Part THREE: Building Your Brand Design
Thanks for joining us for part three in our four part series – The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Professional Brand.
If you haven’t taken a look at part one – where we talk about the basics of developing your brand – you can do so here!
And we really started to dive deep into developing your brand strategy in part two, which can be found here.
Now it’s time for the fun part! (I know, I am biased…)
This part is terrifying for some, and is really where I see most woman get stuck and freeze.
We don’t need that!
That is why we created the Instant Brand Blueprint. It is everything you need to design a brand on your own – instantly!
You can check it out for yourself here.
1. Mood Board
A mood board is a collection of images, patterns and textures that reflect the overall look and feel of your brand.
Think of it as a reference key that can give you a clear vision of your brand’s overall aesthetic.
I find the best step for tackling the design portion of your brand is starting with a mood board. We have a number of templates that can get you through this process, and of course our Instant Brand Blueprint provides you with over 53 pre-designed mood board templates.
2. Logo Design
This is another beast that can be tackled a number of ways!
If you’re in a position to spend a ton of money launching your brand, then you can choose to pay a designer to create a logo for you.
But you can also do it yourself, through a number of different pre-designed templates or with our Instant Brand Blueprint.
Just remember: much like your mission statement, your logo needs to be clean and concise.
It is a symbol that represents the overall voice of your company, so that should be conveyed clearly.
Following the golden rules of brand design, your logo shouldn’t have any more than 3 fonts, and 3 brand colors.
Simplicity is key!
Now get out there and rock your logo design.
3. Brand Fonts
There are so many fonts out there to choose from… how do you know you’re making the right choice?
Fonts truly carry their own personalities, and it is important to choose a font (or set of fonts) that speak to your brand.
The style of font is also important. Please, please, please don’t go picking 3 script fonts!
Readability is important.
I recommend choosing a serif or sans serif font to compliment the script or creative font if you choose to go that route.
I know, I probably sounds like a broken record.
But, let’s say it again.
Brand cohesion!
Once you choose these two to three fonts, stick to them and carry them throughout all brand collateral and your website.
4. Brand Colors
It is time to choose your color palette!
Do a bit of research on what specific emotions colors provoke. You want your color choices to reflect the overall personality of your brand.
Variety and color pairings as super important. Choose colors that pair well with one another, and I would highly advise against choosing a monochromatic color scheme.
Trust me, once you start creating brand collateral, you are going to ask yourself why you thought 5 different shades of blue was necessary!
Have a strong tonal range, and at least one contrasting color to add depth to your branding material.
You can really see the different when you place two color palettes side by side.
The palette on the left has way more color variation and a strong contrast between the complementary colors blue and orange.
Sure, that all blue palette looks nice… but there is no pop!
You are far more likely to scroll past this instagram post versus the left!
5. Web Domain and Hosting
Purchase your domain and choose which hosting site you’d like to work with. When you’re picking your domain name (likely your biz name), make sure to keep it as simple as possible and try not to go over 3 words.
The longer the domain name is, the harder it will be for your brand fans to remember!
We use and swear by Siteground, here at Lady Boss Studio for our website hosting. If you would like to find out more information on why we think it is so amazing, you can check out our previous blog post Here’s Why I Chose Sitground Web Hosting.
Keep in mind that we use Siteground to host out WordPress.org website. If you’re planning to use a website provider like Squarespace or Wix, that’s all built in.
But it also means that you don’t entirely own your website, because it’s built on their platform.
6. Brand Signature
Design an email signature to reflect your branding.
It’s nice to add a professional photo of yourself or your logo, but make sure you have all of the important information attached.
Your website, email, phone number (if applicable) and office hours are key – along with your social media handles!
Having a beautiful signature not only looks professional, but also drives more traffic to your website!
We use and love Wisestamp and get compliments all the time on how much people love our email signature.
7. Workspace
We all know that you don’t need a fancy office to build a successful business, but having an organized designated space really helps with productivity.
Trust me, it doesn’t have to be fancy at all (kitchen tables still count)!
It’s important to have a space that you can go to each day and brings you some form of inspiration!
8. Business Email
Creating a business email not only looks professional but also helps keep everything organized.
You don’t need to be sorting through your personal email for important business-related messages.
Take the time to set up and organize a business email – it’ll be worth it!
9. Branded Photography
In the beginning, especially, we may not all have the means and funds to have a professionally branded photoshoot.
But it is really important to have a couple well lit, clean, and professional-looking photos.
Set up a tripod or ask a friend or spouse to help you out.
If you are doing this process on your own, without a professional photographer, there are a ton of free programs you can use online to make your picture look as bright and beautiful as it can be.
Not only will it make your photos look more professional, but it will also create brand consistency!
Ah, that word again!
How was that?
Are you overwhelmed, or excited to dive in?
If you’re overwhelmed, don’t worry. It’s totally normal. After all, you’re starting your own business. No one said it was easy!
Join us over for Part 4, where we’re going to wrap up brand content and dive into any collateral materials you will need for your biz.
If you haven’t checked out the previous 2 posts of our 4-part blogging series, you can find part 1 here and part 2 here.
