We have plenty of designers right now. As a matter of fact, you can find a designer that fits your budget very easily. Within a few hours, you get something sent to you via email or WhatsApp, and you can get going. See full case study of the logo design above.

But here is a huge value I want to give you. It’s possible to have a logo and still not have a brand identity because your logo isn’t your brand identity. It’s just an element of your brand identity.

Your brand identity begins with understanding:

• Why you’re existing as a brand (your story, your mission, and where you see yourself going)
• Your personality as a brand (basically, this is encapsulated in a few adjectives that describe your behaviour, tone, and voice as a brand)
• Your positioning in your industry

These are the major drivers of any valid brand identity. And when you don’t have these things on the ground (or when your designer refuses to ask for them), be sure to have something that will not carry weight or hold any essence to your business in the long run.

These few factors I just highlighted are the things that will determine the colour palette that will best fit your brand, the typography, the kind of pictures you will use in your campaigns and advertisement flyers, the shape of your logo, the styling of your design system, and your entire touch point.

One of the greatest errors going on right now is that several people have logos but poor applications of their logos. It’s common among those who hire cheap designers who do not understand the peculiarities of logo application. They have been using the same mock-ups all their lives. And for every client that comes their way, that’s how they roll it out. See also: Visual Communication Tips for Small Business Owners

While designing your logo, you need to keep in mind the several ways you seek to apply the logo, and all of these should come in mock-ups to help you see and appreciate how your logo will perform in the entire marketing of your brand.

Will you also have a website, mobile app, signage, Facebook page, t-shirts, calendars, souvenirs, and newsletters? Whatever it is you seek to do with your brand, your logo should be adaptable across the board.

And when it comes to social media flyers, that is where a lot of brands fail terribly in the application of their logos. Professional brand developers look at all of these upfront and they help you with style guides on how to combine your colours for effective marketing campaigns, posters, flyers, etc. See also: Visual Communication Tips for Small Business Owners

When you don’t have all of these systems in place, there is no way your design tool can help you. Every brand has its primary colour, accent colour and supplementary colours. There are rules guiding how these things are used.

We will stop here, but we believe you now have a little understanding of what brand development is. It’s not a 5K or 10K logo delivered to you via WhatsApp. The truth is, you may not have the budget for top-class developers, but you should know what to ask your “budget-friendly” developer in order to get the best from the person. We are all on a journey.

Now, this isn’t all you need to know about branding. However, this is a very good start. Will you like to be among the first to get our rich and insightful articles just like this one? Remember to turn on the push notification or subscribe to our mailing list.