How to Choose Images, Colors and Fonts for Your Visual Identity

Once you’ve created your logo, the next step to create a visual identity system is to establish images, colors and fonts that you’d like prospects to associate with you and your services. When thinking about your visual identity, think about:

Images
Images convey large amounts information quickly. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In the context of design, images complement and enhance the piece’s core message.

Colors
Color creates an emotional connection and can set the tone for the company’s message. Warm colors, which include reds, oranges and yellows, can mean anything from warm and inviting to evoking strong emotions like passion, anger or excitement. The color red, for instance, can symbolize love and passion, fierce anger, or a stern warning to stop. Cool colors, which include greens, blues and purples, can range from relaxing and calm to sterile and antiseptic. The color green can stand for money and success, springtime and growth, or encouragement to keep going.

Fonts
Fonts are more than just printed words. They convey messages and feelings through the shape of their letterforms. Letters can be shaped in numerous ways including serif (”with feet”) fonts such as Times New Roman) and san serif (”without feet”) fonts such as Arial. They can look “old style” such as Garamond or Caslon or “modern” such as Bodini. They can be in cursive or “script” have a decorative style that makes them ideal for headlines or can be symbols like WingDings.

The more consistent you make your marketing materials, the more likely someone will remember that they’ve seen this before - and start recognizing your materials from everyone else’s.