theory, typography and much more. Therefore graphic design, is no longer an afterthought for business; instead it is one of the key ingredients that define success. 

What is corporate identity and why does it matter?

Corporate identity is the manner which a corporation, firm or business presents themselves to the public, such as customers and investors as well as employees. In terms of design, it is a combination of colour schemes, symbols, words, etc., that a firm employs to make a visual statement about itself and to communicate its business philosophy. This usually includes a logo, perhaps a wordmark (a slogan), a brand persona and also values, missions and visions which define what the organisation is set out to deliver. 

A company’s total brand image starts with a great logo and expands to every aspect of the business. This design needs to target its audience and stakeholders in a way that is functional, attractive, and professional. A good corporate identity design should provide an instant connection to what the business does and its values. 

It’s not just the external parties that get influenced by a brand’s identity. The employees of the business who will constantly be surrounded by stationary, company web pages, uniforms, publications, and more will be influenced by the corporate identity of the brand. A good graphic designer can strengthen a brand from the inside by forming a strong corporate identity that unites employees and fuels commitment to the vision.

The challenge of creating a corporate identity that caters to all these expectations is no easy task; and it can only be handled by a qualified, educated and professional graphic designer.

How do graphic designers create corporate identities?

In Sri Lanka, there is major misconception about the role of a graphic designer. Popularly most people believe that graphic design is mere software knowledge. However, true graphic design, has a serious undertone to it and graphic design professionals need to be trained to think strategically, analyse the psychological relationship between colours and symbols, how to depict personalities and ideas through typography, print and much more. This is part of the process that goes into corporate identity design. 

A qualified graphic designer with a good education background will know how to represent a company in a visual sense. By asking the brand the right questions about their business philosophy, the values they cherish, the personalities they can relate to, a graphic designer is able to generate a ‘tone’ for the brand. Next, in the research process, they will look into other brands that do similar businesses, what their logos look like, the colours they use so that an identity completely different to them can be developed. 

Next, graphic designers will analyse how colours and symbols send psychological cues to the human brain, how shapes are perceived and what words and slogans can communicate. After this, the graphic designer will work with the brand to fine tune their work to create a corporate identity that best represents the business and connects it to the right markets.

Sri Lanka and corporate identity design

For the past few decades, most graphic designers in Sri Lanka were self-proclaimed designers with no education background and did not have the training or the creative vision to handle a comprehensive corporate identity project. However, with the advent of international standard graphic design education to Sri Lanka, this has changed over the past decade. 

The availability of qualified designers has increased and thereby the expectations for corporate identity design have also been raised. Brands and businesses in Sri Lanka no longer settle for average identities that work within limited local markets; instead, they are looking to make the best out of the technological advancements that allow doing business with the whole world, with corporate identities that speak to international markets. 

Parallel to this, the graphic design education in Sri Lanka is also changing. Among many beginner level diploma and certificate programmes in the country, AOD remains to provide the only complete UK graphic design degree in Sri Lanka. This internationally recognised degree programme is conducted in partnership with Northumbria University UK through an internationally qualified faculty. AOD challenges the popular misconception that graphic design is based on software knowledge and hosts continuing career guidance and awareness-building on the topic. 

For more information on corporate identity design education, careers and how graphic designers work with the business world, walk in to AOD at 29, Lauries Road, Colombo 4 between 9am to 5pm. For more information, call AOD on 0775 980 141 / 0115 867 772 or email [email protected]. You can find out more about AOD on www.aod.lk or www.facebook.com/aodsrilanka.