How to make effective brand visuals
Everyone has opinions about brand logos. After a recent TikTok video I posted generated a lot of conversation, I took a look at what brands of all sizes, but especially smaller and newer brands, should consider when developing a visual identity in the Brand Sauce Podcast.
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TRANSCRIPT & SUMMARY
Back in 2009, Tropicana spent about $35 million redesigning their carton packaging. You’ve probably heard this story before—they took a pretty recognizable package, featuring an iconic straw-in-an-orange motif, and completely overhauled it. The design agency they worked with removed everything unique and created a generic, almost store-brand-looking package.
When they rolled it out, customers hated it. Within about two months, it’s estimated that they lost around $30 million in sales—a $30 million loss from a $35 million design project. Tropicana quickly responded: “You know what? We’re going back to the old packaging. People can’t find our product on the shelf. We’re losing sales left and right. We have to return to what we know works.”
Within the last year, they attempted another redesign—this time more thoughtful and far less extreme. It went over just fine, primarily because they retained the consistent visual elements that people recognized. They didn’t lose tens of millions of dollars this time.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently because I did a couple of videos on brand logos. In a very tongue-in-cheek way—which not everyone picked up on—I pushed back against the idea that a brand logo must explain what a company does. People often say, “That’s a bad logo because it doesn’t tell me what the company does.” That thinking is way off base.
There are folks—hopefully not working in actual marketing—who insist a brand logo has to educate the customer about the business. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. After making the video, I kept thinking more deeply about what really matters in a brand’s visual identity, how to create one that works for any size of business, and why it’s so essential to get it right. That’s what we’re talking about today on Brand Sauce.
Welcome to Brand Sauce, where we make strategic marketing simple—and a little spicy—so companies and marketers of all sizes can focus on doing the right things and doing them well to grow their brand.
I’m your host, Joe. I have over 15 years of marketing experience across agencies, freelance roles, and in-house teams. Over that time, I’ve picked up a lot of insights about how to do marketing really well—and through trial and error, how to do it very, very poorly.
Before we dive into brand logos and identity building, let’s open the mailbag.
If you have a question for me, please send an email to: brandsaucepod (all one word) at gmail.com.
Today’s Question
Someone recently wrote in (well, posted on Reddit, actually): “I switched my job from agency to corporate marketing and I hate it. Is this common?”
The short answer is yes. This is common.
When you move from an agency to a corporate role, you often lose some of the creative flexibility, the variety, and certainly the speed that agency life offers. What you gain is more control, more structure, and more job security.
I made that switch myself about five years ago. I felt a lot of the same things. I was using many of the same skills, but the pace was much slower. There's more stakeholder management in corporate roles, and it’s a very different structure.
For me personally, the timing worked. My wife and I were expecting a baby, I was getting older, and I felt like I’d reached the limit of how long I could thrive in the agency world. So I made the leap—and I’ve been happy in my full-time role.
The stability has been great, and I still have time to do this podcast and other creative work on the side. I have more ownership over my team’s output and much more predictability than agency life could offer, especially during uncertain economic times like in 2020.
So yes, there are trade-offs. Some people in the comments said they missed the agency world but appreciated the corporate world. Others suggested ways to reignite creative energy in a corporate role. Ultimately, it comes down to where you are in life and what you want to accomplish.
Back to the Topic: Visual Identity & Logos
One of the most important things marketing can do is build memory. Can people remember your brand and pull it from a list of competitors when it’s time to buy?
Visual identity—and especially the logo—plays a big role here. I’m not a designer, but I love design. And I’ve noticed, especially on social media, a lot of misconceptions around logos.
Some people believe a hamburger restaurant must have a burger in the logo. That’s not true. You don’t have to be literal. Education is done through marketing—not logos. The logo’s job is to make your brand memorable and distinct from competitors.
Literal logos make your brand look like everyone else in your category. That makes it harder to stand out and evolve. But if there's a creative, ownable twist? That’s when visual identity works.
Think about Burger King’s logo, which integrates the name into a burger shape. Or Sherwin-Williams pouring paint over the globe—fun and metaphorical, and used consistently for decades. Or the old Tropicana logo with the straw in the orange—a clever metaphor that said something unique.
When Tropicana replaced it with a generic glass of juice and orange slice, they lost that magic—and sales.
What Makes Up a Visual Identity?
Regardless of business size, here are essential elements:
Primary Logo – Your main logo, like the Nike swoosh with the word "Nike" underneath.
Secondary Logo – A variation that works in tighter spaces, like a tote bag or business card.
Submark / Favicon – A small icon for digital profiles or website tabs.
Color Palette – Core brand colors, plus supporting colors for use in collateral or environments.
Style Guide – Fonts, logo use rules, brand color specifications, and templates for consistent application.
Templates – Optional but useful for things like social media posts or print layouts.
All of this helps you build consistency, memory, and distinction.
Who Should You Hire?
It depends on your stage and budget:
DIY – Only advisable if you’re a designer or starting with nothing and just need something to get going. Canva can work temporarily but should be treated as a placeholder.
Freelancer – If you have $2K–$10K to invest and your brand is growing, a vetted solo designer can deliver meaningful work.
Design Firm – If you have $20K–$150K or more to spend, are well-funded, and need deep support across media and rollout, a firm can provide a full system and higher-touch process.
Avoid Fiverr unless you’ve vetted someone personally. Many sellers there use templates or deliver rushed work with little context or revision flexibility.
Considerations Before Hiring
What’s your marketing budget?
How competitive is your space visually?
Is rebranding later going to be costly?
Are you prepared to support your new identity with paid media and content?
Do you need to match or surpass category aesthetics?
How important is your visual identity to the product itself (e.g., fashion vs. B2B)?
Ask design vendors about:
Process and timeline
Rounds of revision
Deliverables
Style guides and templates
Case studies and relevance
Be sure they understand your business—and can push you when needed to do what will work, not just what feels comfortable.
Closing Thoughts
When building a visual identity, avoid generic category tropes. Red, green, and white for pizza. Mustaches for Italian restaurants. Be strategic. Look at what competitors do and don’t do, and build something distinct and memorable.
Think back to that Tropicana example. They had something clever and unique—and they lost it when they opted for generic. Learn from their mistake.
If you have more questions about visual branding or strategy, email me at brandsaucepod @ gmail.com. I’ll be talking more about this on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even BlueSky.
No matter where you’re at in your business, I hope you're finding ways to be distinct and memorable. Because that’s how you grow.
Keep it spicy out there. Talk to you next time. Bye.