Lexicon

A Compendium Designed To Unveil Complex Branding Jargons via A Series of Clear, Comprehensible Definitions.

B

Brand

The unique identity and image that sets a business, product, or service apart from others, encompassing visual elements, messaging, and the overall experience it offers.

Brandgrammar™

Firefish’s proprietary branding framework which adopts linguistics for branding. Click here to learn more.

Brand Activation

A strategic marketing initiative that aims to ignite consumer engagement and generate brand recognition via an assorted array of promotional activities. Among the many activities involved in brand activation, one may encounter product demonstrations, experiential events, influencer campaigns, pop-up shops, and social media promotions. The result of a successful activation campaign includes heightened brand visibility, fortified brand loyalty, and subsequently amplified business growth.

Brand Alignment

The process of ensuring consistency and coherence across all aspects of a brand, from visual elements to messaging, to create a unified and recognisable identity.

Brand Ambassador

An individual, often a public figure, chosen to represent and promote a brand, embodying its values and enhancing its visibility through endorsement.

Brand Archetype

A portrayal of your brand embodying a persona shaped by 12 fundamental human desires and values, such as safety, power, and belonging. Rooted in the theories of influential psychiatrist Carl Jung, who proposed that humans use symbolism to comprehend overarching concepts, these archetypes enable brands to establish a profound connection and comprehension with their target audience. By identifying with a specific archetype, brands can align themselves with distinct customer personas, providing a strategic focus for marketing endeavors.

Brand Architecture

A detailed framework that dictates the arrangement and hierarchy of a corporation’s brand assortment. Its primary objective is to establish a clear-cut organization of how the brand operates, encompassing interrelations between multitudes of products, services, sub-brands, and the overarching brand. The various types of brand architecture models include:

Branded House, which presents all sub-brands under the control of a dominant master brand. Example: iPad, iPhone and iMac come under the corporation, Apple.

House of Brands
, where there is no overt link between the individual sub-brands and the parent brand. Example: Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Lipton are housed under Unilever.

Hybrid
, where a fusion of individual and corporate brands are employed.

Brand Assets

The visual and non-visual elements, including logos, colours, and trademarks, that contribute to a brand’s identity and recognition.

Brand Associations

The mental and emotional connections that consumers create between a brand and distinct attributes, qualities, or characteristics. These associations form the foundation of the brand’s image, personality, and reputation, impacting how consumers perceive quality and engage with the brand. Brand association extends beyond mere visual logos. When positive associations become ingrained in a brand’s attributes, it has the potential to significantly boost product sales and foster consumer loyalty, thereby establishing itself as a market leader.

Brand Audit

The process of conducting a stock-take on the existing brand, to determine what the brand means in the eyes of key stakeholders. It calls for an honest introspection as well as a precise retrospective. It attempts to reach deep, far and wide, to expose inherent weaknesses but also unravel opportunities. Hence, at this juncture, it calls for an open heart and open mind to learn, understand and discover and only then, to consolidate, strategise and transform.

Brand Consulting

A specialized service focused on shaping and refining a business’s brand identity. Consultants provide strategic guidance in developing a cohesive brand strategy, designing visual elements, and crafting effective messaging. It aims to create a positive and memorable brand experience, fostering brand loyalty and differentiation in the competitive market landscape.

Brand Colour System

The defined set of colors that are specifically chosen and used consistently across all brand materials and communications. A brand color system typically includes a primary color palette, which consists of a small number of colors that represent the core identity of the brand. These colors are carefully selected to align with the brand’s values, personality, and target audience.

Brand Communications

The myriad of channels and messages that businesses use to hopefully remain top-of-mind to the discerning and selective target audience. This includes advertising, marketing, and promotional activities, such as social media campaigns that utilize the latest cutting-edge techniques and tactics, or content and email marketing which can be powerful tools for connecting with the audience. Depending on budget and strategy, a brand can employ a varied set of communication channels and messaging strategies to not only foster a consistent and unforgettable brand experience for the audience, but to also cultivate trust and loyalty, thereby rising above the intense competition that lurks around every corner.

