Designing an identity from a brand strategy can mean the difference between good enough and growth. But too often, strategy dies in the deck.

At Love and Science, we believe strategy only matters if it’s leveraged—especially in your visual identity.

This article isn’t about defining your strategy. It assumes that’s done. It’s about translating brand strategy into design. Over years of practice, I’ve identified three things that can make or break that translation. I call them the Three P’s of Identity Design:

• People: Who your brand is for
• Personality: How your brand expresses itself
• Purpose: Why your brand exists

Nail these, and your visual identity becomes more than a vibe—it becomes a strategic asset.

What is branding? And why should I care?

Before we really dive in, I’m going to lay a quick foundation on what branding is. Branding exists to meet some crucial needs in today’s ultra visual environment. 

In one very practical sense, it creates paths to faster decision-making. Brands function as “cognitive handles”—mental shortcuts that help people cut through all the overwhelming visual noise to find what they’re looking for.

In a deeper sense, branding is fundamentally about creating connection and shared meaning. This connection is made first by understanding the ambitions, motivations, desires, needs, pains, barriers and ideology of the people the brand is trying to align with. This understanding should form the foundation for all visual identity work.

1. People: Who your brand is for

Understanding your audience is essential to effective brand strategy. You should already be able to answer these questions:

• Who will see and interact with your visual identity?
• Who are you marketing to specifically?
• What will motivate these people to take action after experiencing your brand?

How does audience intel impact visual identity? To connect with a brand’s specific audience, you must speak directly to their needs, values, and aspirations. Every visual design decision—from color choices to typography to iconography—should be filtered through the lens of who will encounter it and how a brand wants them to respond.

Designing for People

Rarely does a brand want to connect with a single group of people. That means the visual identity will often have to appeal to disparate—sometimes opposing—audiences. Say, for example, through your research you’ve uncovered the primary and secondary audiences are “creatives” and “CFO’s.” 

These opposing needs create creative tension—good design resolves it.  Here’s how:

• For creative professionals: Incorporate visually stimulating elements, unexpected details, and unique design approaches that signal creative thinking
• For business decision-makers: Balance creativity with a professional polish, and lean on strategic visual cues that communicate stability and reliability
• Color choices might include a primarily professional palette with thoughtful creative accents
• Typography might pair a clean, professional sans-serif with a more expressive display font 

The visual identity must speak to both audiences without alienating either, creating a bridge between creative expression and a clear business use-case.

2. Personality: How your brand expresses itself

A brand personality can often be described as the brand’s vibe. We use a number of frameworks and systems to zero in on personality when developing brand strategy. Getting this right is critical for communication, including your visual language. 

Visual elements need to communicate personality quickly and clearly. For the purpose of this article, we’ll lean on Carl Jung’s archetypes as shortcuts to describe a lot with a single word.

• If your brand embodies the “Jester” archetype, your visual identity should be playful, fun, and colorful
• If you’re positioning as a high-end, upscale “Explorer” archetype, your identity should feature more subdued, sharp elements with deep greens and blues that signal wealth and connection to earth
• Every visual choice—from typography to color palette to imagery style—should instantly telegraph your brand’s personality

Translating Personality into Design

If your brand can be described as “quirky, endearing, humorous, confident, and caring” that blends Creator and Sage archetypes:

• Logo design might feature hand-drawn elements or custom letterforms that showcase creativity while maintaining clear legibility
• Color palette could include warm, approachable primary colors balanced with more grounded, stable secondary colors that signal competence
• Typography might pair a distinctive, slightly playful primary font with a more serious, knowledgeable secondary font
• Visual assets could include custom illustrations that are thoughtful and clever rather than too whimsical

This approach allows expressive creativity while communicating stability, competence, and the willingness to educate and guide customers.

3. Purpose: Why your brand exists

Getting a brand’s purpose codified and documented creates a potent statement that should be used to guide brand behavior and communication.

• What problem do you solve?
• What mission drives your organization?
• How does your purpose differentiate you from competitors?

When someone encounters your visual brand, they should immediately sense your reason for being. Your purpose should be evident in every aspect of your visual system, from the symbolism in your logo to the imagery choices in your marketing materials.

Purpose-Driven Visual Identity

For a brand with a purpose focused on community building and sustainability, that might look like: 

• Logo symbolism might incorporate elements that suggest connection and preservation
• Color palette could feature earth tones and natural colors that bring to mind authenticity and environmental consciousness
• Photography style might focus on meaningful human moments and connections, capturing real life experiences
• Patterns or textures could be inspired by natural elements or community concepts
• Typography might favor clear, timeless fonts that won’t quickly go out of style

These visual choices directly communicate the brand’s purpose of creating meaningful connections while respecting environmental considerations.

Do more than just “look cool”

Successful visual identity design requires holistic thinking, and these three essential pillars are a good place to start. 

When your visual identity truly reflects your people, personality, and purpose, it creates a powerful foundation for all brand communications and experiences. By focusing on these three P’s, you create more than just cool looking visuals—you build meaningful cognitive handles that help your audience connect with your brand in a crowded marketplace.