A strong brand identity means that your company stands out in the marketplace, even if your logo isn’t visible. We’ve written extensively about how to create a great graphic design style guide and why having one is so important.
Consider this blog as the next step in your design journey. Your brand identity isn’t an engraving that’s etched in stone. Think of it as a river that breaks and rolls around bends and rocks, squeezing when it has to, expanding when it’s right.
This is what your brand identity is supposed to do. While the core of your identity remains the same, your tone of voice, logo design, and brand assets can change depending on the market. If you haven’t thought too much about building your identity in 2023, then this one is for you.
Here is how to develop a brand identity for 2023.
Update your consumer personas
The very first step in a design refresh is to update your consumer personas. Sure, you may still sell to marketing managers and CMOs, but the face of who those people are have evolved with the times. Consider this: most thirty-year-olds were born in 1992.
If you’re selling to marketing managers, then they are likely to fall in the millennial generation. When your company was founded, you may have been selling to Baby Boomers or Gen Xers. If TikTok is any indication, these three generations couldn’t be more different.
Updating your consumer personas helps you not only target the right market, but design your brand strategy around that market. Ideally, consumer personas should be refreshed at least once per year.
Is it time for a refresh?
When was the last time your company dusted off that old brand guideline and built a brand identity to match your new products or services offering?
If it’s been more than two years, it’s definitely time for a brand refresh. We’re not saying to throw the baby out with the bathwater; a refresh doesn’t have to be super intensive.
It could look like creating a logo for social media, updating your color palette, and updating those ancient business cards to match your new consumer persona.
Your target audience is a continually evolving thing, and the visual identity of your brand should be, too.
Don’t be afraid to embrace new things
This one goes without saying but, the brands that dive into the deep end and are open to embracing new strategies often do better than their competitors. The perfect example is Amazon versus Borders booksellers.
Amazon used to be a marketplace for books, where people could buy books online quickly and easily. Their e-commerce approach to bookselling made them competitive against Borders, but not enough to raise eyebrows.
With the introduction of Prime, however, and their expanded service offerings, it wasn’t long before they swamped other booksellers in the space.
They evolved with the times, kept their target personas up to date, and embraced ideas that were outlandish at the time, but spoke to their target audience. By embracing new things, they were able to build a brand identity that has stood the test of time.
Stay true to your brand promise
One thing that strong brands like Coca-Cola have in common is the ability to update, change, and evolve while staying true to their brand promise. When developing your brand identity for next year, make sure that while you are open to change, you are also staying true to your brand’s core values.
We mentioned Coca-Cola, a brand that has stood the test of the time for over a century. From their Gibson Girl advertising in the late 19th century to their recent NFT launch for Friends Day, they keep the effortlessly classic feel of their brand while embracing new things like VR.
They’ve created a brand that can cross boundaries and still preserve the core of who they are with expert brand management and a continual evolution of their customer-facing marketing and designs.
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-1"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/6334d81a29c751ccd8c26638_brain-orchestra.png" loading="lazy" alt="" sizes="(max-width: 479px) 93vw, (max-width: 767px) 96vw, 363px" srcset="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/6334d81a29c751ccd8c26638_brain-orchestra-p-500.png 500w, https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/6334d81a29c751ccd8c26638_brain-orchestra.png 500w" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold">Ready to engage your audience on a whole new level?</div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Stay ahead of the latest design trends and stand out in your market, no matter how saturated it is.</div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="/2022-life-changing-design-trends" class="c-button cc-primary cc-inverted w-button"><strong>Download Latest Design Trends</strong></a></div></div></div>
Embrace, evolve, and engage
Creating a brand identity for 2023 is going to require some elbow grease and an open mind. Use market research and your creativity to create a new consumer persona, embrace new design methods, don’t be afraid to evolve, and watch as your engagement grows in 2023.
Want to refresh your brand identity? You’re in the right place. We’re Designity, and brand identities are our middle name. Work with your ideal creative director, get guaranteed timelines, unlimited project requests and revisions, and an interchangeable team of creatives, all for one monthly fee.
Ready to start your design journey? Take us out for a two-week test drive!
