5 Ways to Build a Brand Identity That Doesn’t Feel Generic

Most branding isn’t bad. It’s just empty.

That’s because most companies don’t actually know what makes them different. So they default to what looks safe. They chase trends, mimic competitors, and call it strategy. The result? A sea of visual sameness. Logos that feel familiar. Taglines that could belong to anyone.

It’s not a design problem—it’s an identity problem. When you don’t know who you are, your branding has nothing to say.

If you want a brand that doesn’t just look good but actually feels like you, here’s where to start.

Start Your Brand With a Clear Value Proposition

Most companies start branding at the surface—picking fonts, mood boards, slogans. But strong brands don’t begin with what things look like. They begin with what things mean.

Your value proposition is the foundation of your brand identity. It answers three questions—clearly, specifically, and in plain language:

• What do you offer?

• Who is it for?

• Why should they choose you over someone else?

Not vague answers like “great customer service” or “high quality.” Real differentiation. A real reason to exist. Because without that, all the branding in the world is just decoration.

And no, your product isn’t your identity. You’re not “a CBD beverage company” or “a cannabis accessories brand.” That’s your category. What people need to know is: what makes you this kind of brand?

Look at Notion. It’s a note-taking tool. But the value proposition isn’t notes—it’s clarity, customization, and a sense of calm control in a world of clutter. Every piece of their identity supports that—from their minimal interface to their thoughtful onboarding.

Or take Patagonia. They sell clothes. But their identity is rooted in environmental activism. That clarity drives every visual and verbal decision they make. It’s not an afterthought—it’s the anchor.

When brands don’t start here, the result is always the same: generic messaging, lookalike visuals, and a brand that could belong to anyone. That’s why clarity at this stage shapes everything else—your voice, your aesthetic, your direction.

Start with a strong value proposition. Start with why it matters. Then build the rest to carry that message forward.

Define Your Brand Voice Before You Touch Design

You can’t design a brand you haven’t heard speak.

Most companies rush into visual identity—colors, logos, layouts—before they’ve ever nailed down the voice. The result? A beautiful shell with no substance. A brand that might catch the eye, but says nothing when it opens its mouth.

Brand voice isn’t just a tagline. It’s how you write. How you respond to customers. How your homepage reads. How your Instagram captions sound. It’s the consistent tone and personality that lets people know exactly who they’re dealing with—even when the logo’s nowhere in sight.

If you skip this step, your branding ends up surface-level. That’s why so many brands end up sounding like AI wrote their website: a mix of “empowering innovation,” “crafted with care,” and “solutions for modern life.” It's not voice—it’s filler.

So how do you find yours? Start with these exercises:

• Describe your brand as a person. Not just adjectives—what do they believe? How do they talk? What pisses them off?

• Write two sentences you’d never say. This helps narrow tone by identifying what’s off-brand.

• Read your copy out loud. If it sounds like marketing copy and not a real person, rewrite it.

Now compare two brands in the same space. Liquid Death and Smartwater both sell bottled water. But Liquid Death’s voice is aggressive, irreverent, and anti-corporate. Smartwater is sleek, understated, and wellness-adjacent. They’re working in the same category—yet their voice makes them feel like totally different species.

That’s the power of authorship. The power of knowing how you sound before deciding how you look.

Get the voice right, and design gets easier. Every choice has a compass.

Make Visual Decisions That Couldn’t Belong to Anyone Else

The fastest way to kill a brand is to build it out of templates.

Too many companies mistake “clean” for “effective.” They chase trends, download the same design kits everyone else is using, and default to what feels familiar. It’s how you end up with minimalist sans-serifs, muted earth tones, and soft gradients doing absolutely nothing.

That’s not a brand. That’s beige noise.

Real visual identity is authored. It’s built from deliberate choices—choices that reflect who you are and what you stand for. Not just what’s “on trend” this quarter.

A strong visual system is more than a logo. It’s:

• A font that fits your voice, not just what came with the template

• Colors that carry meaning, not just aesthetics

• Layout rules that reinforce personality, not just hierarchy

And all of it works together. That’s what makes it ownable.

