Designing a successful brand

Consistency is an important part of branding and brand management. It reinforces your business identity, drives positive sentiment and builds consumer trust.

This doesn't mean that all of your communications have to look the same, but you should strive for visual cohesion. As a minimum, make sure that you follow set standards, such as your colour palette, visual style, font and size and spacing of your logo.

It is important to consider how you can apply your brand consistently across all the different media that you use, from online and print, to billboards and packaging.

Brand guidelines

After working through a branding project, your designer should give you brand guidelines to ensure consistency. These will tell you how to apply the different design elements in different situations, contexts and scales.

For example, the brand guidelines can specify:

• typography - the layout and style of lettering, including typefaces and fonts
• graphics - images, design, etc
• colours
• materials
• templates

Brand guidelines may also include specific areas such as cultural or behavioural directions for staff training.

Managing your brand

You can use brand guidelines to manage the brand after the designer's work on the project is completed. This will help you to ensure you maintain brand consistency and - most importantly - your original big idea.

Consistency can help your business move into a new market sector without changing its core brand identity. For example, application of the Tesco brand, such as ease of access and low price, has allowed the business to move into new market sectors including financial services and mobile phones.

Find out more about key elements of a successful brand strategy and branding for your business .