course coordinator: alessandro segalinithe importance of corporate identity design with comparative...

THE IMPORTANCE OFCORPORATE IDENTITYDESIGN WITHCOMPARATIVE EXAMPLES

Hazal BilgütayCourse Coordinator: Alessandro Segalini

IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, FACULTY OF FINE ARTS AND DESIGN DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGNFALL 2013, GD 494

INTRODUCTIONCorporate identity is the visible face of a brand, which shaping a company. This should be compatible with the character of brand, and provided the brand is considered and known, it will also add personality to the brand.

Corporate identity is one of the the most important and trustable communication between the customers and the company. Even people who don’t anything about your business, they will first come face to face with your corporate colors and visual identity, these elements will speak for you and about you. Actually identities are everywhere, we can see many examples in daily life, in supermarkets, streets, magazines, on the web, and in our house. For example, in many packaging, colors and other visual elements play a key role in defining the corporate identity and make the product memorable.

Corporate identity and logos are the common language, or the cur-rency to with the customers. Althoug we see them everyday, do we really un-der- stand if their promise is honest? It is important that we can relate with the values carried by the brand. In my thesis I would like to analysis the effect of visual identitys, people’s perception and feelings. In is in dead well known that every company wants their brand to be most valuable, famous and fa- vourite brand. Therefore corporate identity is the most important part of the brand strategy. I want to show succesful and unsuccessful examples, logos and corporate identities focused on colors, shapes, layout, size and type.

At the end of my research, this study case will eventually confirm the importance, power and effects of corporate culture, in society. I hope this research will be a good source to help and guide the designers and me when working on a corporate identity design.

12–13 GD494 GRADUATION THESIS 2

CONTENTS

1. WHAT IS CORPORATE IDENTITY?

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY DESIGN

3. DIFFERENT BRANDS IN COMPARISON

3.1 Comparison Of Moova, Tahsildaroğlu And Tire Süt

3.2 Comparison Of Apple And Samsung

3.3 Comparison Of Koton And Mavi

4. CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

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1.WHAT IS CORPORATE IDENTITY?As it is defined in dictionary, “identity” is that the reputation, characteristics, etc. of a person or organization that makes the public think about them in a particular way. As seen above, the concept of identity includes behaviors and a posture reflected to the public.

Upon the definitions of Oxford Dictionary1 and discussions on Design of Identities Symposium of Community of Design History of Turkey a short definition for “identity” would be that the reputation, characteristics, posture etc. of a person, corporation or an organization that makes the public think about them in a particular way. That posture is in some way telling the world that “I exist”. In this context the corporations and people are similar. The dif-ference of corporations from people is that they update themselves and catch the permanence, as they are corporate bodies. Corporate identities are the way of corporations, telling that “they exist”. Corporations require well de-signed and planned identities for ideal communication with consumers in the “existence” process. Here corporate identity should be regarded as an efficient way of communication. Such an identity develops in parallel with corporation’s vision2, mission3, posture in public, name, architecture, staff, ethical values, social and environmental awareness and so on. As it is in per-sonal identity, corporation’s distinctive qualifications and characteristics pro-vide the corporation an identity of its own. Namely all the moral and material elements as a whole constitute the identity of a corporation. The identity of a corporation includes many elements in addition to the corporation’s acts, design, communication and philosophy.

Design Thinking Glossary defines identity as: “the behavioral charac-teristics of a company that defines the qualities synonymous with its level of services, nature or approach to doing business” in this respect the corporate identity clearly indicates the way the corporation exists. Visual identity is the keystone for being a corporation and a brand. First, a consumer encounters with the corporation’s visual identity. The color, font of script, visual elements and shapes, chosen according to corporation and brand’s identity are the first ways of communication with consumer. Corporate identity begins with fea-turing the memorable and distinctive characteristics, that make the corpora-tion special and then continues with reflecting the potential with a correct and clear analysis. The simplest design of visual identity and presenting the character of the corporation in most concrete and clear way is a must for a successful identity creation process. In this way the corporation’s notion of working, quality of its products and service, behaviors in general and aims are easily detectable by target market and society. “Today’s corporations should bear rises, falls and even collapses around them in mind and consider not only yearly profit or performance but also other factors that affect them as they have the responsibility to their workers customers, and also the masses creating the public opinion” states Asst. Prof. Dr. Makbule Evrim Gülsünler in her study “Kurum Kimliği Süreci ve İşleyişi Üzerine Teorik ve Uygulamalı Bir Çalışma (A Theoretical and Practical Study on Corporate Identity Pro-cess and Functioning)”. In this context a successful identity designing is a definitely helpful strategy for the corporation to increase its financial power, performance and efficiency. With corporation behavior, corporate identity

1. Oxford Dictionary is a widely used on-

line dictionary of Oxford University.

