Corporate Identity

Why is corporate identity a system?

Corporate identity is the set of visual rules that makes your brand appear with the same personality at every touchpoint. The logo sits at the center of this system, but it is not enough on its own; the colors, typefaces, visual language and the way they come together also need to be defined. When we build this system, we think about your needs today and about the materials your team will produce tomorrow.

A brand that uses one blue on its business card, another blue on its website and a completely different typeface on social media leaves a scattered impression in the customer’s mind. A well-built brand identity removes that scatter with written, shareable rules, rather than leaving it to personal preference.

How it differs from logo design

The logo is the brand’s signature; corporate identity design sets out the colors, typefaces, surfaces and rules with which that signature will be used. If you do not have a logo yet, the process starts with logo design. If your current logo is strong, we build the identity system on top of it and, if needed, suggest only small technical corrections.

What consistency gives your business

A consistent corporate identity helps your brand get recognized more easily, but what it adds to daily work is not limited to that. There is no debate over colors and typefaces for every new brochure, presentation or post, correspondence with suppliers gets shorter and materials are prepared faster. In tenders, dealership talks or corporate partnership meetings, an orderly appearance is also read as one of the signs of seriousness.

Who is it for?

Newly founded companies that want to look orderly from day one, businesses that work with several branches or dealers, and brands whose materials are produced by different people such as an agency, a print shop and an in-house team benefit most from corporate identity work. A merger, a name change or an expansion into a new market are also good moments to revisit the identity.

A system that starts small and grows

A new business may not need dozens of materials from day one. It is possible to start with a basic set made up of a logo, color palette, typography, business card, email signature and social media graphics. What matters is to build this first set with a corporate identity logic that can carry applications added later, such as a brochure, signage or packaging.

What does corporate identity design cover?

The scope grows or shrinks with the brand’s needs. The items below are the ones we most often handle in corporate identity design projects; not all of them are expected to be needed in every project.

Core elements

• Logo and its versions: Horizontal, vertical, symbol and single-color uses.
• Color palette: Primary, secondary and neutral colors, and the proportions in which they are used.
• Typography: Heading and body typefaces, and the hierarchy of size and weight.
• Graphic elements: Patterns, frames, icon style and shapes that repeat in page layouts.
• Photography and illustration style: Light, framing, color tone and how different subjects are shown.

What we look at when choosing typography

When choosing a corporate typeface, we first check Turkish character support: the letters ğ, ş, ı and İ need to be drawn correctly and in balance. Then we check the typeface’s license for use in print, on the website and in office programs. For computers where the licensed typeface cannot be installed, we also define a fallback system typeface in the guidelines.

For brands that work internationally, choosing a type family that can be used across different languages and alphabets removes the need to look for a second corporate typeface later. Talking about this need at the start of corporate identity design avoids the cost of a rework.

Photography style

The photos you use are as strong an identity element as the color palette. Photos picked from stock sites, each with different light and tone, can make even the most orderly design look scattered. That is why we define rules on light, framing, color tone and the use of people in the guidelines with example frames, and we recommend that shoots follow these rules.

Printed materials

On the print side, the materials needed most often are business cards, letterhead, envelopes, presentation files, stamps, quote and form templates, and brochure and catalog layouts. Applications such as signage, vehicle wraps, badges and staff uniforms can also be added to the scope.

Paper type, weight, printing technique and special finishes such as foil, embossing or varnish make up the tactile side of the identity. We prepare the files that go to the print shop with bleed, crop marks and the right color profile, and for critical jobs we recommend getting a proof before printing.

Identity on products and packaging

For brands that sell products, the label, box and bag are the part of the identity that ends up in the customer’s hands. Being recognized on the shelf and on the shipping box depends on carrying the color and typography rules over to the packaging consistently. Although packaging is a separate design job, it takes its rules from the identity system.

Digital identity set

• Email signature and digital quote and presentation templates
• Social media profile and cover images, post and Story templates
• Color, type, button and icon rules for the website
• Favicon and app icons
• Logo and type placements for video intros and outros

We define the colors, type sizes, and button and link styles to be used on the website so clearly that a developer can apply them directly. That way the site stays bound to the same rules as the business card and the presentation, and does not drift from the identity when new pages are added.