Brand Creation

A multifaceted process that encompasses the development of a brand’s identity and establishment of reputation in the marketplace. This involves crafting a distinctive name and visual identity that differentiate the brand from its competitors. In addition, the process entails defining the brand’s core values, purpose, and personality. These serve as the brand’s “moral compass”, a guiding force for internal strategies from marketing to human resource and business development. An effectively created brand inspires trust, loyalty, and advocacy among its customers and stakeholders, thereby facilitating business growth and success.

Brand Education

Providing enlightenment and honing competencies to employees, partners, and stakeholders regarding a brand’s essence, purpose, and direction. It is a journey in understanding the brand vision and mission, and learning to embody the core values in every engagement, both internally amongst employees and externally with clients and the public. Brand education is a vital tool to consistently and powerfully communicate the brand’s narrative, establish a uniform brand identity, and cultivate brand equity.

Brand Equity

The intangible value and perception that a brand holds in the eyes of its audience, influencing customer loyalty, trust, and market success.

Brand Essence

The embodiment of a brand’s core, encompassing its timeless values, mission, and vision, thereby providing a steadfast foundation for maintaining consistency and authenticity. It serves as the driving force behind the company’s existence, steering its decisions, and effectively communicating its purpose and value to its target audience.

Brand Experience

The overall perception customers develop through interactions with your business, covering touchpoints across the customer journey. This includes retail, advertising, digital marketing, products, customer service, and uncontrolled factors like journalistic comments and word of mouth. Positive brand experiences cultivate strong emotional connections, reinforcing brand positioning, increasing brand awareness, and enhancing brand loyalty.

Brand Extension

Utilizing an already-existing brand name and equity to release a novel product or service in a diverse category or market. By harnessing the positive connotations and familiarity of the pre-established brand, the probability of success for the new product is raised.

Brand Guardian

A role or individual within an organization responsible for maintaining and preserving a brand’s consistency, integrity, and values. This role involves overseeing and approving all brand-related elements to ensure alignment with established guidelines. It plays a crucial role in upholding the brand’s identity and reputation, requiring a keen understanding of the brand strategy and a commitment to consistency across various communication channels and materials.

Brand Hierarchy

A synonymous term to brand architecture, it refers to the systematic organization of brands within a larger entity or parent brand, based on their order of importance, nature of offerings, and management strategy. Example: Nestlé is the parent to sub-brands including Kit Kat, Milo, Cheerios and Nescafé.

Brand Identity

The outward appearance and experience of a brand, as perceived by the market and its customers. It encompasses a collection of distinguishing verbal and visual elements: brand name, brand logo, brand tagline, brand voice, brand typography. The overall goal is communicate a distinctive brand message in a memorable way, leaving a lasting impression in the customer’s mind.

Brand Imagery

The visual elements and representations associated with a brand. It encompasses the visual identity, aesthetics, and visual assets that help shape and communicate the brand’s personality, values, and positioning to its target audience. Brand imagery also extends beyond static visuals and can encompass dynamic elements like video, animations, and motion graphics. These dynamic elements contribute to the brand’s visual storytelling and enhance engagement with the audience.

Brand Language

A unique concoction of visual and verbal elements that create a singular identity for a brand. It is like the secret sauce that defines a brand’s holistic impression – from signature graphic elements and treatment of imagery to the colour palette, tone of voice, and messaging used in all brand communications. It is all about how a brand presents itself to the audience: Consistent, harmonious, and conveying a certain je ne sais quoi that evokes powerful emotions. This means every channel of communication must align with the brand’s values and objectives. Effective brand language should be highly distinctive, cementing its impression on the audience.

Brand Management

The strategic practice of building, maintaining, and enhancing a brand’s image, credibility, and value over time. It requires analyzing the marketplace, identifying the customers’ wants and desires, and formulating strategies to position the brand effectively. Brand managers are accountable for overseeing all aspects of the brand’s marketing and communication efforts, to ensure brand consistency and coherence, guaranteeing that everything matches the brand’s values, personality, and aspirations.

Brand Manual

A document that should be referred to frequently and regularly in order to understand, measure and apply the brand touch-points. It must be made readily available to all stakeholders; simple in language and easy to use. It encapsulates the entire brand essence by transforming it into executables and artifacts to be used in real world applications and environments.

Brand Mascot

A character or figure representing a brand, often used to personify the brand’s values and create a memorable and engaging identity.

