Secondary Elements
A secondary element is a graphic or an image that supports the brand and helps the costumer to recognize it. Specifically, it can be a set of icons, a character, a set of images or just decorational elements.
Graphical Elements
This is where a corporate design can go many different directions. Secondary graphical elements may be very important but they may also be completely unnecessary. There are companies that really build their corporate identity around such things and rely heavily on textures, patterns or characters. But there are also companies which do not use such elements at all and focus on bringing other parts of their design into the collective memory of the public.
Icons
The most common defined graphical elements in corporate design besides a logo are icons. Most of the time icons are also used for visualization this makes them an exception and also increases their importance in corporate design. Icons are simplified illustrations of an image and are often used to visualize a menu point or feature that otherwise would have a text in its place. It is often used to save space but most of the time it is just faster to grasp the sense of a good icon than a text. Like everything in a corporate design, icons should harmonize with each other, but they should also be on the same grid and in the same style.
Corporate Imagery
If the company uses images they clearly should not use the exact same image over and over again, but staying consistent with imagery is important. Images are one of the most important parts of some companies because they delivers a message so much clearer and faster than text ever could as the proverb says, a picture is worth a thousand words. Professional and consistent imagery support stability, orientation and trust for the company and deliver a stronger image over time.