Brand and identity design
The foundation of a strong brand is a bold positioning. Here at Foster + Svensson, for our clients we develop the cornerstones for an unmistakable identity, which serves as the basis for the further creative and design process. A fundamentals from logo and colour palette through to bespoke typography, imagery and design. We create, design and develop brands.
Brand identity encompasses the visible elements of a brand, including color, design, and logo, that collectively create a distinct and memorable image in people’s minds, perceptions, and overall vision. While brand identity and brand image are distinct concepts, they work together to establish a brand’s unique identity. Ultimately, a brand represents the overall experience of people, differentiating an organization or product from its competitors and rivals in the eyes of consumers. Brands play a crucial role in business, marketing, and advertising, and they are widely recognized and appreciated by people.
You might notice that we avoid using terms like “consumers,” “customers,” and “users.” Instead, we prefer more human and appealing language, simply referring to people. Our target audience consists of individuals and their diverse behaviors and habits, regardless of whether they are consumers (B2C) or companies (B2B). When designing a brand, product, service, image, or conducting brand (re)positioning, we excel in profiling our target audience. We determine who we want to represent the brand to, how we want to be perceived by people or companies, and how they would feel upon encountering our designed brand, image, and messages. Ultimately, our goal is to attract our target audience and foster a sense of affection for the brand we create. We aim to design a brand that people or companies perceive as relevant and aesthetically pleasing to them. This brand should evoke feelings of pride, whether it’s owning a product, using a service, or simply collaborating with the brand (in the case of B2B).
This is precisely why we take the construction and development of the brand itself very seriously. While it may begin with the creation of a logo and letterhead, it ultimately represents the overall appearance of the brand and the impression it conveys.
Book of Standards serves as the ultimate guideline and the cornerstone of the company’s brand identity. It provides practical examples of how the brand’s visual identity is being utilized, while also enabling growth, exploration, and further expansion of the brand.
A book of standards, corporate design guideline (CD), or visual identity system manual serves as the official graphical design of a company or brand. It comprises rules, guidelines, and visual elements that establish the consistent appearance of a brand across various media, including logos, color palettes, typography, and imagery. For instance, it demonstrates how the logo and name of a company or brand are utilized on letterheads, envelopes, forms, folders, brochures, and other materials. Additionally, it provides a comprehensive graphic standards manual outlining the visual application of brand elements according to specified guidelines. This manual may also include a brand toolbox, a practical collection of graphic design examples illustrating how brand graphics can be applied and utilized across different channels and surfaces. The brand house style is meticulously crafted to ensure that all elements are arranged in a distinctive design and pattern. This includes specifying the ink Pantones to be used for coloring, the types of fonts and typography to be employed, the existence of any brand devices and their usage, and the application of design elements. Ultimately, the primary objective of this manual is to define and emphasize the significance and advantages of the brand, such as recognition, efficiency, professionalism, and, most importantly, the brand’s identity itself.
At Foster + Svensson, we collaborate with clients to create and design brands from scratch, including naming, logos, typography, imagery, and positioning. We also specialize in redesigning and revitalizing existing brands. Our goal is to assist clients in establishing effective communication across various media channels. Foster + Svensson provides clients with the foundational elements of their brand and design system guidelines, ensuring consistency in communication. Our objective is to develop recognizable yet unique tools that help clients master their tone of voice, visual presence, and overall communication strategy. By organizing brands, products, and services using our design system, we enable clients to comprehend their offerings and cultivate an aspirational desire to own, purchase, and utilize their products and services.
For a company to project a robust brand identity, it must possess a comprehensive understanding of its target market, competitors, and the broader business landscape. Foster + Svensson offers its expertise in this regard, designing principles, logos, and their usage, fonts, typography, imagery, color system, and palette. We also define brand devices, tone of voice, and jargon. When designing or redesigning a brand, we create various elements and assets, including graphical elements, but also extended ones like sonic and motion elements. These elements not only enhance the brand visually but also incorporate sonic communication through motion, haptics, and sound.
Taking care of a brand doesn’t always mean designing a logo. While the logo represents the brand, it encompasses various elements, including corporate culture, employee communication, behavior, and external representation. This encompasses email formatting, document preparation, advertising, communication with people and other companies, and overall brand positioning.
When designing a corporate logo or brand, we establish a foundational set of elements and guidelines that guide the design process. These include defining safe zones, determining the minimum logo size, implementing corporate logo lock-up policies, establishing co-branding rules, and outlining the correct and incorrect usage of the logo. Additionally, we develop a pictogram and icon system. The logo can be in a 2D form, such as a lettermark or emblem, or a 3D version that can be animated in space, digital, or broadcast formats, along with its regular print version.
Beyond visual elements like the logo and color, language plays a crucial role in conveying the brand’s attitude. Effective communication involves using clear, simple, and honest language. Headlines are particularly important as they capture attention and highlight specific benefits. Good communication is systematically structured, featuring eye-catching headlines, key visuals, and a concise explanation of the core message that connects the content of body copy to satisfy the reader’s information needs, establish usefulness and relevance, and ensure recognition. Within typography, we pay close attention to font, sizing, weights, paragraph structure, rhythm spacing, usage, and establish design principles.