Brand Mission

A brand mission outlines short-term objectives and actionable steps that can be consistently pursued to progress toward the long-term vision. It focuses on immediate, achievable goals aligning with the broader vision.

Brand Naming

Creating a name for a brand, product or service. It is a critical aspect of branding, as a good brand name can help to build strong brand recognition. As such, a brand name should “stick” in your mind; easy to remember and easy to spell. The naming process involves research, brainstorming, and testing, and should be approached with careful consideration and strategic planning.

Brand Nomenclature

“Brand nomenclature” refers to the system or set of names, terms, or labels that a brand uses to identify and differentiate its products, services, or offerings. It involves the naming and categorization of various brand elements, such as product lines, sub-brands, features, or variations within a brand’s portfolio.

Brand Performance

Overall ability of a brand to deliver value and meet its goals, as measured by a wide variety of metrics ranging from brand awareness to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy, as well as financial indicators such as revenue and market share. By regularly evaluating brand performance, the brand can determine if there are increased profitability or greater customer loyalty, and thus a critical edge in the competitive marketplace. At the same time, the brand can identify areas for improvement and optimize its strategies to continue staying ahead of the curve.

Brand Personality

Key human traits that are intrinsic to the brand’s DNA. They inform a brand’s overall personality. A genuine set of brand attributes will resonate with its intended audience, creating a meaningful and lasting connection with them.

Brand Positioning

The space a brand owns in the mind of a customer, as well as differentiating from your competitors. It is about creating a shared identity with your customers and aligning with them on a deeper level. And by doing so, it cuts through the noise and builds connections that last. In a saturated market, there lies a great opportunity in articulating a brand position strongly and clearly.

Brand Promise

A promise made to customers about what they are going to get. This commitment can cover various aspects, including quality, core values, reliability, trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, unique advantages, a customer-focused approach, and emotional connections. It forms the bedrock of a brand’s identity and strategic approach. Stakeholders can also utilize the brand promise to effectively shape the customer’s experience and perception of the brand.

Brand Revamp

The process of refreshing a brand’s identity and perception in the market. The depth and significance of a brand revamp lie on a wide spectrum; it can range from simply modernising a brand’s look and feel by updating the logo, visuals and typography, to a larger business pivot and overall shift in marketing strategy. Ultimately, most if not all businesses require a brand revamp at some point, should they wish to remain relevant in the ever-changing market.

Brand Signature

A unique and distinctive element or combination of elements that serves as a recognizable and consistent representation of a brand. A brand signature can take various forms, including a visual mark, a specific design element, a sound or jingle, a particular scent, or even a specific way of communicating or interacting with customers. It is a signature characteristic or feature that sets a brand apart from its competitors and helps build brand recognition and loyalty.

Brand Slogan

A brand slogan is typically created to evoke emotions, establish a brand personality, or convey the brand’s value proposition in a succinct and memorable way. It is a concise and catchy statement that aims to leave a lasting impression on the target audience and reinforce the brand’s identity.

Brand Stakeholders

Individuals or groups with a vested interest in a brand, including employees, customers, investors, suppliers, and the community. They collectively influence the brand’s perception, success, and value. Managing these relationships is crucial for building a strong brand and ensuring long-term success in the market.

Brand Story

A tool to communicate a company’s origin, brand positioning and purpose into a simple and engaging narrative. It is a recount of significant events, the motivation leading to the brand’s creation, and how it aims to make a difference in the world. By creating a compelling brand story that are emotive and authentic, a brand can move its intended audience and build a loyal following.

Brand Strategy

A strategic roadmap for the brand. It documents what the brand is all about; covering all aspects of the brand: brand positioning, brand attributes and brand personality. And it aligns seamlessly with the corporate strategy of vision, mission and core values. It is a plan for clear action; actions on how the brand can grow to become a powerful brand.

Brand Symbol

A visual element that represents a brand, often iconic, contributing to brand recognition.

Brand Tagline

A concise and memorable phrase or sentence that encapsulates the essence of a brand and communicates its key message.

Brand Touchpoints

A brand touchpoint encompasses every interaction, whether physical or digital, between a brand and its audience. These encounters are opportunities for the brand to make a lasting impression, forge connections, and play a crucial role in shaping the overall brand experience and fostering loyalty. Examples of touchpoints include website visits, customer service interactions, business cards, product packaging, social media posts, and online reviews.

