Understanding the Brand Vision Phase: Building a Cohesive Identity

When it comes to branding, every element matters. While your logo is a crucial piece, it’s only one part of a bigger puzzle. That’s where the Brand Vision comes into play, helping create a holistic, cohesive identity for your brand.

At Matchbox, we approach the Brand Vision phase as the next big step in our creative process—taking the strategy and inspiration from earlier stages and translating them into a complete brand identity that’s ready to be tested in the real world.

What Is a Brand Vision?

Think of the Brand Vision as your brand from a 50,000-foot view. It’s a high-level concept that shapes how all the different elements of your brand work together. This concept is built on the foundation of the Brand Strategy and inspired by the Mood Board phase.

At Matchbox, we take key elements—logo systems, typography, color palettes, messaging and tone of voice, imagery, and layout systems—and start exploring how they come together visually. But we don’t stop there. We test these pieces across various real-world applications like business stationery, posters, packaging, websites, and social media, to make sure the brand identity holds strong in all contexts.

The goal? To give you a clear and complete visual identity that communicates who you are, resonates with your audience, and equips you with the tools to confidently represent your brand.

Why Is the Brand Vision Important?

One thing we always emphasize: your logo is not your brand. While a logo is important, your brand is really about how people feel when they interact with your product or service. The Brand Vision helps shape that feeling early on by focusing on thoughtful, strategic design decisions.

Through this process, we can make sure that all parts of your brand—visuals, messaging, and tone—are aligned, giving you the consistency and clarity needed to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.

What to Expect in a Brand Vision Presentation

When we present the Brand Vision, it’s all about collaboration. By this point, our design team has worked through several iterations, testing and refining the brand identity until we’ve landed on something solid.

The presentation is shared with your key stakeholders, where we walk through the proposed brand identity. This is your chance to provide feedback—what resonates, what doesn’t, and why. After gathering your input, we go back and make any necessary adjustments, fine-tuning the identity until it’s something we’re all excited about.

Moving Forward

Once the Brand Vision is approved, we’re ready for the next step: creating Brand Guidelines that will ensure your new brand identity stays consistent across all platforms. We’ll also hand over the final files, setting you up for success as you bring your brand to life.

For more on the Execution phase, check out this article.