2. Vision , the realistic goals of a corpora-

tion including a plan to accomplish it.

3. Mission, a short statement of a corpo-

ration for its goals. More simple than

vision.


design, corporate philosophy and corporate communication elements near-by, corporate identity constitutes the interactive parts of a whole. The key point in the success of corporate identity is the impression that these parts leave on the target market4 and society.

The success of the corporation is in parallel with how positive and deep this impression is. Shortly, the corporate identity is how it reflects itself on the society. The mission and philosophy, the acts and behaviors of staff are the corporations’ verbal and visual ways of communication with masses. So no matter what the size or profit rate of a corporation is, all the corporations must have a well planned corporate identity that expresses the corporation in the best way possible. After all, as mentioned before, the main aspect is identity that stresses the characteristics which make corporations distinctive.

Corporations expressing themselves with visual identity at the point when they are in visual communication with society show up on visual and print media, in markets and streets in daily life, on the internet and in many other areas via packages of products, logos4, advertisements, brochures etc.. In other words, the first things to pop up in one’s mind when a corporation or an organization is mentioned are visual items like logos, preferred colors, mascots5, if any, that are identified with identity of organizations and chosen fonts. Such items, when used adequately, have a significant role for corpora-tion to advance. Consequently, the strongest supporter of a corporation to express its difference from others lies upon that it has a unique and planned design of corporate identity. To be the reason for preference of both the target market and society and gain reputation requires hard and successful work of corporate identity designing.

The reason of stress on corporate identity and especially that the design of corporate identity should be planned with great care and well planned is that a well build logo and visual identity work should be a memorable, for years, easily recognized and with little revisions should have a modern look. If not, big changes in corporate identity or logo may hurt the reputation and stability of values, created by corporation until that day. Such big changes in corporate identities may create mistakes in the perception of society and even disappointment. So the corporate identity should be well planned, and such conditions should be regarded.

2.THE IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITYDESIGNSince the humans stepped in a social life, they have been expressing them-selves via identities. As a proof of their presence, corporations must create their own identities as well, so that they express themselves clearly. In the his-tory of corporate identities there is a well known story: a long time ago a king gives order for a cross emblem to be designed and applied onto the shields of his soldiers. After a while the king of a nearby kingdom sees and likes the symbol6 too much, then wants to have such a symbol himself. A similar sym-bol is designed for him and applied to his soldiers’ shields7 and uniforms8. As time goes by, unexpected events come out and these kingdoms begin to fight with each other.

4. Logo, a unique graphic or seal identi-

fied with a corporation or an organiza-

tion

5. Maskot, a person animal or object

mostly used by organizations like

sports teams for bringing luck

6. Symbol, A symbol is something like an

object, picture, written word, sound, or

particular mark that stands for some-

thing else by association, resemblance,

or convention.

7. Shield, a protector used by warriors.

8. Uniform, is a set of standart clothing

of an organization’s members that is

worn during an organizational activity.


During the war, a great confusion arises among soldiers because of the similarity of the symbols, upon seeing that kings agree that they should have distinctive symbols to avoid chaos. Later on these symbols began to be ap-plied on flags, uniforms and various items. So the first marks of corporate identity were seen on the uniforms and symbols of the nobility, kings and cities. As a result of the variety of products, customer satisfaction policy, and that the service and corporate structures are getting very similar therefore the desire to be the most preferred firm, it is understood that the corporate iden-tity, advanced in the beginning of 20th century, must show and emphasize the different aspects of corporations to compete in today’s conditions of compe-tition. So the corporations place emphasis on the corporate identity which is the most direct way of communication with consumers. Advancements in technology, changes in market and values and behaviors of consumers show that differentiation is a must for corporations. Corporate identity, which is growing more and more of a necessity, is a vital support for corporations to begin their business life and advance. For this reason corporations must plan the identity of their brands and corporations very carefully, because such planned identity is an important way for corporations’ to present and intro-duce themselves to the target, namely society and it is essential for surviving and thriving.

