What is the difference between a brand and a logo?

The two words are often confused and used interchangeably. In short, the logo is a part of the brand. The brand is the entire advertised image of a product or company. That brand includes a 1. logogram or logotype (shortened to “logo”) which is an icon, image, or symbol that represents the company or product as well as; 2. the colors, typefaces, and designed layout guidelines outlined by the brand “rules”. When people hire an agency for ”branding” they’re hiring an agency to help define the presentation of the company in print and online media. This branding involves creating “a look” for the company’s materials.There are conventions but no hard and fast rules for branding.

Some companies choose to use their own name written in a specific typeface (font) as the brand. One would see this with retail shops, like Crate & Barrel and Banana Republic. And this seems to be more common with high-end retail and corporations. The name carries prestige, so why detract from it by using an icon? The name and the typeface are the brand.  Other companies choose to use their name written in a specific typeface but featured in a specific layout as the brand. The Gap, with its square box enclosure would be an example of this. Other companies choose to use both a stylized typeface for the brand as well as a logo or icon. Shell Gasoline and Apple are examples of this kind of branding. Other companies choose to build the strength of the brand on the icon itself and are less specific about the supporting typefaces. Target has the circle-target icon, but uses a variety of typefaces in advertising. Nike uses the swoosh, but now offers multiple typefaces to delineate specific sub-brands. Still other companies try to build a brand based on “owning” a specific color. United Parcel Service (UPS) now even advertises under the nickname ”Brown” because of their ownership of that color. Home Depot uses the color orange exclusively in all of its advertising, branding, and in-store signage.

Again, there is no hard and fast rule about how branding should be done- and sometimes, the more risky or less conventional an idea, the more memorable it is. For some, just the title of the company is sufficient (Pottery Barn). For others, being able to use a logo or icon in place of the name is the goal (Apple or Westinghouse).I personally appreciate the use of an icon, simply because it’s a thumbprint that can be applied to products, and it’s as old as the idea of using a wax seal on communicative documents.

Another branch on the tree of Branding is Corporate Identity, which is the specific letterhead, business cards, and business collateral that one would use for official communication. It’s not campaign-based and has no advertising value or goals. Corporate Identity is simply the brand in its most unadulterated form. That’s not to say that Corporate Identity needs to be flat or pedestrian. Corporate Identity can be as designed and flashy as one so chooses.