5 Elements of Good Corporate Graphic Design

In order to succeed in today’s business world, companies must rely on graphic design to create visual identities, build brand recognition, and stand out from the competition. 

However, for large corporations, creating a consistent look and feel across all of their materials is tricky. 

A good graphic design company can help your business develop the visual elements of your brand’s style guide. In the long run, this will help your business appear professional. 

Here are 5 things that your graphic design team should create to promote your business.

5 Elements of Corporate Graphic Design

1. Design system 
2. Logo
3. Typography
4. Color palette
5. Imagery 

1. Design System 

A design system includes a standard set of graphic assets and rules to help manage a corporation’s brand identity. This can include everything from style guides and email signatures and social media themes. 

By creating a design standard, corporations can create a consistent look and feel across their products, marketing materials, and channels. 

As a result, they will differentiate themselves from the competition and boost brand recognition. 

Additionally, design systems make it easy for designers to replicate elements they use frequently or repurpose them. Designers can easily reference it when creating new materials, making it much easier to scale. 

For large companies with multiple marketing, branding, and advertising teams, a design system is essential for streamlining communication and guaranteeing consistency. 

2. Logo

Your company’s logo is essentially the face of your company. It’s one of the most recognizable elements of your brand and, therefore, must stand out. On top of that, it should effectively communicate your brand’s identity. 

Many large corporations often have already done a great job establishing universal brand recognition. Consider McDonalds: with almost 40,000 restaurants worldwide, their golden arches are recognized by just about anyone. 

Source: Medium

For companies that have already gotten to this point, their logos can help them communicate more than just their brand identity. 

Instead, well-known brands have begun to change up their looks by creating dynamic logos, or logos that are adaptable and change based on the context that they’re in. 

This can signify creativity, versatility, and innovation to customers, helping prominent brands appear modern and stay relevant. 

Additionally, dynamic logos help large businesses with big portfolios create a visually appealing look across all of their platforms and differentiate between products. 

Consider how FedEx slightly alters their logo depending on the service: 

Source: StackExchange

By changing the color of the last two letters in their typographic logo, they’re able to signal that they provide different services. 
 
For corporations who want maintain their brand recognition, but are looking to mix it up can: 

• Add animation 
• Change shapes 
• Modify their color palettes
• Simplify their design

In doing so, they will make their icons stand out. 

3. Typography

Typography is more than just choosing a font. How designers arrange letters and text can help your business grow brand awareness and improve user experience. 

Whether you’re creating eye-catching titles or developing a new typographic ad, the font, size, color, spacing, and alignment play a major role in how viewers understand your message. It can even impact the personality and tone of your brand. 

By creating unique, visually appealing, and easy to read text, you can create a visual hierarchy that guides readers through your content. 

4. Color Palette

Color plays an important role in branding and marketing because it helps customers develop brand associations. In fact, the right colors can increase sales. 

As companies grow, sticking to their color palette can help their customers recognize their brand.  

Consider how Google has expanded their business; they’re more than just a search engine. When they rolled out Google Ads, Docs, and Gmail, they created unique icons for all of their products. However, they stick with a similar look — each graphic is composed of primary colors, the hallmark of Google’s brand. 

Source: Bootcamp

This signals to anyone who views them that they are a Google Product. 

5. Imagery 

Imagery can include everything from photos to illustrations and graphics. In addition to being visually appealing, adding images to your materials can help you communicate with your audience. 

People are able to process images much faster than text, so they’re a great way to grab your audience’s attention and deliver your message. By including images, you can add meaning to your designs and evoke feelings from your audience. 

Additionally, images can be used to break up long pieces of text, improving readability and user experience. 

Successful Corporations Invest in Graphic Design 

Graphic design helps businesses create a visual identity that attracts customers. For large businesses with multiple teams and products, creating a consistent look and feel is a requirement when appealing to customers. 

Your business should have a design system that includes your logo, typography, color palette, and imagery. 

By relying on a good company with experience in corporate graphic design to create the visual elements of your brand, you can ensure that you convey a consistent look and feel for the visual elements of your business.