The Letter A-to-Zish
Branding Dictionary
Branding has a jargon problem. This is our running dictionary of the terms we create, discuss, and deliver at Letter A — defined plainly, occasionally wryly, and updated as the language evolves.
Art Direction
This codifies how your brand is shot. By defining the look and feel, Art Direction ensures that your imagery is instantly recognizable and unmistakably yours.
Branding
The product, service or experience you offer becomes a brand when it is clearly and outwardly recognizable. Branding is what creates this recognizability, whether through a logo, color palette, tone of voice, or packaging.
Brand Book
WHAT IT IS:
An elegant, comprehensive document that brings together the most essential elements of your story, your offering, and your vision.
HOW TO USE IT:
Share it with all in-house (and select agency) teams to create strategic alignment, to offer clarity and context, and to rally genuine excitement around your brand.
Brand Descriptor
WHAT IT IS:
A one-liner that succinctly and clearly describes what your brand does, in a tone that is half-aspirational, half-explanatory. (Not to be confused with a Tagline or slogan.)
HOW TO USE IT:
Ideal for bio lines on social media, meta descriptions for your website, and as subheads under your brand name in campaigns. (Especially key for brands that are new, emerging, relaunching, or expanding.)
Brand Guidelines
WHAT IT IS:
A thorough instruction manual, covering both design and copy, to ensure consistent creative expression across platforms. (Visual Guidelines typically includes logo usage, typography hierarchy, typesetting use, photo art direction dos & don’ts. Voice Guidelines typically includes tone, channel examples, best practices.)
HOW TO USE IT:
Share it with all creative teams (in-house and agency) who design, shoot, and write for your brand.
Brand Foundations
The two core offerings from Letter A, one which articulates the thinking behind the brand (Strategic Foundation) and the other which crafts the expression of the brand (Creative Foundation).
The Strategic Foundation typically includes your positioning, mission, vision, and values.
The Creative Foundation typically includes your brand narrative, voice, persona, storytelling themes, and visual brand world
Brand Mark
WHAT IT IS:
A standalone symbol or icon that represents your brand (not to be confused with the full logo).
HOW TO USE IT:
Place it on smaller surface areas, on packaging, and in delightfully unexpected spots.
Brand Narrative (or Brand Story)
Your brand’s origin, purpose, and emotional throughline, told as a cohesive story, articulated in the brand voice.
Brand Voice
WHAT IT IS:
The way your brand sounds in writing, whether it’s a subject line, billboard or Instagram caption.
HOW TO USE IT:
Aligned with your Content Strategy, be sure to adapt your Brand Voice across platforms and projects in a way that is cohesive yet also channel-specific.
Brand World
WHAT IT IS:
A curated collection of imagery, references, and aesthetics that creates a felt sense of the world your brand lives in.
HOW TO USE IT:
Draw inspiration here for the aura of your brand, especially when it comes to brand environments, experiences, styling, and partnerships.
Brief
WHAT IT IS:
An essential document provided by the client at the outset of a project, detailing the context and objectives of the work.
HOW TO USE IT:
Ground all team feedback in the goals that you’ve outlined.
Color Palette
Your brand’s signature set of colors (and one of the fastest ways people will begin to recognize and remember you).
Content
A catchall term for all the ways in which your brand tells its story, across platforms. Everything from reels and posts on Instagram to videos on TikTok to stories told through your newsletter.
Deck
A fancy word for “presentation document.” Usually in the form of a PDF.
Directional Mockups
High-quality, real-world examples that depict how your visual language and tone of voice come to life across touchpoints (ex. packaging, signage, product, social media, in-store).
Ecosystem
WHAT IT IS:
Each channel and environment where your brand interacts with your audience – viewed collectively as a whole (ex. ecommerce, social, physical retail, app).
HOW TO USE IT:
Plan, strategize, design, and write with your ecosystem in mind to create a consistent, holistic throughline and a strong sense of trust.
Engagement
Your audience’s responsiveness (measured, for example, through likes, shares, comments, impressions, open rates, etc).
Evergreen Storytelling Pillars
WHAT IT IS:
A high-level framework that identifies 4-6 evergreen stories your brand can credibly and resonantly tell.
HOW TO USE IT:
In partnership between marketing and creative, plan, develop, and create a regular cadence of evergreen content from each territory.
Favicon
The square, micro version of your brand mark or logo that will appear in browser tabs, search results, and bookmarks.
Feedback
Distinct from real-time discussions and responses, this is the written feedback shared with Letter A after a presentation. This feedback is anchored in the goals of the project brief and reflects stakeholder consensus on comments, questions, and next steps.
Graphic System
The kit of parts that visually supplements your logo and logo mark, creating a broader graphic aesthetic (ex. icons, borders, layouts, patterns, shapes, textures).
Holding Shape
A container around a logo (ex. circle, box, badge) that can help with visibility, flexibility, and recognition.
Hex Code
Short for hexadecimal (great word), a six-digit number that often starts with a hash (#) and corresponds to an exact web color.
Kern / Kerning
The spacing between letters. Most people never notice kerning (until it’s off).
Key Differentiator
A feature, quality or approach that is unique to your brand, distinctly setting you apart from competitors.
Leading
The space between lines of text. Too tight, and reading feels cramped. Too loose, and the content starts to drift apart. Good leading helps information feel effortless to read.