Brand Values

Strong beliefs within the brand. They are guiding principles to live by. They are about character and hence are non-negotiable. They are so deeply held that they almost never change. Ultimately, they shape the vision and drive the mission of the brand.

Brand Vision

An organization’s long-term aspirations and overarching goals. It serves as the guiding force for future endeavours and sets the direction for a brand’s sustained growth and success.

Brandmark Symbol

Refers to a graphic or visual element that represents a brand or company. It is a unique and distinctive design created to visually identify and differentiate a brand from its competitors. Brandmark symbols are often used in conjunction with the brand name or logo to create a recognizable and memorable visual identity. Unlike a logo, which may include text or typography, a brandmark symbol is typically a standalone graphic that can be easily recognized and associated with a specific brand.

Branding Agency

A specialised firm that assists businesses in developing and managing their brand strategies, including visual identity, messaging, and market positioning.

Branding Workshop

An interactive session that helps businesses achieve internal alignment. Branding workshops typically involve key stakeholders such as brand founders, employees and external consultants. Through group exercises and discussions, a branding workshop aims to establish clear internal understanding of the brand – from its unique positioning, to the long-term vision and the strategies to undertake in order to fulfil it.

Business Analysis

A systematic evaluation of an organization’s operations, structure, and performance to identify areas of improvement, streamline processes, and optimize overall efficiency.

Business Model Canvas

A visual framework that maps out key components of a business model, including customer segments, value propositions, revenue streams, and cost structure, enabling a comprehensive understanding that facilitates strategic decision-making.

Business Process Reengineering

A strategic reassessment and improvement of an organization’s processes, workflows, and systems to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and adapt to changing business conditions.

C

Case Studies

In-depth examinations of real-world business situations, practices, or projects to extract valuable insights, best practices, and solutions that can be applied to similar scenarios.

Clear Space

In design, “clear space” refers to the empty or unoccupied area surrounding a design element, such as a logo, text, or graphic. It is the intentional space left untouched around the element to ensure visual separation and clarity.

Clear space serves several purposes in design:

Visual Separation, by providing space around a design element, clear space helps visually separate it from other elements on the page or within a layout. This separation prevents visual clutter and allows the element to stand out and be easily perceived by viewers.

Readability and Legibility, clear space around text ensures that the content remains readable and legible. It prevents the text from feeling cramped or overcrowded, allowing readers to navigate the content more comfortably.

Focus and Hierarchy, helps directs the viewer’s attention to the most important elements. By giving key elements more space, they can attract greater focus and attention.

Co-Branding

A strategic partnership between two or more brands to collaborate on a product or service, leveraging each other’s strengths and audiences.

Competitive Analysis

A thorough examination of competitors’ strategies, products, strengths, and weaknesses to gain a competitive edge and identify opportunities for differentiation.

Core Values

Fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that form the foundation of a brand, influencing decision-making and behaviour.

Corporate Typography

Corporate typography refers to the consistent use and application of specific fonts and text styles across all communication materials associated with a brand or corporation. It contributes to a unified and recognisable visual identity.

Customer Journey Mapping

The process of creating visual representations of a customer’s interactions and experiences with a brand or product, highlighting touchpoints and potential areas for improvement.

D

Data Analyses

The process of examining, cleaning, and interpreting data gathered from research activities, allowing for the extraction of meaningful insights, patterns, and trends.

Design Thinking Workshops

Collaborative problem-solving sessions that employ the principles of design thinking to explore, ideate, and prototype solutions to complex challenges, often involving cross-functional teams.

Digital Branding

A brand management approach that combines internet branding and digital marketing across various online platforms to establish a brand’s digital presence. The focus is on fostering connections with consumers to enhance brand recognition, prioritizing awareness, image, and style over immediate sales. This strategic use of digital channels is crucial for building and sustaining a strong online brand presence in today’s interconnected world.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing, or online marketing, involves the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers through the internet and various digital channels, including email, SEO, social media, web-based advertising, and multimedia messages. Its goal is to expand a brand’s reach beyond traditional methods, targeting likely prospects for product or service purchases. Moreover, digital marketing is often more cost-effective than traditional advertising, allowing for daily success measurement and flexible strategy adjustments.

