These days it takes more than a fantastic product or service to stand out. A successful business utilizes the power of branding to create a visual language that its audience will remember. Video marketing is a powerful tool that captures people’s imaginations and holds their attention. A consistent video aesthetic that reflects your brand’s values, messaging, and personality is crucial. It’s easy to fall back on ready-made filters or pre-sets to polish your aesthetic clips, but this strategy will backfire in the long run. Your business aesthetic needs to be unique to your brand – which isn’t as difficult as it sounds. All you need is a deep understanding of your business, some great ideas, and, of course, an Artlist subscription. So read on to unlock the secret to creating a brand aesthetic that stands out.Â
What is a brand’s video aesthetic or visual language?
A visual language is the intentional use of visual aesthetics – whether color, type, composition, or framing – to communicate a brand’s messaging, values, and personality. The aim of visual language is to create a sense of familiarity with a brand, which can only be done through consistency. Humans are creatures of comfort. We’re drawn to the familiar and steer clear of the unknown, especially when investing in something. Take Mcdonald’s, for example – those golden arches are instantly recognizable from anywhere. So a brand aesthetic and visual language is a way to let customers know who you are and remember you the next time they want to purchase your product. In other words, a visual language is a form of subliminal messaging communicating everything your brand stands for. And, of course, that visual language must extend to your video aesthetic. With video marketing much more impactful than imagery or text, it’s a surefire way to sell your product to customers. However, a brand’s video aesthetic must be consistent with the overall visual language of the brand. That means the same colors, fonts, frames, and unique touches that tell your audience who you are and why they should pay attention.
How consistent visual language can help build your brand
Consistency in your visual language makes your brand instantly recognizable, which is particularly important for video content. With video fast becoming the most consumable and sharable format for social media, standing out from the crowd while conveying your message is a recipe for success. Once you have your audience’s attention and respect, website traffic will increase, your audience will grow, and you’ll build a loyal following. To build your brand, start by conveying your brand personality or brand identity. Think of these as the human characteristics or traits of your brand that create an emotional bond with your audience. Bring these to the fore of your aesthetic, and you’ll build meaningful relationships with your audience. Audio design is a great way to convey this message in your video content – and Artlist’s music catalog has a soundscape, effect, or track to convey every emotion out there. A brand personality can be built through footage, framing, or composition. Take Apple, for example – their clean, minimalist design represents the seamless experience of using their products. They show this principle across every touch point, whether their logo, shop design, their social media feed, or their video aesthetic.Now that you’ve established your brand personality through visual aesthetics pay close attention to your signature elements that will make your brand identifiable. Signature elements create and translate the visual brand language, including color, lighting, movement, logos, and type. As well as being synonymous with your brand, these elements can massively impact the way consumers interact with your brand. The color blue, for example, is reliable, trustworthy, and clean. Red is attention-grabbing, passionate, and powerful. Yellow is joyful, hopeful, and warm.Â
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How to create a recognizable visual look in your videos
Artlist’s Head of Brand Marketing, Liran Friedman, has been working in the field of visual aesthetics for years. Here, he shares the tricks of the trade so you can successfully build a visual brand aesthetic through your video content.
Tip 1. Streamline your process
You have endless choices when it comes to designing your videos, with lighting, movement, camera movement, framing, and location resulting in completely different outcomes. But once you’ve made your decision, stick to it. This won’t just create familiarity between your audience and your brand but will make your process much more efficient.
Tip 2: Consistency is key
Whether you’re shooting in a studio or out in the wild, ensure the lighting is consistent in every shot. Think about the intensity, the colors, the angle, and the setup. Use soft light to create a flattering effect on your subject or hard light to communicate a hard-hitting message. If you’re working in a studio, take note of your studio setup, and use the same camera and lens combination in all your videos. If you have variations in lighting and color, it’s always best practice to color grade your videos to make them look consistent and professional.Â
Tip 3: Soundtrack
Music can make or break your video. Finding the right music to accompany your video is really important for your brand’s personality and the message you want to convey. With Artlist’s music catalog, you have thousands of royalty-free soundtracks and sound effects. Finding the perfect hip-hop track to play alongside your new streetwear drop or an organic house track to showcase your new resort will make a big difference in how the audience perceives your brand.Â
Tip 4: Graphics
When it comes to graphics, leave no stone unturned. Think about the font, colors, subtitles, and logo, and make sure they’re consistent throughout all your video content. Then there’s the color scheme – an extremely powerful way to communicate your brand messaging with subliminal qualities that seriously impact consumers’ perception of your brand. Think about warmth, hue, tone, and how the psychology of color reflects your product or service. If your signature color is green, then include splashes of it in your videos to create a consistent and cohesive look.Â
Examples:
The Barbie marketing team deserves a raise. Their visual language is, you guessed it, hot pink, and that color crops up in every Barbie-related Google search and a fully rentable Air BnB property in Malibu. Undoubtedly, their consistent, fun visual language is one of the reasons Barbie is this year’s most successful box office event. Source: AirBnbNetflix uses the color red in its logo and across all of its touchpoints. Their specific shade of red has become an iconic part of their brand. It’s a simple yet effective way of carrying consistent branding throughout all their marketing and branded materials. Insta360 is a classic example of communicating brand identity through visual language. They let their customers do the work and share their self-filmed videos across their social platforms. They’re always showcasing the weird and wonderful things you can do with Insta360, inspiring their audience to do the same and ultimately purchase the product.
Conclusion
Building a signature video aesthetic is a powerful way to connect with your audience, and Artlist’s assets can help you fulfill that vision. With footage, music, and video templates, you have the freedom to explore your brand identity and create a meaningful, long-lasting connection with your audience.“Consumers need to recognize your brand at first glance, so make sure your video content matches all the elements that represent your brand, like values, brand personality, colors, camera work, and animation. Don’t make it too complicated, make sure your team is aligned with your brand aesthetic, and don’t be afraid to make changes over the years, as brands can evolve and change just like people do. “– Liran Friedman, Head of Brand Marketing, Artlist.Try Artlist for free today.
Alice Austin is a freelance writer from London. She writes for Mixmag, Beatportal, Huck, Dummy, Electronic Beats, Red Bulletin and more. She likes to explore youth and sub-culture through the lens of music, a vocation that has led her around the world. You can contact and/or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