Lifestyle
WHAT IT IS:
A widened perspective on your brand — as not only a product, service or experience but also a desirable way of moving through the world.
HOW TO USE IT:
As a prompt, reminder, and guide for adding aspirational depth and dimension to your work, especially when it comes content, partnerships, and product.
Logo
The visual identifier for your brand. A logo can include a wordmark, symbol, icon, or a combination of elements that work together to represent your business.
Logo System
Your logo family. Different versions exist for different situations, so your brand always looks intentional, whether it’s on a billboard or a social profile.
Look & Feel
The overall mood your brand conveys through design and language. It’s the immediate impression someone gets when they experience you.
Manifesto
A bold declaration of what your brand stands for and believes in.
Mechanials
Final, production-ready files prepared for printing or manufacturing, complete with all technical specifications, dimensions, and color settings.
Mission Statement
Your reason for being. Specifically, 1-3 sentences that clearly and persuasively articulate what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters. (Delivered as part of Strategic Foundations.)
North Star
WHAT IT IS:
A synonym for your brand’s Vision . The high-level aspiration — beyond growth, commerce, metrics — that guides everything you do and aims to move the world forward. (Delivered as part of Strategic Foundations.)
Omnichannel
Creating seamless brand experiences across all platforms (online, offline, retail).
Pantone
A (legendary!) color naming system. Using its standardized codes ensures that a brand’s print materials are created and reproduced accurately.
Persona
WHAT IT IS:
A set of 4-5 characteristics that, taken together, uniquely reflect your brand’s identity. (ex. Nike’s might be audacious / spirited / human / visionary)
HOW TO USE IT:
Inform and anchor how your brand moves through the world, through the lens of its unique traits; develop content and product that naturally aligns with your Persona.
Personality
Part of Letter A’s Three Ps (Purpose, Personality, Point of View), the trio of essentials that every brand we work with walks away with. Personality is that magic you can’t quite put your finger on — the magnetism that comes from an expertly considered identity.
Point of View
Part of Letter A’s Three Ps (Purpose, Personality, Point of View), the trio of essentials that every brand we work with walks away with. Point of View is your distinct perspective on the world: your tastes, your influences, your inspirations. Our bespoke guidance and guardrails help you to make brand-right decisions, instinctively.
Positioning
WHAT IT IS:
A sharp, strategic articulation of where your brand sits within the industry landscape and why you’re positioned to succeed.
HOW TO USE IT:
In an increasingly crowded and noisy marketplace, Positioning helps you remember who you are, why you're different, and encourages you to stay the course. (Delivered as part of Strategic Foundations.)
Product Strategy
What it is:
The work of identifying what a brand should make and building the product vision to get there, driven by consumer research, competitive analysis, and cultural insight.
HOW TO USE IT:
As a guide in developing the hero products, assortment architecture, and creative DNA that will make your products instantly recognizable. As an excellent handoff to any creative and strategic brand work that follows.
Purpose
Part of Letter A’s Three Ps (Purpose, Personality, Point of View), the trio of essentials that every brand we work with walks away with. Purpose is your higher calling, your reason for being — beyond the bottom line.
Retention
How well a brand keeps its customers over time.
Tagline
A snappy catchphrase or motto that captures the spirit (but not the literal output) of your brand. (e.g. Just do it. / Think different. / Is it in you?) (Not to be confused with Brand Descriptor.
This / Not That
WHAT IT IS:
A nuanced list of cultural contrasts that helps illustrate and evoke exactly who you are (and who you aren’t). (Delivered as part of Creative Foundations.)
Three Ps
We believe that there are three magic keys to becoming an unmistakable brand: Purpose, Personality, and Point of View. Everything we develop, be it strategy or creative direction, illuminates and ladders up to these essentials — so that you walk away resourced, well-positioned, and, most importantly, inspired by your brand.
Tone (of Voice)
A carefully selected set of adjectives that, together, create a unique voice for your brand to speak in.
Touchpoints
Everywhere that someone interacts with your brand. Your website, product packaging, Instagram post, customer service email, and storefront are all touchpoints.
Typography System
The collection of typefaces and rules that shape how your brand reads and feels. (Typography conveys a surprising amount of personality, for something made entirely of letters.)
Unboxing Experience
The way it feels to open a product’s packaging. (Often mistakenly overlooked or undercooked.)
Values
WHAT IT IS:
The 3-5 principles that represent your company’s commitments, at a high level. (Ex. craftsmanship / honesty / community)
HOW TO USE IT:
Publish these on your website to invite openness, accountability, and goodwill.
Verbal Identity
The complete system of language that shapes how your brand communicates, including tone of voice, core messaging, taglines, and dos & dont’s.
Vision
Building on the Mission, your Vision is the high-level aspiration — beyond growth, commerce, metrics — that guides everything you do and aims to move the world forward. (Delivered as part of Strategic Foundations.)
Visual Identity (or Identity System)
The complete toolkit of visual elements that make you instantly recognizable—logo, colors, typography, patterns, and how they all work together.
Wordmark
A logo made entirely of text, styled uniquely (think Google, or Coca-Cola).
World Building
The process of defining the world your brand lives in. Its tastes, values, references, likes, dislikes, point of view, and cultural cues. Details that create emotional connection, sharpen your perspective, and transform your brand into something people want to be part of.