E

Employer Branding

A strategic approach that organizations use to attract and retain top talents for the long term. It plays a crucial role in how a company is perceived by its most important stakeholders, its employees. Essentially, the employer brand forms the foundation of the overall brand identity. In the context of an Employer Branding project, it typically involves three key phases: Brand Audit, Brand Strategy, and Brand Activation. Central to the concept of Employer Branding are principles such as authentic servant leadership, transparency, and effective communication. The ultimate goal of an effective Employer Branding strategy is to turn employees into enthusiastic advocates of the organization, who willingly endorse and promote it to others, leading to a continuous cycle of talent attraction, retention, and renewal.

Endorsed Brand

A branding strategy where an established and well-known brand extends its reputation, credibility, and equity to a new or related product or service. In this approach, the endorsing brand lends its name, logo, and overall brand identity to the endorsed product, leveraging the trust and positive associations built by the endorsing brand to enhance the perceived value and acceptance of the new offering.

Environmental Scans

A research process that involves the comprehensive assessment of clients’ physical environments, such as offices, warehouses, construction sites, or retail boutiques, to gather insights on relevant factors, like facilities, infrastructure, and operational conditions.

Ethnographic Studies

The immersive study of participants within their natural environments to gain deep, context-rich insights into their behaviours, cultures, and social dynamics.

External Brand Communications Audit

An assessment of an organization’s external communications, including advertising, public relations, and customer interactions, to ensure alignment with the brand’s messaging and positioning.

F

Favicon

A small icon associated with a website, typically displayed in the browser tab or bookmark, representing the brand identity.

Focus Groups

A qualitative research technique involving a small group of participants who engage in open discussions guided by a moderator to explore their perceptions, attitudes, and reactions to specific topics or products.

Fractional Brand Management

Fractional Brand Management (FBM) is the process in which branding agencies manage their clients’ brands using Branding as a Service (BaaS), which is akin to Software as a Service (SaaS) in the software cloud services industry. Clients pay monthly subscription fees to branding agencies for them to manage their brand online and offline. The difference from retainers with web and creative agencies is that branding agencies view things from a strategic angle rather than a task-based angle. This requires constant review with the management on their strategic goals as well as their brand culture. This ensures that the brand communications are aligned to the service or product which is being promoted on channels and platforms. In essence, FBM is a cost-effective way to hire a brand manager, designer and consultant all rolled into a single subscription service.

G

Graphic Style

A distinctive visual approach, aesthetics, and design elements used in the creation of graphics or visual materials associated with a brand, project, or campaign. It encompasses the overall look and feel, design elements, color palettes, typography, and composition that are employed to communicate a specific visual identity and convey a desired message or mood.

I

Icon

A small, simplified graphical representation or symbol that represents an object, concept, or action. Icons are commonly used in various contexts, such as graphic design, user interfaces, signage, and digital platforms, to communicate information quickly and efficiently.

In-depth Interviews

A qualitative research method involving one-on-one conversations with participants to gain detailed insights and a deeper understanding of their perspectives, experiences, and opinions.

Internal Brand Communications Audit

An examination of how an organization’s internal communications, such as employee messaging and culture, align with the intended brand image and values.

K

Keyword Search Audit

A review of the keywords and phrases used in online content and marketing strategies to assess their relevance, effectiveness, and alignment with search engine optimization (SEO) goals.

L

Logotype

A logo comprised solely of text, often custom-designed to reflect the brand’s identity. Brand logos can be made up of logotypes alone, or combined with additional symbols or icons.

M

Marketing Audit

An evaluation of an organization’s marketing strategies, campaigns, and activities to gauge their effectiveness and alignment with business goals.

Master Brand

The primary and overarching brand within a brand portfolio, representing the main entity and influencing the perception of sub-brands. The term can be interchangeable with “parent brand”.

Monogram

A unique symbol or design created by combining two or more letters, often used as a distinctive element in branding.

Mystery Shoppers

Individuals tasked to anonymously evaluate and report on the quality of customer service and overall customer experience in various retail or service settings.