Corporation identity is important, because today’s consumers are hav-ing less and less time, and brands and the offers are getting more and more, day by day, so a wisely created strategy must definitely have a successful visual identity in order that the corporation can reach the customer among numer-ous competitors. Moreover the customer will not lose time, searching for his/her regular brand, for there are lots of options everywhere. So, visual identity should be distinctive and consistent with the corporation’s standing as the corporation should not lose its regulars while trying to reach new customers.

While creating their own identities, determining their limits, the corpo-rations actually help other corporations that they are in competition deter-mine their own identities. So when a corporation is aware of itself, what it is capable of and creates its identity accordingly, in some way it also determines what other corporations are not capable of. In their collected work “Kim-liklerin Tasarımı” on this topic, Prof. Dr. Tevfik Balcıoğlu and Prof. Dr. Gül-süm Baydar state “There is no identity without distinction. In other words, belonging and identity gain their meaning and are defined with distinction and being “other”. In other words the concept “me” and “other” is not only in the creation process but, being among the basic elements of existence, also in all categories of identity. Corporate identity is so effective that it may lead to strong bonds between customers and brands; sometimes the consumers identify themselves even with the identities of the brands that they are cus-tomers of. It is like being a fan of a football team, as teams have their own corporate identities, it will be a suitable example.


Another indicator of the importance of corporate identity is that the individuals may sometimes find something special to themselves in the prod-ucts and brands and while introducing themselves in the society, they use such brands. While some people prefer a brand for quality of products, it is known that some people have other reasons for that. Also from the collected work “Kim(lik)lerin Tasarımı” it is stated that “The individuals are no more trying to reflect their identities via what they wear or use but create their iden-tities using such symbols and indicators.Benetton for instance, despite being a clothing brand, in advertising campaigns, the brand benefits from politi-cal references like brotherhood of colors and races because it is known that there are lots of customers who prefers this brand for its standing and pos-ture only and the brand is aware of the responsibility comes with identity. There are many discussions in the collected work “Kim(lik)lerin tasarımı” supporting this view and many speakers in the symposium agree that brands and corporations provides us references and help us reflect our identities in public. Moreover as customers we use them in our daily life sometimes un-consciously and sometimes on purpose. Corporate identity is such a broad and programmed work that naturally it leaves its subliminal impression on us and sometimes it plays a role in our daily choices while we are not aware of it, for example some products in certain colors are not sold, not only because there is no demand but also sometimes that color is part of a corporation’s identity and appears on the uniforms of that corporation’s staff. Some strong examples about that would be the dominant green of “Kipa”, strong blue of “Bestbuy” or orange, often used by “İzmir University of Economics”. As expe-riences and memories have an effect on color choice of people the corporate identities have such an effect as well, they may leave impressions on people’s minds like certain colors belong to certain brands. Is it something good or bad, I can not say but this makes it clear that brand and color are seen together and inseparable.

However corporate identity is of course not limited with color and two dimensional works. The corporations nowadays adapt their corporate identi-ties and standings with their architecture. Actually it can be said that corpo-rate identity is a mentality that can not be limited. In every kind of ideas about corporation contain impressions of visual identity. This actually confirms and proves what was said in Max Bruinsma’s article “Learning to read and write images”, “graphic design includes other disciplines of design and these disci-plines will grow in number, in the future”. It is clear, architectural design as well as corporate identity includes a corporate building’s interior and exterior face, landscape, interior design, choice of furniture and colors used in corpo-ration. Corporate architecture impresses the staff or corporation, the visitors of corporation and corporate circles’ view about the corporation. Architec-ture is a strong part of corporate identity and can become an introducing or memorial element. Moreover an interesting architecture may draw all the at-tention to itself. An example for that would be the features of buildings of political parties. They reflect the identities and ideologies9 of political parties clearly. In the collected work “Kim(lik)lerin Tasarımı”, there is a long speech and discussion about that. The part highlights that identity design is not only includes two dimensional works, but all these parts are creating a whole; how big is the effect of visual and corporate identity on architecture and also in-cludes examples confirming what Max Bruinsma has written about design.

