Gammelbys om Branding 06

Why is design important when building a B2B brand?

B2B brands are chosen by people who are not spending their own money, and B2B brands are always chosen out of necessity and exigency, not out of a desire to own more stuff. B2B brands must be reliable, trustworthy, and necessary.

In some of our previous blog posts, we have argued that having a consistent, memorable brand story is crucial – it needs to be short, easy to grasp, and it needs to stand out.

The exact same thing goes for the way you represent your brand visually: You need to be memorable, consistent, and easy to identify as you:

55 % of brand first impressions are visual (US Chamber of Commerce)

Potential customers form an opinion about your brand in just 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds)

Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 % (Loyola)

Consumers are 81% more likely to recall a brand’s color than remember its name (Reboot)

What is a Visual Identity System?

A Visual Identity System (VIS) includes all the visual assets that your brand utilizes. The logotype is the most important and recognisable element from your visual identity. Logo is usually supported by several other design elements. A VIS considers all the circumstances where your brand must show up and show off. It governs everything else you create. Without all the elements of the system, your brand won’t stand up when you need it to.

A well-developed VIS includes:

Logotype
Color palette
Typography
Photography, illustration styles and/or other graphic elements
Iconography
Templates for documents, Social media and Website
Brand design guidelines – a comprehensive document, describing how the visual identity elements should be used, including spevific rules on logo usage, color value and combinations, typography guidelines and rules for maintaining visual consistency across different mediums.

We have dug up a few examples of B2B businesses that successfully embrace the value of strong, consistent design:

Slack

Slack is a great example of a B2B tech company that has invested in a VIS. The identity effectively combines simplicity, versatility and consistency- it’s simple, modern and memorable.

We like it because it’s:

Clean and consistent: Slack’s visual identity is clean and uncluttered. The logo consists of four colored bars forming a speech bubble, representing communication and collaboration.
Bright color palette: Slack’s choice of colors adds energy and liveliness to its visual identity.
Playful: Slack uses animations, illustrations, and emojis within the app and in the branding materials. This playful approach helps create an engaging and positive user experience, adding to the overall perception of the brand.

Dropbox

In 2017 Dropbox underwent a significant rebranding. Company aimed to position Dropbox as more than just a file sharing service and highlight its evolution into collaborative workspace. The original logo – a box – was simplified and modernised. The new design is a smart play with shapes and negative space and can also be seen as a collection of surfaces – place for collaboration.

That’s a wonderful example for intelligent use of design for storytelling and building brand loyalty.

We like it because it is:

Simple: The visual identity is built on the foundation of simplicity and clarity. The simplicity of the design makes it memorable and instantly recognizable.
Memorable: Dropbox’s iconic logo features a stylized open box, clearly showing what they do — they offer you versatile file storage and place for collaboration
Consistent: Dropbox’s visual identity is unwaveringly consistent no matter where you encounter it.

Mailchimp

MailChimp is a professional email marketing platform used by a ton of businesses across the world, and their visual identity is easily identifiable, playful and approachable.

We like it because it’s:

Consistent: It never changes wherever you encounter it
Playful and friendly: Mailchimp is aimed at small businesses, startups, and creative professionals. In this market, choosing to be playful and fun instead of corporate and dull is a brave, but clever choice.
Simple: The user interface is true to the brand while remaining uncluttered and easy to use.
Memorable mascot: Freddie, the brand’s chimpanzee mascot, has become an iconic symbol of Mailchimp. Freddie’s friendly and playful character represents the brand’s values and personality. He appears across various brand materials, bringing a human touch and fostering a sense of connection with the audience.

What do all these B2B brands have in common? They stay consistent in their design, they are memorable, and they are easy to decode. Incidentally, they are all also software companies. This is no coincidence – because these guys know their customer journeys.

A potential customer searches for a solution to a specific business- or software-related problem, find their site, (hopefully) gets a positive impression (fast) and makes the decision to try it out. Strong design is business-critical here because the customer journey doesn’t just invite people to do business with them – it is the business. You could do much worse than to be inspired by these companies.

Design matters, but it can be costly. The companies we just listed realize that strong design can make their business fly high, whereas poor design would bring them down in a hurry.

We therefore encourage you to take design very seriously. Invest in it and create a memorable identity that tells the true story of your brand.

Design for B2B brands can’t be undervalued — and not investing in design could be a costly mistake!

So how do we define and create a brand identity by using some fun tools? And how can Jung’s theory of archetypes be a part of the process? Find out here