The difference between “brand” and “identity”

While the words “brand” and “identity” are used hand-in-hand, they are two separate (and very important) parts of any business.

The brand you create for your business is the emotional connection between your customers and the business; a brand can also be defined as the personality of your business. This can include the stories that support how your business is different to others, the mood of your store, the type of voice and words used to communicate to your customers.

The brand that is developed is then supported by the visual identity – which is the look and feel of all the designed items used by a business to distinguish themselves. A visual identity is not one particular item, but is a style, normally comprised from a library of elements, fonts, images and a colour scheme that give your business a unique identity.

And to throw a spanner in the works – when someone says they are “branding” something, they mean they are placing their visual identity on something to make it their own.