Heraldic marks are used to identify a knight or an army. Visual puns were used in the making of canting arms. It also gives motivation to the people representing the trademark. It breaks down into:
- Social Identity: who is this or who is the one saying that
- Ownership: who owns this
- Origin: who made this
Heraldry deals with deals with armor signs. It derives from the word "Heraldica" which means the art of the herald. Symbols on the armor and shields were used to identify combatants in warfare. The Papal call in 1095 for the Holy Crusade drove blacksmiths to make marks for different cultures to recognize one another. Today, BP, Chevron, Saab, Porsche and Alfa Romeo use shields or historic culture marks in their identity to show their heritage. A way to show customers they care about their cultural roots.
Monograms are letters or drawn outlined imagery used to identify oneself. Typically initials are used to express ones identity such as the Kings in the 1000's to initial law written documents. Like a king's logo. Earmarks are the less painful way of branding cattle, as they tattoo a mark onto the cattle. Usually when the cattle has hair grown or dust kicks up, the branding gets lost as for earmarks, they never really lose their look or go away. Farm marks were used by the Danish to mark their cattle and herd, having a different design for each thing they needed to brand.
Ceramic and Printer marks usually focused on visual puns that people would instantly recognize by looking at the illustration. For example a printing company by the name of Frosch has frogs in its illustration. Frosch means frog in german and the illustration plays of that for easier brand recognition.
As we move along in time an identity of a company focuses on its function. Design programs are used to initiate the function of an identity. Its a plan that specifies the visual forms that the company will use to present itself.
- Trademarks (Picture, Letter marks)- symbol, or letters to use in identity
- Typefaces- what fonts a company may use to represent
- Colors- Specific colors a company may use that is instantly recognized and is appropriate
Other applications in a design program may include correspondence, sales catalogs,advertising, products, packaging, vehicles, signage, shop interior, shop fronts and uniforms. A program also should inspire employees and spark motivation which in turn creates customer satisfaction which leads to increase in sales. A chart is present to show how a program controls the visual identity. Using internal identity it should reduce costs of a product and the external identity should bring in sales therefore meeting business goals.
Aside from the identity is the brand. The brand is a product that uses its trademark, brand name, has a reputation, and has an atmosphere built around it. A brand is a product that the overall company produces to get its message out there.
There is a number of corporate identity systems out there ranging from one identity system such as organizational-monoistic identity such as IBM, to a company that uses many brands such as the Proctor-Gamble to gets its identity (ex: Mr. Clean, Tide, Pringles, Swiffer, etc.)
Then there is kinds of identification. Such as Uniqueness, Value, Holding Power, Association, Description, Tone of Voice, Graphic Excellence, Reputation, Discretion and Repetition. All these kinds of identification use different techniques to portray a message to their specific demographic.
These first 64 pages of Marks of Excellence really gets us to understand the importance of trademarks, gives us examples of marks, and to really understand the importance behind the design program of an identity.