9. Ideology, is a set of ideas that includes

one’s goals, actions and expectations.


3.DIFFERENT BRANDS IN COMPARISONIn this part, in light of the knowledge I acquired throughout my university education and with the assistance of my references I am going to compare the visual identities, logos and packaging designs of competing corporations which are at certain levels by means of economic potential. Analyzing by means of color, type, shapes, layout and size, I am going to review corpora-tions according to their success in branding and identity creation, the keys of their success, their deficiencies and mistakes, analyzing them by means of color, type, shapes, layout and size. In first section I am going to review “Tahsildaroğlu” and “Tire Süt” which are strong corporations in the milk and milk products market and their competitor a new born brand “Moova” with the slogan “innocent milk”. In second section I am going to discuss technol-ogy giants “Apple” and “Samsung” corporations which are in cutthroat com-petition in recent years by means of visual identity. Lastly in third section I am going to compare Koton which promises to offer fashion and quality at the best prices and with the motto “We are being too much”, “Mavi Jeans” which has a big market share in Turkey and all over the world and which is a completely of Turkish financed corporation.

3.1 Comparison of Moova, Tahsildaroğlu andTire Süt

First of all I should say that the reason why I have chosen three different brands is Moova’s sudden outburst in the milk and milk productions market. I think that it would have been unfair not to mention the hot topic of market, “Moova” brand,(fig. 1.) but it could also have been unfair to compare Moova with another brand because many designers and consumers have not been able to rank Moova’s assertive and risky appearance in market as a success or fail. In my opinion some people might have thought the choice of color and name was wrong and divergent while some might not have found it odd and actually liked. But consequently my idea about this is that, shelves and con-sumers were in need of such an innovation. I think Moova’s sales are not bad actually and using price cutting policy time to time, the corporation extends its target group and is able to reach more consumers. Moova takes its name from “moo” as of cows, and “ova” from Söke Plain (ova in Turkish). As they join, Moova comes out. Actually the choosing of name is an indicator that the brand is going to be different from the others.

Figure 1- Logo of Moova


As known, many corporations create their names from their found-ers’ or investors’ names, surnames, their initials or such abbreviations. For me the most assertive part of logo is that color purple. I took “Türk Grafik Tasarımcıları LOGO” as reference and a website as a source but many articles about colors’ effects on human psychology can be found on the internet or from many other sources. Moova has chosen purple as main color, according to the articles and news that I read, the reason why they have preferred this color is to create a different impression on people and also the rhythm of the words Moova and “mor”(purple in Turkish) and to create a perception of “Moova purple”. “Purple: the color of nobility, of an emperor and show-off. Purple stands for prosperity and power.” in this regard though, using purple, Moova which shows with its prices, with its policy which positions itself as premium and with its innovative design that its target group is mostly top class might have aimed to create such an impression on our minds. Moova should have considered that using the glory and power of purple, the brand could reach A class target market more easily and directly. But on the other hand on the packaging of milk and milk products, in contrast to classic: using green to stress grass and forest, blue, to stress sky and clouds, namely colors of nature and adding a cow just in case, using purple is raising a question mark in minds, Moova took a great risk in this sector using such a packaging, evoking juice packaging prototype in our minds but even though the brand managed to break the perceptions and became successful. Moova’s corporate identity work was designed by design specialist Landor10. The light purple circular images on purple packaging represent full milk glasses. With these represen-tational glasses, a pattern was created. Fat content of milk is shown in this pattern via glasses that are colored with white. For now Moova produces milk and cheese only. (fig. 2. and 3.) In its logo, in the letters “O” representing milk products there seems a full milk glass with aerial viewpoint. Letters “V” and “A” were designed as a piece of triangular cheese representing cheese prod-ucts. Lastly, in the design of letter “M” the chain of mountains against Söke Plain and Moova Dairy were intended. I think the very detailed design of Moova is more successful than many brands by means of corporate identity.

