Visual Identity

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Visual Identity

• Corporate Reputation and Competitiveness
• Lecture 7

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Lecture Objectives

• To illustrate the role of Visual Identity
• To show how visual identity links to corporate
  personality

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Symbols and Symbolism

• Which sportswear company is represented by a
  tick?
• Which fast food company is represented by an
  arch?
• But symbolism extends beyond the brand logo

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Symbolism and Ritual

• Consider national visual identity the flag, the
  anthem, the capital city, the currency, the
  language, St Georges day, icons such as Big Ben
  or the Statue of Liberty
• Aldersey-Williams (1994) defines what we will
  refer to as visual identity as an
  expression-visual but also attitudinal- of a
  companys character

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Visual Identity

• Munari (1999) explains that a trade mark can
  express force or delicacy, development,
  durability, flexibility, richness, stability,
  drive- each of these qualities has a suitable
  sign and colour

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Visual Identity Rules

• Be Original (Scan the market place for similar
  designs and use of colour to avoid confusion)
• Ensure flexibility (ask whether the logo will
  reproduce in colour and monochrome just as well
  and in all media, print, television cinema,
  web-site, hoarding, and whether it can be sized
  up and down easily)

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Visual Identity Rules

• Try for Symbolism (despite the scepticism there
  are certain associations that will be made with
  certain shapes and colours)
• Ensure the logo is not Culture Bound (if your
  company is international, or could be in the
  conceivable life of the logo, will it work
  equally well in different markets?)
• Check for unexpected symbolism (what could the
  new logo represent, if someone wanted to
  interpret it negatively?).

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Typeface

• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute
• The International Vision Institute

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MBS Corporate Identity

• Gary Davies
• Professor of Corporate Reputation

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The Marketing Issues

• Students and executive course deciders will not
  consider 50 options, more likely 10 maximum. We
  have only maintained MBA numbers by increasing
  our conversion rate. Applications have not risen
  with the market. We need to be in more
  consideration sets to survive.

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The MBS Logo the Brief

• Manchester Business School is seen, globally, as
  an academic leader, one of the top business
  schools. . We pride ourselves on our
  innovation, in getting there first to identify
  what senior managers will need to know and to do,
  not only today, but into the future. Our work is
  guided by an inclusive stakeholder approach,
  which reflects the views of our employees,
  students.

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The MBS Logo the Brief

• Inside the School, we work in a lively, bustling
  atmosphere where ideas can be shared openly
  without the hindrance of internal boundaries
• We aim to promote the following aspects of our
  personality both internally and externally. We
  believe that a strong personality is not created
  through an advertising slogan but by many real
  illustrations and examples

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The MBS Logo the Brief

• As a research driven organization, we are
  inherently innovative as a culture but we need to
  provide evidence of this and how it benefits
  external stakeholders. We need to communicate
  this externally and celebrate examples internally
• Specifically we need to demonstrate to ourselves
  and to our potential stakeholders that we are up
  to date and imaginative

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Design Associates
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The First Response
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The Final Version
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Signage, Advertising and Department Logos
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Summary

• Visual Identity can, indeed must link to the
  overall strategy of the business
• It is a useful way of expressing corporate
  personality, but a logo should not be confused
  with a reputation