Corporate Identity: What is it?

A company’s corporate Identity goes beyond the company’s appearance and is the link to important cultural and organizational aspects of the company.

It is also known as corporate Identity or corporate Identity. It remains a fundamental aspect for companies of all sizes and segments as it is relevant in the relationship with employees and customers.

Identity, along with biotype, represents what a person is, their values, relationships with others, and their behaviour in different situations.

As we can see, the elements that make up the company’s Identity mix these two aspects, the essential and the visual. But to understand what corporate Identity is, you must first understand what it isn’t!

What is the Difference Between Corporate Identity and Logo?

What is the Difference Between Corporate Identity and Logo_

It’s common that when we think corporate Identity is necessary, we think specifically of the logo and visual Identity. However, after creating the logo, the definition of the corporate Identity is consider complete.

However, it is only one of several elements that make up the company’s Identity.

So we can say that the logo is one of the aspects that a corporate identity must-have, but it does not represent the essential characteristics of the company.

Visual Identity is an essential factor, especially to generate public recognition, but the representation of a corporate language must be implemented in different ways and not just aesthetically.

Why have a Corporate Identity?

Once the business identity represents the essential and visual elements of the company, a clear definition of this behaviour model is critical. Then, the customer, partner and employee know what to expect from the company.

Companies that have rhetoric but do the opposite in practice can permanently lose public trust.

For example, suppose the company gives a speech favouring environmental protection and ecological. Practices but is associate with companies recognize as harmful to the environment. In that case, the public will question that stance.

Therefore, corporate Identity is vital to building a strong message that lets the audience know what to expect from the company.

What are the Subjective Characteristics?

When developing a corporate identity guide, there are several aspects to consider.

The Identity must consider the day-to-day practices that exist in the company. To avoid other problems such as B. the lack of synchronization between offer and execution.

Among the subjective factors that must be present in corporate Identity, the following stand out:

Differentiation: An effective proposal must stand out from those of the competition and attract public attention due to the exclusivity of the service;

Consistency: contradictions between discourse and practice are a risk already mention, so the Identity must preserve the characteristics of the company and its way of doing things.

Relevance: The relevance of the company to its target group includes not only the creation of a brand concept. But also the correspondence with what the target group expects from the company;

Reputation: Based on a solid elaboration of the last three elements, the company has more opportunities to cement a positive image with its target audience. Reputation does not come instantaneously and must be built over time.

Now that we know what subjective characteristics the Identity must contain, given the number of elements that make it up, we will detail what aspects of the company make up the corporate Identity.

How to Create a Corporate Identity?

As we have seen, to create a business identity, it is necessary to know what it is not,  just the visual Identity. And to know what values ​​it should have differentiation, coherence, relevance and reputation. So now we can investigate in more detail how it should be elaborate.

Brand Story

Each person develops their own Identity based on their life story.

With companies it could not be different.

A company can only adopt a particular discourse if it makes sense according to its history.

By identifying and not creating the fundamental motivations of the brand, the Identity of the company will be built little by little, in harmony with the message broadcast.

Visual Identity

The visual Identity is a fundamental aspect of the company since the graphic and design resources are the ones. That will represent the message that the company wants to convey.

Among the elements that make up the visible part, the following stand out:

Logo

The logo is the symbol created or adopt that visually represents the values ​​of the company.

Design specialists indicate that the logo should be simple and clear so that the recipient quickly understands the message. This symbol can be related to the written mark or a drawing. Regardless of choice, it must carry a meaning.

It is also recommend that variations of the logo be creat. For example, on a white background, black background, vertical, horizontal, etc.

Colour Palette

The colour palette is not only the colour of the logo, for example, but also the colors and tones that will be use in all the company’s materials, be it graphic material, online or even in the business’s physical structure.

It is common for the colour palette to include a primary palette of two to 4 colours and a secondary palette of 8 to 12 colours.

Conclusion

Corporate companies are corporations whose shareholders delegate their rights to directors appointed for this cause. Therefore, the shareholders review the appointments and make the most important decisions within the group of directors.

Also Read: How to Create a Content Strategy for your Business