Visual Identity

Corporate Reputation and Competitiveness

Lecture 7

Lecture Objectives

• To illustrate the role of Visual Identity

• To show how visual identity links to corporate personality

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

Symbolism and Ritual

• Consider national visual identity: the flag, the anthem, the capital city, the currency, the language, St George’s 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 company’s character’

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’

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)

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?).

Typeface

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MBS Corporate Identity

Gary Davies

Professor of Corporate Reputation

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.

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….

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

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

Design Associates

The First Response

The Final Version

Signage, Advertising and Department Logos

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