Templates carry the identity, but regular content production is a separate job. If you want to bring the identity to your daily posts, we can continue on the same rules with our social media design service.

Brand guidelines: the document that protects the identity

Brand guidelines are the written form of the corporate identity rules. Your print shop, your web developer, another agency you work with or a new employee turns to this document to produce the right material without asking you. Without guidelines, the identity changes over time with everyone’s own interpretation.

What do the guidelines contain?

• The brand’s short story, its values and who it speaks to
• Logo usage rules: clear space, minimum size and examples of incorrect use
• Color codes: HEX, RGB, CMYK and, where needed, Pantone equivalents
• Typography hierarchy and fallback typefaces
• Examples of graphic elements and photography style
• Examples of print and digital applications
• A file list and where to find the files

Who are the guidelines written for?

We structure the guidelines with different readers in mind. The print shop looks for print colors and bleed, the web developer for color codes and typeface files, the social media team for templates and photography rules, and your employees for the email signature and presentation layout. When every reader can easily find their section, the brand identity is protected in daily work.

Guidelines that actually get used

The best guidelines are the ones that actually get opened and used. So instead of a long, ornate document, we prefer a structure where your team can quickly find what they need and the rules are explained with examples. We recommend keeping the guidelines in a shared folder together with editable template files.

Keeping the guidelines current

Brand guidelines should not be a document that is written once and shelved. When a new product group, a new social media platform or a new branch comes along, a matching application example is added to the guidelines. Marking each update with a date and version keeps your team working with the latest corporate identity rules at all times.

Our corporate identity process

Although every project takes shape according to its own conditions, our corporate identity work goes through five basic steps. The order of the steps makes sure decisions rest on solid ground.

1. Inventory of the current state

We gather all the materials you have: business cards, signage, social media accounts, the website, presentations, packaging. Seeing what is consistent and what is scattered is the most reliable way to decide what to keep and what to change.

2. Defining the brand identity

Together we put into writing what your brand promises to whom and with what personality it speaks. Visual decisions rest on this definition; the answer to “Why this color?” is given at this stage. Color and type choices made without clarifying the brand identity quickly turn into a debate over taste.

3. Building the visual system

The color palette, typography, graphic elements and visual language are designed together. We first test the system on a few critical applications such as a business card, a social media post and a web page, because a rule that looks good on paper may struggle in practice.

Presentation and feedback

We present the identity not piece by piece but as a whole: the business card, the web page, the social media post and the signage appear side by side in the same presentation. We also recommend judging feedback not by personal taste but against the brand identity definition we wrote together in the second step. That way decisions rest on a consistent ground.

4. Applications and templates

The approved system is applied to the print and digital materials in scope. We prepare the quote, presentation and social media templates your team uses often as editable files, so you can produce materials that fit the identity for every new job without needing a designer.

5. Handover and transition plan

After the guidelines and files are delivered, we plan together the order in which old materials will be replaced. Digital spaces that are seen every day can change right away, while applications that take time to change, such as signage and printed stock, can be renewed on a schedule.

What to prepare before we start

• The vector source files of your logo, or the best version you have
• Examples of the print and digital materials used so far
• Your brand’s short story, services and target audience
• Examples of brands you like and ones you want to stay away from
• The list of materials the identity will be applied to
• The person or people who will decide during approval

You do not have to prepare this list in full; we complete the missing items together in the first meeting. But the more examples you bring, the more concrete the first conversation about the brand identity will be.

Color, accessibility and different surfaces

The same color looks different on a screen, on paper, on fabric and on signage. When designing a corporate identity, we define the screen and print equivalents of each color separately and think ahead about how the colors will hold up on different materials.

Print proofs

A color approved on screen may come out darker, paler or in a different tone depending on the paper type and printing technique. For jobs printed in large quantities, such as business cards, letterhead and catalogs, getting a proof first prevents a faulty print from being repeated. Keeping the approved proof together with the color definitions in the guidelines gives you a reference for later prints.