Figure 2- Packaging of Moova Cheese10. Landor, a company, experienced in

identity design and branding


Figure 3- Packaging of Moova Milk

One of the other brands that I am going to review, Tahsildaroglu has

been in the milk and milk products market with cheese products , with its fifty years of experience. It is one of first corporations that come to mind. With its logo, the brand is within the generalization of nature that I mentioned above, green area, sky etc., is mostly reflected and its logo (fig. 4.) even includes a landscape and of course there is the name of brand Tahsildaroğlu in the front, however the point strongly emphasized by Prof. Dr. Hakan Ertep in his lec-ture “introduction to communication” was that when logo is zoomed out, it should not lose its form and become some kind of meaningless shape like a stain. I think so many and mixed color usage is very risky. Especially when the logo is zoomed out all those colors turn into a little scratch or point and lose their meanings. Unfortunately the logo of Tahsildaroğlu is as complex as a color scheme and tiring and this causes blurred and unclear images on pack-ing. There is one thing that should not be forgotten, a successful logo should be original, simple and easily understandable.

Figure 4- Logo of Tahsildaroglu Cheese


Tire Süt is one of the most important examples of a small scale coop-erative becoming a brand with a great effort. In fair “Ecology İzmir” I had the chance to visit Tire Süt’s stand. With its huge place just in the entrance of the fair Tire Süt showed that they were paying attention to the publicity. The great success of a small cooperative is admirable but in my opinion they should pay attention to their corporate identity in time. The reason why Tire Süt is important for me is that Tire Süt is in great demand by consumers of organic milk as Tire Süt is the first organic pasteurized milk of Turkey. Espe-cially the families with infants and kids buy the products confidently. In Tire Süt’s logo ordinary green tones are dominant. However apart from logo’s ty-pography the only visual element is a cow figure. In the packaging and boxes unfortunately, there is inconsistence. (fig. 5.) Both typographies and colors are not placed on a layout, they are like flying. “It is known that in green areas people have less stomach problems and better digestion. Green tones repre-sent nature, rebirth, peace and freshness.” Actually both Tahsildaroğlu and Tire Süt’s color choice of green are adequate even reliable. One of the most important factors of visual communication is color as it provides the greatest support although it is not enough, and it is not a savior.

Figure 5- Logo and Some Products of Tire Süt

3.2 Comparison of Apple and Samsung

In this section I want to mention about the logo of Apple and Samsung, the technology giants. In Bill Gardner and Cathy Fishel’s book “Logolounge” there are many corporate identities and logo works created by “leading de-signers” In most of these works no matter the identities or logos were created or revised, how important the history of corporation is, is emphasized many times, verbally and via corporate identity works. Apple is among the brands that have too many stories. I say too many, because Apple’s logo (fig. 6.) has various stories which are not completely real. Of course the important thing is Apple’s being a great, important and rooted corporation for which stories have been made up, as in the creation of corporate identity, real stories and how they are visually interpreted and symbolized is of great importance.

In 1997 with the request of Steve Jobs the creation work of Apple logo was given to Jobs’ friend Rob Janoff who was working in an advertising agen-cy as a designer. Jobs while telling what kind of logo he wanted, was said to be impressed by two things. First one was the previous logo of apple (the depic-tion of apple that fell on Newton’s head), and the second was the suicide of British scientist Alan Turing who was a homosexual mathematician, in WW2. Because of the negative reaction of people towards him Turing injected poi-son in an apple then took a bite from that so ended his life.


Figure 6- Old and New Logos of Apple

When the dead body was found there was an apple near him from which a bite was taken. For these reasons Steve Jobs wanted Rob Janoff to draw an apple figure, representing Apple brand. If Rob’s addition of bite on the apple wordplay about the resemblance of words “byte” and “bite” was intentional, or if it was because of Turing’s apple bite, is not certain. Consequently Steve liked the Rob’s design but wanted a more colorful apple. Rob’s boss wanted to reduce the costs by printing one color but Steve was a determined man and argued colors, as he was thinking that the colors humanize the corporation. Then Rob randomly added colored lanes on the apple. According to differ-ent sources Job’s insistence on rainbow of colors was that rainbow represents homosexuality and this representation was dedicated to the memory of Alan. Nowadays Apple’s apple is more modern and in one color. It seems as if Rob has achieved what he wished. The reason why I have told these long stories is that people are still talking about stories about logos and corporations; even they are real or not, making the corporation immortal and keeping up to date. My opinion is that Apple’s current logo is completely consistent to the position of Apple. Now Apple has a technologic appearance, bright, hard and strong as steel. Turkish graphic designers state that these questions about Logo and emblem are of importance. “Are emblems or logos able to reflect the characteristics of the products? Is logo distinctive from other brands of same type of products and can it be recalled after first sight?” I think the an-swer for these questions shows Apple’s success for these goals clearly.

