I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
How to Keep Your Creative Brand Consistent
So you’ve got a logo…maybe even identified your color palette and have a general idea of the aesthetic you’re going for. But sometimes it just doesn’t seem like you’re quite getting that “look” you’re going for, but you don’t know why. Maybe you’re familiar with the idea of having a “brand,” but you’re not quite sure exactly how that goes beyond your logo across all the platforms you use.
Well, lucky for you, we’re hearing from the branding expert herself, Bri Summers! Bri is the founder of Brighten Made, a petite graphic design studio focused on branding girl bosses and passionate entrepreneurs! She designed my beautiful brand and has made it so much easier for me to maintain my brand and the aesthetic she created across my platforms and is going to share with us how you can do the same!
Make sure to follow Bri on instagram for all the design inspiration and to get your puppy fix! And if you’re ready to majorly uplevel your branding, head to her website!
We live in a more visual world than ever before, so keeping things consistent across all your channels will help your brand become more memorable and easily identifiable. Whether you’ve worked hard to DIY your brand, or you’ve hired a designer for your logo needs, I want to share a few tips on how to keep things consistent across ALL the platforms.
So let’s begin with the DIY-ers! Let me start off by saying there’s no shame in DIY branding when you’re first getting started. Sometimes it’s actually better to just get your business or idea out into the world so you can learn about your purpose. Then, once you have a clear picture of who you are and who you serve, you can invest in branding that will up-level your game.
But DIY branding doesn’t mean that your brand can’t be consistent!
And for the non-DIYers, there are pieces to this that might make your lives a little easier because your designer should have hopefully selected brand fonts and colors to pair with your branding. However, I know from working with some of my own clients, it can be tricky to translate what a designer creates into their own.
Rather than focusing on specific channels, such as your website, Instagram feed, monthly newsletter, etc., I’m going to break down the three design categories to focus on and how you can apply them to each of your different channels, whatever channels those might be for you!
To start, let’s talk about typography– a fancy word for the fonts that your brand uses. These fonts should be what are used on your website, on a pricing or investment guide you might send out to potential clients, a business card or postcard, a newsletter, and the list goes on.
When I work with my clients, we typically select 2 brand fonts. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but in most cases 2 fonts is fairly standard for a small yet mighty business. Having two fonts allows you to create hierarchy in your brand, yet also consistency.
Often times, I pick a sans-serif and a serif font. So if you’re DIY-ing, selecting a serif and a sans-serif font that compliment each other is a safe bet. If you worked with a designer, she hopefully has selected brand fonts for you.
If you’re in need of good “free” fonts, Google Fonts is a good free resource. If you have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Fonts is another awesome resource.
Once you have the fonts selected, try to come up with a consistent plan on how to use them. For example, let’s say you plan to use your serif more frequently than the sans-serif. I would most often times use serif in a display, headline way and the sans-serif as the body copy. Below is an example of how Ali’s brand uses the serif as a display, and the sans-serif as the secondary text. This is true for how her investment guide is laid out, along with her other freebies and guides she shares with her tribe.
If you worked with a designer who assigned you brand fonts, try to be sure to use the weights or styles that she referenced when you worked together. For example, let’s say she picked Helvetica as a brand font and she often times used the hairline weight. Be sure to use the same style and weight, instead of regular or bold for example. It might seem silly, but even a slight weight change of a font makes all the difference!
Next up, color! If you’re DIY-ing your brand, I’d recommend sticking to about 3-5 colors for your palette. I think any more than that can just lead to complete chaos. You could always choose to use less, but using a color palette is a great way to communicate a feeling and the personality that you want your brand to have.
I feel like I could talk about color for #DAYS but when picking a palette, I usually try to think about what my client’s target audience would be drawn to. From there selecting two colors that are fairly unique from one another such as green and blush, and then building the palette off of that with other colors that would help blend the opposites together. In Ali’s case, we wanted her brand to target the artistic, boho, laid-back bride who equally loves the outdoors and the city. A blush felt perfect for the boho bride and the green worked well to communicate the natural side to her brand. The shade of burgundy and a shade of gold tied the blush and green together while also working well with her slightly moody photo style. I also used tints of the blush and green so that we could have some fun with tone on tone.
If you’ve partnered with a designer, be sure to use the color codes when creating material for your website or other content. In Ali’s case, we most frequently used the blush, black and neutral tone with pops of burgundy. There are still green and gold accents on her site and other material, but they’re not as heavily used. So in her case, I’d recommend to not create a download that had the green as a background color because people wouldn’t recognize it as quickly as her palette.
And last but not least, imagery! Images are such a big part of your brand’s online presence. If you’re a photographer like Ali, you probably got this piece taken care of, but I do have some tips for photogs! And if you’re not a professional photographer, I recommend investing in a photographer or learning how to DIY some photos that feel cohesive with your brand.
Throughout my branding process, I go over ideas for subject matter, lighting, propping, all the things. If you’re doing it yourself, think of around 5 different topics you could photograph that would feel cohesive with your brand. So for example, let’s say you’re a florist. Flowers would be an obvious subject, but beyond that could you share more of your process, or something more personal such as your dog? Your workspace? You get the idea! Having a consistent subject that you’re photographing will help your brand become more recognizable.
When it comes to lighting and color, think back to the overall vibe you want your branding to have and how that could attract your ideal audience. If your brand swings on the formal and bright side, maybe you’d choose to edit your photos with an airy feel. If it’s more colorful, maybe you’d pick a preset to match that. Whatever it might be, finding a couple of filters or presets and sticking to them will help your images all feel cohesive.
Within your photos, try to bring in references to your brand’s color palette. In Ali’s case, we used a number of shots with the all black walls or pops or burgundy, blush, gold, and green because it felt cohesive with her brand. She could have used a photo that had a lot of blue in it, but for places like her investment guide or the main banner on her website, it was best to use a photo that was in line with the style of her brand.
There you have it! A few tips on how you can make your brand a bit more cohesive. I’d recommend taking your time to evaluate each of the platforms your brand exists on and then implementing these design principles so that your brand becomes more recognizable and memorable!
I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
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