Look Like You Belong—Then Look Like No One Else

Your brand’s visual identity brings strategy to life.
It includes your logo, colors, typography, and iconography—working together to communicate your personality and positioning. Whether it’s a product screen, pitch deck, or Instagram post, your visuals should reflect a clear, cohesive system.

Why it's Important

Builds brand recognition across products and platforms
Reinforces your tone and personality at a glance
Helps customers feel confident and emotionally connected
Creates alignment across internal and external teams
Enables faster design decisions and creative execution

How to Implement

Revisit your brand personality and positioning—they should drive visual decisions
Design a logo that reflects your brand’s tone and works at all sizes
Have primary, secondary, and icon-only versions
Choose a color palette with core, accent, and neutral tones
Make sure it works in light and dark modes and passes accessibility standards
Select typography that fits your tone
Limit to 1–2 typefaces with clear rules for headings, body, and UI text
Create a system for iconography
Style should be consistent, scalable, and match your UI
Build visual patterns for things like buttons, cards, and layouts
Document everything in a shared brand or design system (Figma, Notion, or similar)
Test your system in real-world use—website, product, social, and slide decks

How You Know You Got It Right

People recognize your brand across channels instantly
Your design elements feel cohesive, not cobbled together
Internal teams don’t need to ask “which version should I use?”
Designers and marketers ship faster using shared templates
Your look supports your messaging instead of competing with it
Investors, customers, and partners say your brand looks polished and professional
You can scale new products or campaigns without redesigning from scratch

Real-World Examples

Linear

Visuals: Sharp, dark-mode-friendly, minimal design that reflects performance and clarity

Outcome: Reinforced the product’s tone of speed and precision

Notion

Visuals: Simple black-and-white palette with playful iconography

Outcome: Created a flexible, timeless aesthetic that works for many audiences

Gusto

Visuals: Soft typography and warm colors that humanize payroll and HR

Outcome: Differentiated in a space that often feels stiff or corporate

Make It Better

Audit your current assets for consistency before redesigning
Make sure your color palette supports emotional goals (calm, energy, trust, etc.)
Build components that work in both marketing and product environments
Include examples of good vs. bad usage in your brand guide
Create plug-and-play templates for decks, social posts, and ads

Don't Make These Mistakes

Designing in isolation from brand strategy or product reality
Using too many fonts, colors, or inconsistent icon styles
Over-customizing design assets without system rules
Creating a logo that doesn’t scale or loses clarity in small sizes
Letting every team create their own version of the brand