How to build a strong visual identityHow to build a strong visual identity

Every identity project starts with the client wanting to see the logo, which is fair — it is the part they can hold. But a mark on its own cannot tell anyone what to do next Tuesday when a new product needs a label.

The system is the actual deliverable. A primary mark and a secondary one for the places the primary will not fit; a palette with defined roles rather than a row of swatches; a typographic pairing with rules about which face carries a headline and which carries a price; an approach to imagery; and a position on motion, because most brands are now seen moving before they are seen still.

The strongest test of an identity is recognition without the mark. Can someone tell who is speaking from the colour, the crop and the type alone? Brands that pass that test have a system doing the work. Brands that fail it have a logo and a set of files.

Consistency is what converts a system into recognition, and it is mostly a documentation problem. Clear space, minimum sizes, what happens on a dark background, what happens over a photograph, and — the one most often missing — what to do when none of the rules fit. Someone will hit that case at 6pm on a deadline, and if the guidelines are silent they will invent something.

I have started presenting the rules before the mark. It changes the conversation from taste to situations, and situations are something a client knows better than I do.