A lot of people think a brand is simply a logo. But a logo is just the tiniest part of your brand.

If you think of a brand as a person, a logo is like a person’s name. Sure, it’s important and probably the first thing you learn when you meet them. But there is so much more to getting to know that person and building a relationship, just as there is so much more to a brand

I like to say a brand is a relationship—a relationship between many elements (like color, type, imagery and messaging) working in concert to tell your full story. It’s also the relationship between you and your customer. It goes beyond what you see, to what you say and do.

For non-designers, picking things like colors or fonts can be really overwhelming. And so it’s natural for clients to make decisions based on what they know—which usually comes down to personal preferences (“I like red.”) or copying competitors (“Well, they do this and they’re successful, so I should do that too.”).

However, this can sometimes be harmful to your brand.

Let’s say navy blue is your favorite color but you are creating a brand for a bakery. Instead of picking navy blue for your brand because you love that color, a designer might suggest that you pick or incorporate a color that is more appetizing to customers, like pink, which is associated with sweet flavors.

This is because there is a psychology or science behind the way that humans perceive color. Different colors have a different affect on mood and perception. Blue, for example, does not create an automatic response towards appetite. This is because most of the foods humans eat in nature are red (meat) or green (plants). At a primal level, humans do not perceive blue as an appetizing color. Studies have even shown that people eat less food when served on a dark blue plate than that of a lighter color.

The single most important thing you can do to build a meaningful brand is to be consistent. The same way we build trust in our relationships between people is true for brands—what you do, must match what you say and be shown consistently over time.

The biggest mistake I see is when brands show up differently in different places or when people change up the font in their logo here and there, diluting their brand recognition and often confusing customers.