Branding glossary

According to Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap, a brand is "a person's gut feeling about a product, service or organisation".

Branding is the art of influence. It is the work of making sure your business's reputation doesn't happen at random.

Brand strategy is the core that gives every later decision its meaning — from the name to the colour of the packaging.

Positioning is the place a brand holds in the customer's mind relative to every other option they have.

Your target audience is the people your business matters most to; personas are the way we make them concrete and learn to feel with them.

Competitive analysis shows you not what others are doing so you can copy it, but where the open space is for your brand to stand out.

If positioning says where you are now, your mission, vision and values say how far you can go.

A brand promise is what a brand commits will happen every time someone comes into contact with it.

Brand personality is the human profile of a brand — how it behaves, how it speaks and how it reacts.

Rebranding is reworking an existing brand — the name, the identity, the message, or a combination of the three — when the business has outgrown its current image.

The brand naming process is often the most important and most neglected part of creating a brand.

Naming territories are the different techniques and approaches that help us cast a wider net in the search for a name.

A slogan is the short phrase that goes with the name and the logo and distils a brand's most valuable message into a few words.

If the brand is the abstract feeling behind a business, the identity is what makes it tangible.

Design horizons (stylescapes) are a step above the moodboard: a refined, clean collage that conveys the whole feel of a brand.

The trademark is the symbol, the logotype is the written name — together they are the signature on every message your brand sends.

The typography around us is like the air we breathe. We often forget about it, but that doesn't mean its quality doesn't affect us.

Colour is the one element of a brand that acts before the brain has read a single word — striking straight at emotion and our limbic system.

Secondary elements are everything that carries the brand beyond its logo — the icons on the website, the textures on the packaging, the illustrations on social media.

A brand design system is the set of connected decisions — mark, typography, colour, secondary elements, motion — plus the rules for how they combine.

Brand guidelines are the document that makes sure everyone on your team is on the same page about how the brand looks and feels.

Movement is emotion — and motion design is the discipline that harnesses it for the identity.

Packaging is the first physical contact with a brand — the one touchpoint the customer literally holds in their hands.

The information architecture of a pack decides not which messages to include, but in what order the eye should meet them.

A SKU design system sets which elements of the packaging stay consistent and which change as a brand grows.

Brochure, flyer, catalogue, business card — print materials are the moment you have your audience's full attention.

Product photography is the visual language through which packaging speaks before the customer has touched it.

UX/UI design defines how every developed web page looks and feels.

Website development is the step where the design system comes to life as a working product — or falls apart on screen.

E-commerce development is building a brand's online point of sale — the shop window, the cart, the checkout.

Social media needs not just design but a production line.