It's really known by now that “your brand is not just your logo.” But what else is there? Well, fonts and colors also became assimilated well into the brand identity elements world as part of the must-have-defined. True enough, those 3 things combined (fonts, colors, logo) are the real basis of any brand -because from there, we can create pretty much any other element and keep a cohesive look.
I have a free CANVA brand identity kit, Ellie (download here!), with a typography-based logo, so it is a logo and carries one of the main font families of the brand. The logo also has an illustration, which is so simple it could be used as an icon , the colors, and then the pattern.
So, my brand elements take for you is:
Get the a couple of font families. Families! Investing in premium is totally worth it here.
Get a few colors and expand from the tone variation in each of them.
Get at least one pattern, but three or four won't hurt.
Have a few complementary icons/illustrations/graphic designs.
Develop a photography style that will complement everything else.
That's it! If you nail the five items above, you're gold! I will explore each of these in a blog post, because I really feel there's so much more to be said about each of these parts of a brand's visual identity. And, don't be locked into just these 5 elements. The branding process is neverending and richer than we could imagine.