Colors are fundamental to visual identity. Since the logo incorporates one of several colors, we establish guidelines for its application across digital, broadcast, and print mediums. We select colors that effectively convey the brand message. Consistency in color application is crucial for creating and executing successful brand identities. The color palette is used for graphical elements within the composition of all elements. It also aids in identifying appropriate imagery and its tone, ensuring alignment with the brand color guide. Occasionally, we incorporate secondary colors. The secondary color palette serves as a supporting element, enhancing brand awareness and recognition. These colors can be derived from primary colors, their opposites, or created as new forms. We define the visual style of any communication material and design using color ratios. As the primary color bearer, we define or upscale the selected, and pay attention on contrast which will happen accross design elements.
We employ various graphic elements across brand visuals, including fonts, text, headlines, subheadlines, imagery, logos, and even disclaimers when necessary. To ensure consistency and recognizability across all visuals and touchpoints, we utilize brand devices. These devices consist of abstract or defined focused shapes strategically placed within the visuals. These shapes embody a part of the brand and, in some cases, can even overshadow the visuals while maintaining brand recognizability. Brand devices serve as triggers for brand recognizability, preventing us from consistently relying on the same imagery and color tones. This allows us to incorporate multiple tones within the imagery while maintaining consistency in communication.
Brand devices should be used on visuals and imagery that lack intricate details or excessive noise. Imagery that is overly detailed may not necessarily require brand devices, as it could overwhelm the communication. Brand devices assist us in better positioning copy and text while enhancing brand recognizability, particularly during co-branding campaigns. As abstract shapes, brand devices can be placed in any position within the composition. They can be cropped, rotated, stretched, enlarged, or even confined to a small area. Ultimately, their purpose is to establish a visual connection with the brand.
Coloring plays a crucial role in art direction. It helps define our style, maintain consistency in communication, and preserve brand visibility, awareness, and recognizability. To achieve these goals, we strive to establish a color palette. This can be accomplished by presenting detailed close-ups, macro photography, or even incorporating cinematic aesthetics. These techniques allow us to emphasize movement, dynamics, perspective, and color depth, which contribute to brand recognizability and positioning.
The imagery, photography, and art direction used in communication materials should always adhere to a defined mood board. While deviating from conventional styles, it should capture aspirational life scenes of the target audience and their connection with the brand. The overall imagery and photography should maintain consistency. Color tone, colorization, and image sharpness should remain uniform for any key visual element. Variations may occur when using assets directly from the existing brand, but these differences can be easily accommodated in marketing communication by incorporating designed elements. This approach allows us to subtly replace our key visual with a harmonized and recognizable composition, maintaining the same tone.
While visual and sight elements serve as a foundation, companies can also benefit from having their own extended branding. This can encompass various sensory experiences, including scent, sound, taste, touch, and temperature. Sensory branding engages all five senses (or one) to create a unique and recognizable brand identity.
Scent, in particular, is closely linked to emotions due to the brain’s olfactory bulb. This bulb detects odors, quickly sends signals to the limbic system, and associates emotions with memories. For instance, scents can evoke positive emotions and pleasant memories, which is precisely what companies seek in sensorial branding. Scent can be used from product unboxing to retail store entrances and throughout shopping centers, airplanes, and retail spaces.
Taste, on the other hand, is the most intimate sense because we can’t taste anything from a distance. It requires physical presence and is considered the most distinctly emotional sense. Human taste is influenced by saliva and varies from person to person. Individuals who prefer saltier foods are accustomed to higher sodium concentrations, resulting in saltier saliva. Interestingly, 78% of our taste preferences are determined by genetics. However, caution is necessary, as not everyone can taste everything due to allergies and health conditions.
Sound, often underestimated in marketing, plays a crucial role alongside sight in conveying 99% of brand communication. It significantly influences our mood, psychological state, and promotes a sense of peace. Moreover, voices can forge a strong connection between a brand and its audience. Voices are often perceived as personal, emotional, and friendly, making them highly effective for certain brands. However, consistent and coherent use of a voice is essential to enhance brand identity.
In today’s fast-paced world, people are more prone to impulsive purchases when overstimulated, particularly by aural stimuli. Loud volume in retail stores can lead to sensory overload, weakening self-control, especially among younger demographics and those exposed to trendy music.
Recognizing the power of multiple senses, sensory branding has evolved to encompass all five senses. This approach acknowledges that brands that appeal to a broader range of senses are more likely to create a lasting and impactful brand identity. Sensory branding serves as a medium, an extended representation of a brand’s essence.
Creating or redesigning a brand goes beyond just changing the logo. It encompasses a comprehensive set of design tools, research, thinking, and nomenclature systems that define the brand’s tone of voice, jargon, and overall identity. At Foster + Svensson, we don’t take brand, design, marketing, and communications for granted. Instead, we leverage a diverse range of tools, experiences, and knowledge, drawing from design studies, psychology, mathematics, and geometry. Our team of designers, strategists, and directors, who have studied for years at prestigious faculties and earned master’s degrees in design and communication, brings over 20 years of operational and executional experience. This extensive background, coupled with our 360-degree perspective gained from working both as clients and agency representatives, has led us to establish a structured approach. We’ve grouped our services into several main streams, each with its corresponding components, to ensure a cohesive and effective brand development process.
Over the years we designed, developed, and created brands and identities for clients including Telenor Group, Samsung, Huawei, Hisense, Oaza Zdravlja, Skinfinity, Smart Network Development, Smartacus, Galerija, Apothecary, Advanced Talent Solutions, Blunspark, Frajni, Renergy, Fitpass, to name a few respective clients.