Building a brand doesn’t mean designing a logo

Usually, when we think about a brand, the first thing that comes to mind is the logo — its graphic representation. However, branding, meaning the process of building a brand, is much closer to storytelling than to the creation of a visual artifact. To clarify, let’s explore the difference between branding and brand design.

The etymology of both the English word brand and the Italian marca refers to the concept of marking, branding with fire. The former derives from the Old Norse brandr, meaning to burn or to brand; the latter from the ancient Germanic marka. Both terms indicate an action that establishes, through a sign, a sense of belonging.

The symbol — the logo — therefore serves a function: to signal to the observer that the marked element belongs to, or is part of, something or someone who has chosen that symbol as an expression of their identity.

Herein lies the theoretical difference between the concept of a brand and that of a logo. And, consequently, the difference between branding — the process of building and nurturing a brand’s identity and reputation — and brand design, which instead refers to the definition and symbolic representation of that identity.

In summary, we can say that a brand is a conceptual entity that occupies a specific position in the mind of those who know and recognize it, evoking imagery and a set of values (brand image). Branding, on the other hand, is the process of creating and building a brand. It goes beyond product marketing strategy and works toward generating a brand’s value capital — one of the most important intangible assets in determining a company’s success.

This value capital is expressed through three core areas of expertise that a brand designer must thoroughly understand:

• The brand essence: the heart of the brand, its soul. An intangible value that defines the ultimate purpose of the brand’s very existence. It significantly influences every aspect of its personality.
• The brand identity: the identity that makes a brand recognizable, memorable and meaningful within its reference market. It is composed of visual identity (logo, colors, fonts, icons, graphic elements), verbal identity (voice, tone of voice, brand name, payoff, way of expressing itself), as well as values, mission and vision.
• The brand experience: the culmination of the brand-building process, encompassing the set of conditions, actions and content created by a brand to positively influence an individual’s engagement with a specific product, service or the brand itself throughout the customer journey.

Branding, therefore, includes all the strategic and operational activities through which a brand’s identity, essence and value capital are built and managed over time. It also encompasses brand design, which — within a strategic and stylistic analysis framework — focuses specifically on designing the brand’s visual and verbal identity.