The Importance of Brand Alignment
Brand alignment is a fancy term that we in the design industry love to use. It sounds fancy, but it’s quite common sense. Break it down:
Brand: the identity of a company, service or product
Alignment: orientation of objects in relation to one another
Not hard to define, but apparently hard to master. Why? Well there are many reasons, but we’ll pick on two. The first probably having to do with the fickle nature of humans.
For some, sticking to a brand guide is like Larry King sticking with one wife - it might not be in your nature. Say your brand colors are mauve, brown, and navy blue, but that just doesn’t go with the neon pink advertisement you have in your head. So do you just make a itty bitty adjustment to your brand colors just this one time, or do you tell yourself “Tough noogies” and stick with your company style?
The bored brain will tell you that you’re changing it up, which will get attention from new customers who are also bored with your corporate style. The customers will see you as edgy and willing to change! Right?
Wrong. Just look at your WWMDD bracelet and ask, What would my designer do? Contrary to the bored voice in your head, the customer/client will not like the augmentations to your former style. No one walks into Starbucks and says “I just wish their logo wasn’t green and they didn’t use so much brown and white.” Starbucks lovers appreciate the static design because they can spot the stores, coupons, and merchandise of their favorite caffeinator a mile away. As long as your brand is well-designed, your customers should feel the same way.
The second reason brand alignment is so hard for many people is because few new companies are able to pay for a design retainer and few established companies think it’s necessary. But it can be quite worth it for many reasons.
A good relationship with a designer is like having a business partner. They share your interest in what is best for the company and reign you in when you’ve gone a bit too far. Having a designer on retainer means that they reserve for you a set amount of their hours so that all little ads, window graphics, photos, flyers, menus, or whatever else can go through that business partner’s aesthetic tests, keeping your brand recognizable.
And make no mistake, brand recognition is one of the greatest forms of marketing you can have.