Solely understanding what brand identity really is will not help you build a great brand identity, let alone the brand. That's why it is crucial for you to maybe take a step back for a bit and learn about who you really are as a brand. I believe that by doing so, you will be able to create a strong identity for your brand. The reason for this is simple; such action will definitely be able to lead you to the discovery of tangible elements and principles that exist behind your brand identity.

I'm sure many of you are worried since getting to know more about ourselves alone is already quite challenging. However, believe me when I say that there’s nothing for you to worry about when it comes to our own brand. After all, this should be a lot easier since there are only few elements that define a brand. If I'm allowed to be specific about it, in my opinion, there's about five of them. These elements include:

1) Mission of the brand

2) The values of the brand 

3) The personality of the brand 

4) The voice of the brand 

5) The unique positioning of the brand in the market

For those of you who are still facing some kind of trouble to figure out who you exactly are as a brand, I would suggest you to check out this amazing personal branding workbook by PwC. Even though this workbook was meant for personal branding, the content would still valid for you to use it for most business model. So, feel free to check the workbook out and do your best in brainstorming to get clarity about who you are as a brand. only when you’ve locked in those crucial information would you be completely ready to build your brand identity. After all, you can easily nail your brand identity when you nailed your corporate design. 

The basic building blocks of any brand identity in which include typography, color palette, form/shape, imagery and symbol will always determine how the tangible elements will be perceived. Once you have determined these for the design of your brand, all that you need to do next is to bring that brand identity to life through your logo, business cards, website design, product packaging, social media graphics, email design and even the uniforms that your employees will be wearing. However, based on the nature of your business, one asset or another may be more or less important to the brand.

If you are interested to know more, you can always read the full article that I've written on this topic at: Building Brand: The Principles Behind A Brand Identity