"Corporate visual identity plays a significant role in the way an organization
presents itself to both internal and external stakeholders. In general terms, a corporate visual
identity expresses the values and ambitions of an organization, its business, and its characteristics.
Four functions of corporate visual identity can be distinguished. Three of these are aimed at external stakeholders.
1. First, a corporate visual identity provides an organisation with visibility and
"recognizability". For virtually all profit and non-profit organisations, it is of vital importance
that people know that the organization exists and remember its name and core business at the right time.
2. Second, a corporate visual identity symbolizes an organization for external stakeholders, and,
hence, contributes to its image and reputation (Schultz, Hatch and Larsen, 2000). Van den Bosch,
De Jong and Elving (2005) explored possible relationships between corporate visual identity and reputation,
and concluded that corporate visual identity plays a supportive role in corporate reputations.
3. Third, a corporate visual identity expresses the structure of an organization to its external
stakeholders, visualising its coherence as well as the relationships between divisions or units.
Olins (1989) is well-known for his "corporate identity structure", which consists of three concepts:
monolithic brands for companies which have a single brand, a branded identity in which different brands are developed
for parts of the organization or for different product lines, and an endorsed identity with different brands which are
(visually) connected to each other. Although these concepts introduced by Olins are often presented as the corporate
identity structure, they merely provide an indication of the visual presentation of (parts of) the organization.
It is therefore better to describe it as a "corporate visual identity structure".
4. A fourth, internal function of corporate visual identity relates to employees'
identification with the organization as a whole and/or the specific departments they work
for (depending on the corporate visual strategy in this respect). Identification appears to
be crucial for employees, and corporate visual identity probably plays a symbolic role in creating
such identification." -
Wikipedia