Want to see it in action? Look at Chobani’s rebrand. Their switch from sterile, clinical visuals to warm, organic typography and earthy tones didn’t just look different—it felt different. It signaled a shift from commodity to culture. Or take Oatly—hand-drawn type, quirky illustrations, and unexpected layouts make every piece of packaging unmistakably theirs. You don’t need a logo to recognize the brand.

That’s the bar. Not just “professional” or “pretty.” You want visuals that are unmistakably you. The kind of system no one could lift without it feeling like theft.

Forget “safe.” Make design decisions you can actually stand behind.

Design a Brand Identity System That Actually Works Across Every Platform

A strong brand identity isn’t just about having great visuals—it’s about having a system that works. One that holds together whether you’re printing business cards, launching a TikTok campaign, redesigning your website, or sending a sales deck to a potential partner.

This is where most branding falls short. It’s easy to create something that looks good on a mood board or a homepage. It’s a lot harder to build a system that holds up across dozens of formats, channels, and teams. That’s why your brand identity needs structure—rules and rationale behind every choice, not just aesthetics.

Start by designing for flexibility. Your brand colors shouldn’t fall apart when printed in black and white. Your typography shouldn’t break when resized for mobile. Your layouts should have enough built-in variation to keep things fresh without losing cohesion. And your voice should feel like one person, even if five different people are writing your content.

This doesn’t mean being rigid—it means being intentional. Think of brands like Spotify or Figma. Their identity systems are fluid enough to stay relevant across campaigns, content types, and touchpoints. But everything still feels unmistakably like them. That’s because they’ve created internal logic: visual patterns, typographic behaviors, tone standards, and platform-specific guidance that keeps every piece aligned.

If you’re building a brand identity from scratch (or trying to fix one that doesn’t scale), ask these questions:

• Can your visuals adapt across web, social, print, and video without losing impact?

• Can someone new to your team understand your brand voice without guesswork?

• Can your identity stretch without snapping?

When the answer is yes, you’re not just designing for today. You’re creating something durable—an identity that can grow with your business, not get replaced by the next rebrand cycle.

That’s the difference between a nice-looking brand and a real one. And it’s a core part of how we build at Kleur.

Keep Decision-Makers Close to the Branding Process

One of the fastest ways to dilute a brand is to put too many layers between the people making decisions and the people doing the work. Distance creates disconnect. And when the people who actually understand the business aren't close to the execution, you end up with brand identity by committee—safe, vague, and forgettable.

This happens all the time: leadership signs off on a brief, but doesn’t see the work again until it’s already in review. Meanwhile, the creative team is left interpreting secondhand feedback, filtered through account managers and strategy decks. By the time it ships, the work has passed through so many hands, it’s lost any trace of original intent.

That’s not oversight. That’s abdication.

Real brand ownership means being involved—not micromanaging, but setting the tone early and checking in at the right moments. It means treating your brand identity as something worth protecting, not just approving.

Take a look at how some of the most consistent brands operate. The people at the top stay engaged. They don’t disappear after kickoff. They offer clear direction, react to rough drafts, and know what the brand should feel like—not just what the deck says.

When decision-makers stay close, they’re able to:

• Catch misalignments before they snowball

• Clarify priorities when tradeoffs are needed

• Protect the brand’s point of view, even under tight timelines

And when they don’t? You get launches that feel off. Campaigns that sound like someone else. A mishmash of visuals and messaging that might technically be “on-brand,” but don’t say anything real.

If you want a brand identity that holds up—one that’s consistent, owned, and actually says something—keep your creative partners close. Don’t just approve the work. Help shape it.

That’s how we work at Kleur. Direct, collaborative, and always aligned with the people who care most about getting it right.

Want Brand Identity That’s Actually Yours? Partner With Kleur.

Most brands don’t set out to be generic. They just follow a process that makes generic the default. Surface-level voice. Trend-based visuals. Decisions made too far from the work. And suddenly, the brand you meant to build gets lost in the noise.

It doesn’t have to go that way.

Real brand identity starts with clarity—knowing what you offer, who it’s for, and why it matters. From there, it’s about making specific, ownable decisions at every level. Voice. Design. Strategy. And yes, execution.

That’s how we work at Kleur. No templates. No fluff. Just intentional creative built to reflect who you are and what you stand for.

If you’re tired of branding that looks nice but says nothing, let’s talk. We’ll help you build something that actually feels yours.