You may be satisfied with your company’s visual branding but uncertain about its true effectiveness, or perhaps you’re considering an investment in your visual identity. In either case, understanding whether your branding is making a meaningful impact on your business is crucial.

But how can you measure if it’s truly making a difference? Measuring brand awareness in terms of your visual identity is essential for understanding how effectively a brand’s visual elements resonate with its audience. Key indicators include logo recognition and the ability of consumers to recall the brand through visual cues such as colour schemes, typography and packaging. Consistency in design across platforms ensures a strong brand identity, while social media engagement with branded visuals can reflect how well these elements connect with consumers. Tools like heatmaps, search trends, and user-generated content offer deeper insights into brand visibility. Additionally, branded merchandise or signage can serve as tangible indicators of how recognisable and impactful a brand’s design is in both digital and physical spaces. Here we look at how brands can better assess their visual presence and strengthen consumer awareness through design.

1. Logo Recognition

Brand Recall Tests: Conduct surveys or interviews where participants are asked to recall or recognise a brand based on its logo. Track how many people can identify the brand purely from the logo or specific graphic elements without the brand name.
Unaided vs. Aided Recall: Unaided recall refers to recognising the brand with no clues, while aided recall provides some context (e.g., showing part of the logo or a colour scheme) and seeing if people can still identify the brand.

Vanmonster conducted a survey in which they asked 100 members of the British public to draw the Audi logo from memory. Maybe it’s just because I’m a designer but I found some of these pretty hilarious for what I assumed was a pretty recognisable logo.

2. Consistency in Visual Identity

Brand Consistency Audits: Assess whether the logo, typography, colour schemes, and other design elements are consistent across various platforms and materials. Inconsistent designs can confuse audiences, affecting brand awareness.
Usage Guidelines Compliance: Check how often brand elements follow official guidelines, as this consistency helps reinforce brand recognition.

Whenever we develop a visual identity for our clients, we strongly recommend including a brand guide. Even a simple guide can ensure consistency by enforcing the correct use of colours, fonts, and rules on logo treatment, helping to maintain coherence across all branding efforts.

Some of our previous brand guides

3. Social Media Engagement with Visuals

Engagement Metrics: Analyse likes, shares, and comments on posts that feature specific brand design elements (e.g., logos, packaging design, visual campaigns) across social media platforms. High engagement on visual content can signal strong brand awareness.
User-Generated Content: Track how often customers create and share content that prominently features the brand’s design elements. This can indicate how much your brand identity resonates with the audience.

To aid this we offer social media post designs and templates that are editable and on brand. Ideally you want to be in a place where the brand is recognisable with or without the full logo.

5. Branded Merchandise and Products

Logo Prominence: Measure how often your branded merchandise (e.g., packaging, apparel, or products) is seen in public or mentioned in reviews. Products with strong, recognisable designs can be a reflection of brand awareness.
Recognition in Stores: Conduct surveys or observational studies in retail environments to see how often consumers spot and gravitate toward products with your brand’s design without direct verbal communication.

6. Website Heatmaps

Visual Attention Tracking: Use heatmaps or eye-tracking tools on your website to see if visitors’ attention is drawn to key brand elements like the logo or specific design features. High attention to these elements suggests good brand recognition.

We often use AI tools such as attentioninsight.com to aid website design. This can give you a good idea of which areas of the website are drawing users attention.

7. Surveys on Visual Preferences

Customer Surveys: Ask customers about the design elements they associate with your brand (e.g., “Which of these colors do you associate with our brand?” or “What comes to mind when you see this visual?”).
Design-Based Feedback: Collect feedback directly related to your brand’s design to understand if people can recognise your brand just by seeing elements like your colour palette, icons, or specific design styles.

8. Impressions and Share of Voice in Design

Design Share of Voice: Track how often your brand’s visual assets appear compared to competitors’ assets in marketing campaigns, blogs, or social media. A high share means strong brand awareness through design.
Design Impressions: Measure how many times your design assets (like banners or social media images) are seen by people across various platforms. Higher impressions lead to greater brand visibility and awareness.

9. Digital and Physical Brand Signage

Signage Recall: Track how often consumers remember and recognise physical or digital brand signage. Whether it’s in a store or online, well-designed and distinctive signage contributes to awareness.

This can include signage on vans and vehicles. These can be some of your most high profile ways of showcasing your brand, so don’t forget them when considering your wider visual identity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, measuring brand awareness through graphic design provides valuable insights into how well a brand’s visual identity is recognised and resonated with its audience. By focusing on elements like logo recognition, design consistency, and engagement with visual content across various platforms, brands can gauge the effectiveness of their design in building awareness. Tools such as heatmaps, search trends, and user-generated content further illuminate how visual elements drive consumer interaction. Additionally, the prominence of branded merchandise and signage, as well as industry recognition, offers concrete evidence of a brand’s impact. Ultimately, a strong and consistent graphic design enhances brand visibility, helping to create a memorable and lasting impression.

Measuring brand awareness