Corporate Design (Visual Identity)
Corporate design is a company's visual identity: the binding combination of logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and layout rules applied consistently across every channel. It is the visible layer of a brand identity and makes an organisation recognisable before a single sentence has been read.
In practice
For an SME, corporate design is a question of efficiency rather than taste: with agreed templates, quotes, social posts and signage are produced faster and with fewer queries. The most common mistake is developing the identity for the website alone and improvising print, vehicle livery and trade-fair material later. You recognise good work when someone on your team can produce a clean, on-brand document without calling the agency. Expect the identity to be refined over time; a complete restart is rarely necessary and usually expensive.