brand-elementslisted

# Brand Elements ## Overview The concrete building blocks of a visual identity: the name, the brandmark (logo), the tagline, and — for some brands — a character. Each has its own taxonomy and selection criteria. There are no hard-and-fast rules that dictate the best mark for a given company; the designer examines a range of solutions against aspirational and functional criteria and writes a rationale for the chosen approach. ## When to use - Choosing which category of mark fits a brand, or classifying an existing one. - Naming a company/product, or judging whether a candidate name is strong. - Writing or evaluating a tagline; deciding whether a brand needs a character. - **Not** for the end-to-end identity *process* or standards/guidelines — hand off to the process/methodology sibling skill. ## Names Most good names are **memorable, meaningful, and easy to say and spell**; they look good in a logo and in text, and sound good spoken. A name is the first chance to harness the power of language, and it works 24/7. The hard part is finding one that is legally available AND linguistically viable. **Qualities of an effective name:** Meaningful · Memorable · Distinctive · Adaptable (a springboard for a brand language) · Legally available · Linguistically viable · Visual (works graphically) · Sounds good · Easy to spell · Easy to pronounce. **Types of brand names** classify on two dimensions: - **Approach:** Descriptive → Suggestive → Abstract. - **Construct:** Real-word → Compo