The way that brands build and use their visual identity has changed the way that people interact with material goods. Brands like Nike, Red Bull, and Apple, for example, have designed brand strategies wherein the look and feel of their brand doesn’t just serve to communicate products and services. It also communicates a set of values that appeal to their consumer audience.
Instead of being “just a shoe brand”, a company might employ a brand strategy that encourages athleticism, competition, and victory. By purchasing their product, consumers signal their alignment with these values, hoping even to be perceived as athletic, competitive, or victorious themselves. It’s a time-tested way to stand out and stay relevant among otherwise insurmountable competition.
Even if you’re someone who rejects the idea of buying branded goods to look a certain way, you likely still use your spending power in a way that reflects your values. Brands that are cruelty free, carbon-neutral, or give back to charity have a value system likely reflecting their target audience’s, and are therefore far more likely to receive their money.
This commercial ecosystem has trickled down into the mainstream, creating a common association between the visual identity of things and the values held by the people who use them. We are seeing this now more than ever in the way people design identity for themselves and their communities.
The Language of Visual Identity
It’s important to understand the mechanics of how a visual identity can even communicate a set of values in the first place. To understand this, we need to understand semiotics. Semiotics is an interdisciplinary study of “signs” and how they communicate meaning. The most important terms to understand are:
The signifier: Think a wedding ring, or a traffic light on red.
The signified: Think love, or “stop”.
The signifier is an object that represents something, while the signified is what that object represents. It’s important to note that the signified is highly culturally variable. A great example is holding up your middle finger at someone. In many Western cultures, this is perceived as an insulting and aggressive expression. In other cultures, it may be perceived as nothing, the same way a person in America might react to someone holding up their ring finger.
A brand’s visual identity operates as a complex system of signifiers that signify a set of values to their audience, often determined by a brand strategy. By employing this strategy in advertising, PR, etc., the brand’s visual identity cultivates an association with certain values and actions. Eventually, the brand itself (without additional context) develops a cultural association with this set of values; the same way a Nike logo on a shirt might represent athleticism, despite its logo not literally displaying an athlete in any way.
How People Create a Visual Identity
Wittingly or unwittingly, average consumers have completely bought in to the signified values of brands’ visual identity. Whether it’s supporting an influencer who comes out with a cruelty-free brand, or chastising your neighbor for owning a certain brand of car, people heavily associate personal character with things worn, owned, or used.
Social Media
The weight of visual associations on perception is not lost on the general public, and this has been known since the inception of social media. MySpace gave people immense opportunities to ascribe themselves a visual identity and signify the things they valued through custom music, photos, and graphics. These elements, while not as customizable, echo throughout modern social media (think the "Instagram Grid").
Fashion
Flannels and ripped jeans used to be heavily associated with poverty because of their cheap price and ragged appearance. When genuine punk bands began sporting a visual identity with these types of clothing and hit the mainstream, they created a signifier of coolness and rebellion that resonated in the counter-culture movement of the 1980s and 90s.
When the demand for these articles rose, flannels and ripped jeans became manufactured en masse for prices that oppose their origins in affordable clothing for low-income consumers. The culture changed, along with what was signified. The only thing that did not change was the signifier.
Community & Visual Identity
All this to say, the design of brands, in conjunction with their brand strategy, has shaped the way that people utilize visual identity to communicate. While the value of a visual identity in a commercial market is undeniable, younger generations have begun to see the value of visual identity in the design and maintenance of community.
Community design has become a talking point with growing momentum in the last five years. Designing neighborhoods in a way that champions dignity, communal spaces, and safety is one such conversation that is growing in support. While primarily a discipline of urban design, organizations like Intrinsic Paths take the function of a space one step further. Beautified medians, well-kept bus stops, and high-vis separation between pedestrian paths and roadways are elements that not only improve pedestrian safety; but also create a visual identity to signify a higher level of care and support from their governments.
Small businesses, local clubs, festivals, and activism groups have now adopted a brand strategy that put them in touch with the communities who support them. Pins, merchandise, signage, etc., all sporting the visual identity of these organizations create higher recognizability, and draw in communities who have otherwise largely moved online. Offering the opportunity to physically represent personal values creates a better opportunity to see real, in-person support (and advertise free-of-charge).
How Do I Design a Visual Identity?
A brand strategy is more than a document of values you’d like to promote. It incorporates serious competitive analysis, audience research, and development of the mission that drives your business or organization forward. Not to mention, it requires a strong understanding of the cultural signifiers of certain values. A design professional who can execute a brand strategy with a comprehensive visual identity is the best way to create something that lasts, converts, and communicates.
If you are looking for a design professional who can help, reach out today to get started.
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