1. Logo design

A logo is the most obvious of the graphic elements of corporate identity. As a standout visual signifier, it should act to identify your company instantly. Think about the iconic business branding of Apple’s bitten apple, Google’s colorful wordmark and Twitter’s blue bird and how they all immediately align one visual element with the organization’s brand’s entire ethos. A strong corporate logo design can even take an organization from being a business to being a cultural icon, such as in the above mentioned cases.

2. Typeface & Fonts

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ the saying goes, but an exploration of typography – one of the key elements of corporate identity – will tell you that the style, shape, weight and spacing of the written word can also say an awful lot. That’s true for web content, business cards, email templates, and more. Type can be warm and friendly, elegant and luxurious, or bold and authoritative before you’ve even read the first word.

Helvetica, a typeface with such significance it is the subject of its own film, was designed by Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman in 1957 in an effort to create a utilitarian style that would be clear, bold and legible both across signage and in print. The type was famously used across the New York City Subway and has since become synonymous with the city and adopted by brands including Jeep and American Apparel due to its symbolic appeal as reflecting modern American culture.

The typographic style may be one of the most far-reaching elements of your corporate identity appearing on emails, presentations, contracts, email signatures, brochures, stationery, office signage and more. For this reason, it’s vital that the type is an appropriate one for your corporation, whether that’s one which suggests stability or modernity, it should be an accurate reflection of who the organization is. Remember that, above all, the type choice needs to be legible, clear, and work across different digital and print platforms.

3. Imagery

As well as words, images are powerful elements of corporate identity. They represent the organization through the consistent feel that the photography and illustrations have.

Having a clear corporate brand identity empowers graphic designers, web developers, photographers, editors, and others on the creative design team to provide high-quality work that aligns with the brand strategy. Additionally, it decreases the need for revisions and lost manpower hours.

For organizations with a strong corporate identity such as IKEA, clear, consistent and ownable photography has allowed them to differentiate from their competitors and have underpinned some of the most successful and memorable campaigns to date.

Take Acne’s recent campaign for IKEA in response to high-fashion house, Balenciaga’s bag clone of IKEA’s iconic shopper. The image is immediately identifiable as IKEA and pokes fun at Balenciaga’s appropriation of IKEA’s visual identity:

4. Brand style guides

When you’ve created all the various elements of your corporate identity, a set of detailed style guidelines are needed to help ensure their successful application. Also known as a corporate identity manual or corporate identity design manual, guidelines ensure the consistent implementation of your brand identity by all individuals.

Guidelines should outline exactly how and when different visual assets (i.e., images, brand colors, typography, logo designs, templates, web designs, etc.) are used so you need to consider all placements – for example, third-party email banners, social media cover images, email signatures, business cards, letterheads. It’s always handy to include visual examples of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ to avoid any misinterpretation of the brand style guide.

The typographic style may be one of the most far-reaching elements of your corporate identity appearing on emails, presentations, contracts, email signatures, brochures, stationery, office signage and more. For this reason, it’s vital that the type is an appropriate one for your corporation, whether that’s one which suggests stability or modernity, it should be an accurate reflection of who the organization is. Remember that, above all, the type choice needs to be legible, clear, and work across different digital and print platforms.