Beyond the Logo
Building a Powerful Brand Identity
By Valeria Esqueda | December 12, 2024
How to Create a Visual Identity That Resonates
ARE YOU READY TO SHAPE THE PERCEPTION OF YOUR BRAND?
Position yourself for growth by taking an active role in your brand strategy!
As a small business ourselves, we understand the challenges of building a strong brand identity. It's a complex process with many moving parts, and limited time and budget can make it even tougher. But don't worry! We'll start by focusing on visual identity design, and we're here to guide you through this exciting journey, making it both fun and effective. We're committed to providing practical and approachable steps to help you succeed.
We nurture
radical
possibilities
The first step in building a successful visual identity is identifying your target audience
ASK YOURSELF: WHO FINDS THE MOST VALUE IN YOUR SERVICE?
By understanding their needs, values, and aspirations, you can tailor your brand to resonate with them. Get specific. Adapt your ideas to meet their expectations while staying true to your core values.
We found that our audience is a lively group of small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and change-makers. They're deeply involved in their communities, full of passion, and always looking for ways to make a positive impact.
Creating elements that resonate with your people
ASK YOURSELF: WHAT FEELINGS DO YOU HOPE TO EVOKE IN YOUR AUDIENCE?
To visually represent this spirit, we chose a bold, yet inviting color palette. Our Chief Creative Officer, Leigh Robbie, carefully selected colors that evoke a sense of energy, optimism, warmth and creativity. We believe these colors resonate with people who live colorful lives, just like our audience.
Much like our colors, the intention for the logo was to feel expansive, clear and approachable. So we created an organic shape that subtly hints at a nest, or even an egg, communicating the familiarity and accessibility of nature, without being too on-the-nose. We introduced some playfulness by mixing a thinner font weight with the thicker, bolder font weight, and orienting the lettering in two different directions. All of these design choices came together to create a dynamic, yet clean look. With our logo in place, we focused on building out a few variations. (not sure what we mean here? Check out these examples!
impactful brand identitites reflect your
visuals
voice
vibe
Illustrations offer a versatile design element that can elevate your brand's visual identity.
From adding personality to your social media posts to creating texture on your website, illustrations can enhance your website's aesthetic appeal and bring your brand to life.
ASK YOURSELF: WHAT KIND OF VISUAL STYLE ALIGNS WITH YOUR BRAND’S MESSAGE? (e.g. photography, illustration, graphic design)
ASK YOURSELF: WHAT SYMBOLS OR ICONS CAN VISUALLY REPRESENT YOUR BRAND’S IDENTITY?
To create a unique and vibrant brand identity, we opted for hand-drawn illustrations. This choice aligned with our goal of crafting brands that feel personal and tailored to each client. To further root our brand in our SoCal location, we focused on local flora and fauna. We selected a variety of cacti, big-leaf plants, and birds native to Southern California.
Beyond their aesthetic appeal, these illustrations hold deeper meaning for our team. Each bird symbolizes a specific aspect of our work: the communicative parrot represents our social media efforts, the eye-catching peacock reflects our graphic design, and the energetic hummingbird embodies the fast-paced nature of our events work. This dual layer of meaning not only engages our audience but also fosters a stronger connection between our team and our brand identity.
A strong visual identity is the face of your project or business.
It's an investment that shapes perception and builds lasting impressions. At The Nest, we specialize in crafting these identities, transforming complex ideas into compelling visuals. Our collaborative process allows us to explore the nuances of your work, resulting in cohesive and memorable brand experiences. From initial concepts to final deliverables, we're dedicated to guiding you through every step.