Did you know that great branding can boost your company's revenue by anything between 10 and 23%? Some brands even seen more than 20% better sales just by having consistent branding that consumers recognise and notice popping up frequently. It's no secret that quality, human-focused branding design can really help sales to skyrocket.
In a fiercely competitive world of marketing where AI and do-it-yourself graphic design tools continue to challenge and upset traditional graphic and branding design methods, approaches and rules, simply designing branding for the sake of it won't cut the mustard. Forget designing a logo that's merely pretty, cool or trendy. It has to really break boundaries and stand up to the test of time.
Whether you're designing your first brand guidelines or logo design for a start-up, or giving a stale brand a completely new refresh, here are 6 brand design rules you'll want to follow... which we actually use at Haddington & Haddington to create head-turning visuals for our clients.
1. Own your brand design (don't copy your competitors)
While it's tempting to look at your competitors and use their way of doing things to inspire your own company's approach, here's a tip – don't. Your brand identity and design is all about telling your story, not your rivals'. If the ethos of your brand is wild, dynamic, bold and powerful, don't tame things down with a bland colour palette or muted tones because that's what's trendy or 'in' at the time. Trends fade with time – powerful brand messaging doesn't. Don't just follow trends for the sake of a short term spike in sales. This is how your product or services become lost in the crowd.
Visually, you have to embody your values as a brand. If you're an aspirational brand – make it luxurious. If your values are nature, environmental or organic focused, tell it through every avenue of communication and visual language. Figure out the personality of your brand, then echo this personality into your font and typography choices, colours, shapes, textures and design library. If you're struggling to do this effectively, Haddington & Haddington is a go-to branding and creative agency that helps businesses of all shapes and sizes.
2. Do your market research
That said, there's a difference between being overly influenced by your competitors and genuinely designing for your market. A good design agency will understand the corporate objectives of your company, and the type of customer you want to pursue. Once this is understood, the most relevant design can be created to ensure the greatest impact. Collect as much information as possible about your audience and the types of people you want to purchase your products and services, because you'd be surprised at how much this translates into your branding design.
3. Remember your brand voice
How your brand sounds is just as important as how it looks. Do you want to sound fun, professional formal, witty or casual? Your brand design guidelines should cover your tone of voice documentation in detail, with examples of how to write for your brand across different channels and platforms, like customer support, social media, product descriptions and packaging. A consistent tone and brand message builds trust with consumers.
Make your communication feel familiar so that trust builds over time. The communication also needs to be memorable – don't let someone confuse your brand for someone else's. Have a different tone to your competitors, but make sure it's suitable for your company's positioning with an emotional connection, because that's what will connect with your customers.
Find a gap in the market where you can be something unexpected and truly memorable. This can be understated (not necessarily loud), but it has to be human. Whether it's pulling an audience in to try your delicious hazelnut chocolate, or convincing them to sign up to a subscription... it needs to command attention and make people stop in their tracks. Curiosity is your best friend. Take the hazelnut chocolate for instance – a consumer wants to know how it'll make them feel. What they will experience, as well as how it tastes, etc. They need to know 'why'... why they should purchase your chocolate and not someone else's.
4. Less is more
Let's take a colour palette for instance. That extra colour you want 'just in case' isn't always necessary. Everything needs a precise function and reason for being in your brand guidelines, so don't be afraid to be ruthless. Great branding design isn't just about creating new and beautiful things. It's also about deciding what to strip away. Same with fonts – too many, and things become confusingly cluttered. If you're too close to it (a lot of our clients often are), then a good creative design agency will guide you on what to add, and what can be made redundant.
The same goes for logo design. Simplicity is the ultimate key, as a logo needs to be memorable and easily sketched onto a piece of paper. No-one will remember an overly complicated logo with too many fiddly bits going on. Plus, a logo also needs to be functional – too many tag lines, colours and fonts can make it look messy and unreadable. Take the clarity over clutter approach each and every time. While this approach can be challenging, it can help boost your brand's visibility.
5. Design with intention
Never design something just because it looks pretty. Consider your shapes and colours carefully. Did you know that up to 90% of a customer's first impression of your product is based on its colour? Pick your palette wisely – greens, blues and neutrals can be calming, monochrome more classic, while pastels can be either soothing or fun and cute. Neon brights add the wow-factor, while black echoes luxury.
Colour is the fastest way for your brand to convey emotion and meaning. Use three colours you actually care about and that represent your brand values. Understand that different colours carry various associations (every shade sends a message).
Warm tones like red, orange and yellow tend to create feelings of energy, excitement and confidence. They’re often used by food brands, entertainment companies and products aimed at younger audiences or bold personalities.
Cool tones such as blue, green, and purple usually communicate trust, calmness, professionalism or a connection to nature.
Neutral palettes like black, white, grey or beige often feel clean, timeless and premium. They’re especially effective for minimalist brands because they allow imagery, typography and other design elements to take centre stage.
It’s also important to remember that colour meanings aren’t universal. A colour that feels modern and confident in one country may come across very differently somewhere else. Understanding the cultural context of your audience matters just as much as choosing the colour itself.
Accessibility should always be part of the conversation too. A colour palette can look beautiful in a concept design, but if there isn’t enough contrast for people to comfortably read your content, the design stops being effective. Aesthetic choices should never compromise usability.
You should also look into your 'brand cues' and find something quirky that is unique to your brand's style of communication. It can be a certain way of writing, an illustration style, a totally different bottle or packaging design, or a vibrant colour palette. This is what makes people say: “Oh yeah, I remember that.” Do it right, and they won't even have to remember your logo.
6. Be consistent and cohesive
No brand wants to look like their website, social media and packaging all have different messages coming from different places. If you've got multiple types of font, imagery and colour all going on at the same time, customers won't trust your brand.
Being cohesive means building recognition. You want someone to think 'I've seen that before'. This sparks curiosity and keeps your visuals in their brain. You brand needs to look and feel like everything comes from one source only. Your brand book is your reference guide to making sure everything is on an even keel. Think rules on how to layout packaging, photography styles, tone of voice, logo use, typography and any design quirks that are unique to your company. If you're still a start-up, start logging these design decisions early... future you will be thankful.