The reason why I wanted to review Samsung after Apple is not that, one is more successful from other or vice versa, and also not that, one has sto-ries behind and the other does not. I wanted to understand and study with my background the reasons of such corporate identity designs and the de-sign processes because while Apple has various stories behind, in the process of creating corporate identity, Samsung followed another way, attributing meanings to the shapes. First of all I am beginning with the elements that I can easily analyze and that I have knowledge about. Samsung preferred to use blue (fig. 7.) because it might have been thought that this was going to sup-port brand’s reliability, permanence and infinite service. According to some sources an elliptic symbol symbolizes corporation’s flexibility and compat-ibility, but for me the universality of corporation might be the main reason of that choice as well. I think that the joining of Samsung’s first and last letters “S” and “G” in the ellipsis, creating visually open ends, may emphasize the corporation’s flexibility. These open ends symbolize the corporation’s broad-mindedness and desire to communicate at the same time.


Figure 7- Logo of Samsung

These semiotic11 analyze and hidden meanings were used in the logo of Izmir University of Economics. According to my point of view such readings are not very easy to do and such logos may not be reaching everyone’s minds clearly and directly but of course wisely planned visuals that carry different meanings can be successful as long as they are not far from being recogniz-able, simple and original. Consequently of two technology giants one is re-flecting a story on its logo while the other is reflecting its vision and mission with the help of shapes and different forms. These two different logo crea-tion ways have been used by many corporations and of course there are many examples of successes and fails. However the important thing is to have the most adequate visual identity that can express the aims and targets in the best way possible without being blindly insistent.

3.3 Comparison of Koton and Mavi

The reason why I choose “Mavi Jeans” and “Koton” in the last section is that they both have preferred typography-intensive logos. In Erik Spiekermann’s12 Corporate Type there is such a sentence: ““If designing from scratch seems to risky or too much trouble, you can always take, say, your average Univers and Times New Roman and make them your own.” I think this is how Mavi’s logo is. (fig. 8.) I mean, without taking much risk, trying to be safe, far from danger, not creative maybe, but not wrong either. Mavi wanted to expand abroad, especially in the homeland of jeans U.S.A. and prove its quality and style. The reason why the brand chose blue both in its name and logo might have been Mavi’s translation of Blue as it is in the American saying “Blue Jeans” into Turkish and launch under Mavi. On the Logo there is a blue background and the word Mavi is written with white letters. The colors of the logo are time to time reversed and Mavi’s letters turn into blue and the background white.

Figure 8- Logo of Mavi

11. Semiotics, is the study of cultural sign

processes, analogy, metaphor, signifi-

cation and communication, signs and

symbols.

12. Erik Spiekermann is a German typog-

rapher and designer.


Mavi jeans were put on the markets abroad after a few years of sale in Turkey and by Time magazine, in 2006 ranked among the best sixteen jeans brands. Cosmogirl readers in the USA voted Mavi Jeans the “Best Sexiest Jeans” in 2004. It can be said that Mavi has succeeded in its goal of quality and service and Mavi’s visual identity is in harmony with its products and positioning by means of color and simplicity. Blue is adequate for both for a brand named as Mavi and for a brand selling denim. For a brand selling jeans, instead of a garish and assertive logo, design of a casual and simple one like jeans itself is in parallel with the corporation’s casual standing. However, as I have said before, I am not sure if such a logo that is taking no risks is good or not. Yes, “less is more” but sometimes when there are deficiencies, this saying might be invalid. The idea that makes me indecisive is that, can such simplicity and economy carry out the memorability mission, as there is only a single font with proven success and readability as in the example of Erik Spiekermann and a single color. That seems to me as insufficient for be-ing easily recognizable and distinctive among other brands. Apart from that Mavi’s corporate identity is in harmony and parallel with its products on sale and service and its mission.

