How to Audit Your Brand’s Visual Assets?
In this tough competition, having consistency and clarity in your brand visuals is what makes you stand out. These are the factors that can make or break how your audience sees you. A brand visual audit helps in ensuring that all the brand elements are working together and are conveying the right message. Doesn’t matter whether you are launching a rebrand or simply want to ensure alignment. In this blog, we will cover a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a brand visual audit successfully.
1. Gather All The Visual Assets
You need to start collecting every piece of visual content that your brand uses. From logos, color palettes, social media posts, website graphics, packaging, to presentations, and more. Collect all of them in a folder or a dashboard for easy access. This folder will help you identify inconsistencies and outdated elements.
2. Review Logo Usage
Evaluate all the places where your brand logo is used, and check whether they are clear, legible, and correctly sized or not. Check whether the variations are being used properly, or if there are any color discrepancies or distortions. Your logo is the face of your brand, so there can be no inconsistencies with it. Consistent usage of your logo is non-negotiable.
3. Evaluate Color Consistency
Compare the colors used across all platforms and documents. And check whether your brand colors match their hex, RGB, or CMYK values? Even a micro difference can weaken your brand presence. Make sure you make a note of the offsetting shades or color combinations that don’t align with your guidelines.
4. Analyze Typography
From brochure to social media graphics, your fonts, the typeface need to be consistent across all the platforms, all the touchpoints. Examine if the correct font family, size, weight, and hierarchy are being used. Typography plays a very important role in moulding your brand personality, and deviations can confuse your potential audiences.
5. Inspect Imagery And Icons
Answer this, are the images you use of high quality, consistent in tone, and aligned with your brand personality? It is essential for you to evaluate whether the icons, illustrations, or photography you are using maintain a cohesive style. Make sure you avoid mixing stock photos with custom visuals unless it serves a clear purpose.
6. Review Templates And Layouts
All the templates and layouts need to be perfect and consistent. Look at your pitch decks, social media templates, brochures, etc. Are the layout structures consistent? It is important to have a well-defined grid or margin system. Having a well-structured layout enhances readability and helps build a trustworthy brand. Your templates should align with the rest of your branding.
7. Assess Brand Voice In Design
Your visuals reflect your brand voice, your identity. If you are a playful brand, you should have vibrant, dynamic graphics. Examine whether your visuals reflect your brand’s tone. It can be anything from serious, bold, elegant, to minimal. Inconsistency between your visuals and brand voice can cause trust issues.
8. Compare Across Channels
Audit your website, Instagram, LinkedIn, email newsletters, packaging, and ads. Verify whether all of them are consistent and align with your brand’s identity? If there are channel-specific adaptations, there is nothing to worry about. It is when the core look and feel changes, they need to remain recognizable across all media.
Conclusion
A visual brand audit is about the perception and professionalism that the audience sees you as a brand. Conducting regular audits can fix the minor problems before they turn big enough to harm your perfect image. Investing time in this process ensures your brand that your brand is consistent and trustworthy in every impression. Auditing your website is the first step of understanding the missing bridges of your business branding, allowing you to maximise the brand’s visual efficiency. Some missing elements will be easily identified while some will need professional attention from branding experts like Vigyapan Mart. In this blog, we have discussed brand auditing briefly and for more assistance, you can contact our branding experts now and book a free consultation session.
