You got two proposals for your company’s brand identity. One talks about a logo, a color palette and typography. The other includes discovery, visual direction, a graphic system, applications and brand guidelines. Both use pretty much the same name for the service.
So what should be included?
It’s a fair question, because there’s a huge gap between getting a handful of visual elements and getting a system built to work in your company’s day-to-day. And the number of items tells you very little. To compare, you need to understand what each deliverable is for.
What a brand identity project usually includes
A brand identity project can include the strategic foundation that guides decisions, logo and symbol, typography, color palette, graphic language, image direction, applications across the most important touchpoints, brand guidelines and the final files.
What goes in depends on where the company is and where the brand will need to work. That’s why I define the scope after I understand the business.
Scope starts with where your company is
Some companies come to me before they launch. Others have been operating for years, have grown, and still carry the same visual identity they started with, one that no longer reflects the values and personality the brand has today. And some businesses are entering a new market, shifting to a new audience or trying to bring order to communication that was built piece by piece.
Each scenario calls for different things. A company that sells mostly in meetings needs a sales deck that is really well resolved. A product brand may have packaging as its priority. A digital company needs to look closely at small screens, interfaces and social media.
Building the scope from that avoids a common problem: hiring a package full of pieces that look interesting in the proposal and will almost never be used.
The four parts of a brand identity project
In my projects, the delivery usually comes in four parts. What goes into each one changes from company to company, but their role stays the same.
The strategy behind the decisions
The first part of the delivery is strategic and guides the whole project. It records the context: where the company is, priority audience, differentiators, competition, the perception you want to build, and the criteria that will define typography, color, imagery and the visual organization of every piece.
This material does two jobs. During the project, it keeps decisions sharp and aligned with the brand’s goals and personality. After the project, it preserves the reasoning behind the brand identity, which helps a lot when someone else has to make a decision about the brand down the road.
I explained how this stage works in practice in how a visual identity project works.
The brand identity system
This is what most people picture when they think of brand identity: logo, symbol, typography, color palette, graphic elements, image language and layout rules.
The word that matters is system. Picture a company with a great logo where every presentation uses a different font, every post arranges text and images its own way, and the website looks like it was made by another company. The logo design is fine. What’s missing is consistency: a set of rules that makes everything the company publishes recognizable as the same brand.
I wrote about this in more depth in the difference between a logo and a brand.
The visual universe in use
I use applications to put decisions into situations close to real life. That’s when the typography has to carry an entire presentation, the palette has to organize information, the logo shows up small and the layout has to work across very different formats, from a vertical story to a horizontal banner.
Some problems only show up at this point, while there’s still time to fix them. A sales deck shows whether the brand can organize a lot of information. A landing page reveals whether color, typography and imagery deliver contrast, legibility and usability from top to bottom. Packaging tests physical presence and readability. A series of posts shows whether the visual system has enough range for many pieces without repeating the same layout every time.
These applications stay with the company as a reference. Whoever produces material later can see in practice how the brand identity behaves.
Files and brand guidelines
The last part is the most practical: the company needs to be able to use what was built.
It usually includes logo and symbol versions, vector files, versions for digital and print, color specs, typefaces and the other graphic assets of the system, all organized so the team and vendors find what they need for future brand work.
Depending on complexity, it also includes brand guidelines, with the rules and examples that keep things consistent once other people start working with the brand identity. Without them, every new vendor interprets the brand their own way, and the consistency the project built is gone within a few months.
Not every brand identity needs the same elements
A lot of people look for a definitive list of what a complete brand identity should have. That list doesn’t exist.
A company with a digital product may need an icon system, because it uses dozens of icons across the interface. Another will never need one. A brand that relies heavily on photography calls for a well-developed image direction, while another builds almost all its communication with type, color and graphics. Motion makes sense for brands that show up mostly in video and on screens. For other businesses, it would be of little use.
The question I ask is simple: where will this brand show up most often? The answer shows which elements deserve more depth.
When the project goes beyond brand identity
Sometimes the brand identity is only part of what’s happening in the company. The business still needs a name. There are products, units or companies that need a brand architecture. A launch calls for specific materials. The team needs templates to keep producing content.
These needs can enter the scope when they make sense for where the company is, and I prefer to spot them during discovery. That way it’s clear what goes in, why it goes in and who needs to be involved to solve each part.
How to compare two brand identity proposals
Start by separating process from deliverables. Meetings, research, moodboards, presentations and feedback rounds are part of the process. Logo, system, applications, guidelines and files are what the company keeps. Both matter, because the process defines the quality of the decisions that reach the final delivery.
That’s why two proposals promising exactly “logo, colors and typography” can represent very different work. One gets to a solution after a few decisions. The other goes through immersion in the business, criteria, exploring directions, validation and testing before finalizing the same three items.
When comparing, look at five points:
- Is there a stage to understand the business and where the company is?
- How will the directions be presented and approved?
- Will the elements be developed as a system or delivered separately?
- Which applications will be tested during the project?
- What usage guidance stays with the company afterward?
Above all, ask why each item is in the scope. A proposal with twenty deliverables may serve your company less than one with ten chosen with intention.
That difference in scope also explains much of the price variation in the market. I covered it in how much a visual identity costs and what makes the price vary so much.
Do you need all of this now?
It depends on where you are. A company still validating its product has different priorities from one that already sells, has grown and needs a brand identity that matches the business it has built.
Before hiring, make sure brand identity is the next decision your business needs. I wrote about that in is investing in visual identity worth it. When the timing is right, a well-defined scope makes sure the investment turns into something the company uses every day.
Frequently asked questions
What do you get in a brand identity project?
The scope can include the strategy that guides the project, logo and symbol, typography, color palette, graphic elements, image language, applications, brand guidelines and final files. The mix depends on each company’s needs and touchpoints.
Does brand identity include stationery and social media?
It can, when those applications matter to the business and are part of the scope. A well-built brand identity works in those settings even when the project doesn’t include producing every piece the company will use in the future.
Are brand guidelines included?
It depends on the project. More complex systems benefit from guidelines with rules, examples and application guidance. In smaller projects, a leaner document may be enough.
Are naming and taglines part of brand identity?
They’re related work, with disciplines of their own. When the company also needs to define a name or tagline, that comes up during discovery and enters the scope with the right people involved.
Keep reading
- How does a visual identity project work?
- The difference between a logo and a brand: why a logo alone isn’t enough
- How much does a visual identity cost? What makes the price vary so much
- Is investing in visual identity worth it? Not always
Want to know what would make sense for your company?
I’ve worked in design since 2012 and specialized in visual identity and brand building along the way.
Every project I lead starts by understanding where the company is and what the brand will need to do in practice. From there, I define the scope and who needs to be involved.
If your company is starting a new chapter, tell me a bit about where you are today.