Koton uses typography on its logo instead of shapes and forms that give a clue about the products, service and corporation. Koton has a simple and clear logo like Mavi. In Koton’s logo (fig. 9.) “O” letters are turned into vecto-rial shape of cotton form and combined with typography. In the book “Logo” by Turkish Graphic Designers, it is stated that “Some logos and emblems car-ry information about the corporation with their shapes. Some symbols carry the meanings attributed to them. These symbols and meanings are taken over by the corporations in many sectors. So, the corporations in such sectors use these symbols time to time. For example owl stands for wisdom and science, anchor for sea and navigation.” In this context, if we bear in mind that Koton is giving service in textile sector, the usage of cotton that is the essence of textile, in Koton’s logo places Koton among the corporations that gives infor-mation about them using logo. Koton might have chosen black which is plain and carries no risk, considering its vast variety of products, casual, formal, all kinds of clothes that one can wear in daily life. Near the vectorial depictions of the “O” letters like cotton and usage of complete circles and soft shifts, there are “K”, “T” and “N” letters depicted with sharp and pointy edges. To be frank, I find it inadequate, but at least the usage of one color, namely black, prevented possible problems without creating more chaos and eye strain. To sum up to give clues about themselves, Koton used cotton forms, while Mavi Jeans used the color, blue.

Figure 9- Logo of Koton


CONCLUSIONConsequently, according to my research, the sources I have used and my in-terpretation, the most important elements while creating a new corporate identity design or revising a visual identity are to express the corporation in a clear and effective way and to make it distinctive and memorable among other examples. Other matters and supporting factors are variable according to the reason of corporation’s being and its target market. It should not be forgotten that when corporate identity is seen as a whole, the design of visual identity would be the biggest and most important part of that whole. Like-wise the design of logo, typeface and color choices are among the maim parts of identity design.

Shortly the corporate identity design that should proceed according to a plan and be performed considering every detail carefully is the symbolized version of material and spiritual characteristics of a corporation which is sup-posed to express its vision and mission in a plain, aesthetical, memorable and effective way. In my opinion every corporation that seeks profit or not forms their first impressions via their visual identities. So the designed logo, chosen typeface and colors should reflect the corporation as clear as possible, be-cause all these choices have a great effect on first impression on consumers and on the reasons to be preferred afterwards. Most of the success might be proportional to the quality of product or service but it is a fact that one of the most important reasons why a product or service is preferred among its many equivalents is the brand’s visual identity. In consequence of what I have learned so far, in line with the questioning and the knowledge that I gained thanks to this thesis, as my graduation project I want to make a successful and extensive corporate design study in which there are going to be packag-ing designs and campaigns. I believe I am going to create a successful and effective visual identity study, thanks to what I have learned from my thesis. I hope this thesis will be an efficient help and guide for the designers that are interested in corporate identity design and aim to conduct studies on this subject like me.


REFERENCES

Books

Gülsüm Baydar, Tevfik Balcıoğlu (2008). ”Kim(lik)lerin Tasarımı”. Türkiye Tasarım Tarihi Topluluğu, IEU, İzmir

Edited by T. C. Melewar (2008). Facets of Corporate Identity, Communica-tion and Reputation, New York, First Ed.

Catharine Fishel, Bill Gardner (2004). Logolounge, Rockport Publishers, Inc., a member of Quayside Publishing Group, Beverly MA

Editor Ali Tekin Çam, Ayşe Serap Işıl (2006). Türk Grafik Tasarımcıları LOGO, Alternatif Yayıncılık, Istanbul

Articles

Wally Olins, (2002), Viewpoints, Corporate identity - the ultimate resourceBusiness, 2002.

Max Bruinsma, (Eye, no.25 vol.7 summer 1997), Learning to read and write images

Eric Spiekermann, (12/2004), Corporate Type

Design Thinking glossary, (page 180-181), (page 176-177)

Yrd. Doç. Dr. Makbule Evrim Gülsünler, ( 2007) “Kurum Kimliği Süreci ve İşleyişi Üzerine Teorik ve Uygulamalı Bir Çalışma”

Web sites

December 30th, 2011 in Articles by Eko S, How a Logo Design Can Bring Success to Your Company? http://ibrandstudio.com/articles/logo-de-sign-bring-company-success

March 19th, 2012 in Articles by Eko S, Designing a Great Brand Identityhttp://ibrandstudio.com/articles/designing-brand-identity-tips

November 6th, 2012 in Articles by Eko S, Logo vs. Brandhttp://ibrandstudio.com/articles/logo-vs-brand

http://landor.com/

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course coordinator: alessandro segalinithe importance of corporate identity design with comparative...

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