Legibility and contrast

Making sure the color palette is legible digitally is also an identity decision. The WCAG guidelines, which are widely used for web accessibility, require at AA level a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between normal-size text and its background, and at least 3:1 for large text. For details, see the W3C’s WCAG overview page.

That is why, when building the palette, we also state in the guidelines which color pairs can be used for text and which only for decorative areas. Color pairings that look good but cannot be read hurt the brand identity instead of helping it.

Applications that vary by material

Foil used on an illuminated sign, embroidery on textile, engraving on metal or printing on wood all show the same color and the same detail differently. Thin lines can disappear in embroidery, and light tones can be almost invisible on some surfaces. In corporate identity applications, we define simplified versions and color equivalents for these surfaces.

Identity on screen

Phone screens, users who prefer dark themes and very small profile images are where the digital identity is tested. Deciding in advance how the logo and colors will look on a dark background and how they will sit inside a circle on a social media profile reduces the need to produce a separate solution for each platform later.

Bringing the identity to digital: KPS Lamine

In the KPS Lamine project, we prepared the website that carries the brand’s corporate identity into digital, along with the graphic designs used on the site. By building banners, product category visuals and campaign areas in the brand’s orange and anthracite color language, we made the site speak with a single identity from start to finish.

When to renew, and common mistakes

Is it time to renew the identity?

If your materials do not look alike, if every new job raises the question “Which file is the right one?” or if the brand has grown and opened up to new services, it may be time to take another look at your corporate identity system. Renewal does not always mean starting from scratch; often it is enough to keep the strong elements and put the system in order.

Consistency across a branch and dealer network

For brands with more than one branch or dealer, the identity breaks down most at the application stage. When each branch works with its own sign maker and its own print shop, venues that do not resemble each other appear over time. Application examples specific to branches, ready-made templates and a short checklist help keep the corporate identity rules in place far from the center.

What should be kept in a renewal?

The elements by which your customers know you are a value built up over the years. A dominant color, the main form of the logo or a familiar graphic element can be kept in a renewal, and the corporate identity system is organized around these elements. To find out which element is really recognized, asking your customers and your sales team is often the shortest route.

Common mistakes

• Seeing the identity as nothing more than a logo and a business card
• Choosing colors only on screen and not testing them in print
• Preparing the guidelines and not sharing them with the team and suppliers
• Choosing typefaces whose license does not fit as the corporate typeface
• Trying a new visual language outside the identity for every campaign
• Leaving old and new materials in circulation side by side for a long time

What determines the scope

The price and timeline of corporate identity design are set by which materials the work covers. When preparing a quote, we clarify the following items with you one by one.

• Whether the logo is ready or will be renewed
• The number of printed materials and special print applications
• The need for digital templates and the platforms to be used
• The level of detail of the brand guidelines
• Applications at different scales, such as branches, dealers, signage and vehicles

Frequently asked questions

How long does corporate identity design take?

The time varies with whether the logo is ready, the number of materials and your approval process. Once we have clarified the scope, we prepare a step-by-step schedule and share it with the quote.

I have a logo; do I still need corporate identity work?

Most of the time, yes. If the logo is strong, it is kept; the color palette, typography, templates and brand guidelines are built around it so the brand looks consistent in every medium.

Are corporate identity and brand identity the same thing?

In daily use, the two are often used interchangeably. Brand identity is a broader concept that also covers values, the promise and the tone of communication; corporate identity is its visual counterpart and the rules for its use.

What are brand guidelines for?

Brand guidelines are the reference document that explains how to use the logo, colors, typefaces and templates. They make sure the brand looks the same when different people produce materials.

Do you deliver print-ready files?

Yes. We prepare printed materials as print-ready files with bleed, crop marks and the right color profile, and we also reflect your print shop’s special technical requirements in the files.

Can our own team apply the identity afterward?

Yes. The brand guidelines and the editable templates in scope are prepared so your team can produce daily materials that fit the identity.

Let’s plan your identity work

Share the materials you have and your plans for the coming period; let’s set the scope and priorities together. For an initial conversation, you can reach us through our contact page.