The Short Answer
A logo is one mark. A brand identity is the system around it: colours, typography, imagery, voice and guidelines. Branding is the ongoing work of shaping how people perceive you, and the brand is the perception that results. Most businesses that will make more than a handful of materials need an identity, not just a logo.
Four Terms, Clearly Defined
The four terms are often used interchangeably, which is why briefs and quotes get confused. They describe different layers, from the narrowest to the broadest. Knowing the difference helps you ask for the right thing and compare proposals fairly.
| Term | What it is | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | A single mark: wordmark, symbol or both | The business |
| Brand identity | The full visual and verbal system: logo set, colour, type, imagery, voice, guidelines | The business |
| Branding | The ongoing work of strategy, positioning, identity and communication | The business, over time |
| Brand | What people think and feel about the business | Customers, influenced by everything above |
What a Logo Includes
A logo project delivers the mark itself, usually with a few variations and colour versions, as files for print and screen. It identifies the business but does not tell anyone how to design a website, a pack or a post. On its own, it is the minimum a business needs to exist visually.
- Primary logo, sometimes with a secondary or icon version.
- Colour, one-colour and reversed versions.
- Vector and raster files; see what files a logo needs.
What a Brand Identity Includes
A brand identity gives everyone who creates materials for the business the same toolkit and rules, so everything looks and sounds related. It is what makes a brand recognisable without the logo in view, which is where most of the commercial value of design sits.
- Logo system: primary, secondary, icon and lockups.
- Colour palette with CMYK, RGB, HEX and Pantone values.
- Typography: brand typefaces, hierarchy and licences.
- Graphic elements: patterns, shapes, icons, frames.
- Imagery direction: photography, illustration or 3D style.
- Tone of voice: how the brand writes and speaks.
- Applications: website sections, social templates, packaging, stationery.
- Guidelines and source files; see brand guidelines that get used.
Some identities extend to motion and sound as well; see sonic branding.
What Branding Includes
Branding is broader than design. It includes deciding who the business serves, what it stands for and how it differs, then expressing that consistently in the identity, the product, customer service, pricing and communication. Design makes branding visible, but a strong identity cannot rescue an unclear position.
That is why good identity projects begin with positioning; our brand identity process guide explains each step.
Which One Do You Need?
Choose by how many places the brand will appear and how many people will create materials. A side project with a website and a few documents may need only a logo. A business producing packaging, social content, advertising or signage, or one with a team and agencies, needs an identity system to stay consistent.
- Logo only: testing an idea, freelancers, internal projects.
- Logo plus starter identity: early startups and small businesses with a website and social presence; see brand identity for startups by stage.
- Full identity system: product brands, multi-channel businesses, companies with teams or agencies.
- Branding strategy plus identity: new market entry, repositioning, mergers, or when nobody can agree what the brand stands for.
For prices, see our brand identity pricing guide.
Where We Fit
Kalex designs logos, full identity systems and the websites, motion and 3D that carry them, for clients worldwide. See our brand identity service or tell us what you need.