If you only have a logo, color palette, and fonts for your brand design - your print and digital designs begin to look generic and boring. You are missing branded graphic elements. Without defined graphic elements, your website, print materials, and social media graphics can look like a template that anyone can use and is quickly forgotten.
When we design a brand, we are also thinking about icons, graphics, patterns, illustrations and photography styles that will customize a brand while making it enjoyable to look at and easy to understand.
GRAPHIC ELEMENT EXAMPLES FROM OUR CLIENTS
Graphic elements can be lines, shapes, patterns, icons, or drawings that align with the graphic style of the logo. They help to organize content and create structure. They help draw the eye to specific areas and creates order to a design.
WHEN TEMPLATES CONFUSE
Often times we see businesses get off-brand when they start using templates that have different graphic elements than what is aligned with their brand. For example, they use a template for a poster that has bright colored retro shapes in the background but their brand is masculine and modern with a specific color palette. Or when a business uses a quirky holiday template when their brand is very polished and traditional.
When you need a logo, make sure you hire someone who will develop your brand and not just design a logo so that you have a road map for all your graphics. Many small businesses can’t afford a full time graphic designer for all designs. Although we recommend hiring a professional for bigger design projects we also recommend Canva for smaller projects or social media graphics. We recommend upgrading to the Pro account on Canva and fleshing out the brand kit so help stay on brand. To prevent from being distracted by off-brand templates, ask your brand designer to design a few Canva templates for social media, posters, or promo cards so that you stay on brand and get the task done quickly!
If this resonated with you, download our Staying on Brand Book!
If you need help designing graphic elements to go with your brand, contact Eloise to see if we are the right fit for you! You can see more of our work here.
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