P

Parent Brand

A parent brand serves as an endorsing entity with a controlling interest in one or multiple sub-brands. These parent brands are usually established and trusted by their audience, thereby lending credibility and support to the associated sub-brands. For instance, FedEx operates as a parent brand with various subsidiaries like FedEx Express, FedEx Freight, and others.

Persona

A brand persona refers to personality traits and characteristics assigned to a brand to create a relatable and humanised image.

In the context of a customer persona, it refers to a detailed and semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer. It incorporates demographic information, behaviours, motivations, and challenges to guide marketing strategies and enhance customer understanding.

Product Branding

The process of creating a distinct and recognizable identity for a specific product within a brand’s portfolio. It involves developing and promoting unique attributes, characteristics, and associations that differentiate the product from competitors and create value in the minds of consumers. Successful product branding not only enhances the visibility and recognition of the product but also contributes to the overall brand equity.

Q

Qualitative Research

A research method focused on exploring in-depth insights and understanding the underlying motivations and attitudes of individuals. Qualitative research may include in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and content analysis.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research collects numerical data and employs statistical analysis for insights. Examples of methods include surveys, experiments, and structured observations.

Quantitative Surveys

A research method that collects structured data through questionnaires or online surveys, providing numerical insights and statistical analysis about a large sample of participants’ opinions or behaviours.

R

Rebranding

The process of making significant changes to a brand’s identity, messaging, or positioning to adapt to market shifts or refresh its image.

Registered Trademark

A registered trademark, ®, is a legally protected symbol, name, or logo associated with a product or service. Obtained through a formal registration process with government authorities, it grants exclusive rights and legal protection against unauthorized use, ensuring a distinct identity for the associated goods or services.

Repositioning

The strategic adjustment of a brand’s position in the market to better meet the evolving needs and preferences of its target audience.

S

Service Branding

The process of creating a distinctive and memorable identity for a service-based offering. It involves developing and promoting unique attributes, characteristics, and associations that differentiate the service and create value in the minds of consumers.

Service Delivery

Service delivery constitutes a business idea and structure with the primary objective of providing services from a vendor to a customer. It encompasses the ongoing interactions between these two entities across the entirety of the business process, spanning from the provider initiating the service to the client acquiring it. This encompasses the initial engagement, onboarding, setup, and any subsequent interactions that transpire during the service engagement.

Social Platforms Audit

An analysis of an organization’s presence and engagement on social media platforms to assess performance and identify opportunities for enhancement.

Sub-Brand

A brand that is part of a larger brand portfolio but has its own distinct identity and positioning.

SWOT-PEST Analysis

A comprehensive evaluation that combines internal factors (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) with external influences (Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological), providing a holistic view of an organization’s current state and potential future challenges and opportunities.

T

TLD Domain

A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is the final segment of a domain name, categorizing websites into types like .com for commercial entities or .org for organizations. Whether generic like .net or country-specific like .sg, TLDs are fundamental in structuring and identifying websites on the internet.

Typography

The art and technique of selecting, arranging, and styling typefaces (fonts) to create visually appealing and impactful brand communications. It encompasses the design and use of different typefaces, sizes, weights, spacing, and formatting to convey brand personality, evoke emotions, and enhance the overall brand experience.

U

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

A distinct and compelling quality or feature that sets a product, service, or brand apart from competitors in the eyes of the target audience.

V

Voice & Tone

The style, manner, and personality in which a brand communicates its messages to its target audience. It encompasses the choice of words, writing style, and overall linguistic approach used in brand communications across various channels and touchpoints.

Voice, the consistent and distinctive personality, attitude, and values that a brand conveys through its communication. It reflects the brand’s character and helps establish a unique identity. The voice can be authoritative, playful, friendly, professional, or any other attribute that aligns with the brand’s positioning and resonates with the target audience.

Tone, specific expression of the brand’s voice in a particular context or situation. It adapts the brand’s voice to suit the specific message, channel, and audience. The tone can vary from formal to informal, serious to humorous, empathetic to instructional, depending on the intended effect and the nature of the communication.

W

Website Audit

A comprehensive assessment of a website’s design, content, functionality, and user experience to identify areas for improvement and optimization.

Workmark

A brand’s name or a distinctive arrangement of letters, styled as a unique and recognisable visual element, often used as a standalone logo.