Creating Your Brand
Your brand's "visual identity" comprises your logo and all the imagery, fonts, colours, and graphic elements that express your brand.
Your brand's " voice " is composed of how you articulate your value proposition and all the written and video content you create associated with your brand.
When you combine the visual identity and brand voice, you solidify a specific place in your customer’s mind.
What do you want to be known for?
How do you want your customers to feel when interacting with your brand?
These are essential questions to ask yourself so that you intentionally build a brand that memorably reflects you and your business.
Before You Hire a Graphic Designer
A graphic designer will be able to help you create the visuals for your brand. The more direction you can provide, the better the result will be. There are many options for brand development through graphic design agencies or freelancers. There are also platforms such as 99designs.com and designcrowd.com that allow you to run logo or brand development contests where different designers submit options based on your design brief, and you select a winner.
Regardless of your approach, to work most effectively with a designer, spend some time creating a one-page brief that will help direct the experience of developing your brand.
Consider including information that will help to define your brand, such as:
Who is your audience? Explain who your ideal client is in as much detail as possible.
Your brand essence - What emotions do you want your customers to feel when they experience your brand? Try to capture this in one or two words. For example, a financial advisor may say, “Comfortable and taken care of.”
Your brand personality - If you were to personify your brand, how would you describe the brand? For example, the same advisor may say, “Professional, but personal. Not the institutional experience of dealing with a bank where you feel like just another customer.”
Colours - Certain colours convey certain feelings in branding, which the graphic designer will help to explore, but if you have a distaste or preference for specific colours, let them know upfront.
Personal Preferences - If you have any pet peeves about logos or branding, let them know upfront.
Stylized names and icons - Your logo can consist only of your company name in a stylized font or include a symbol otherwise known as an icon. Let the designer know if you have a preference.
Share examples - Share examples of competing brands and highlight what you like and don’t like about them. Also, share examples of what you like from other industries.
Your brand identity will come to life across all your supporting branding materials, including things like:
• Your website
• Business cards
• Your email signature
• Invoicing
• Report templates
• Social media platforms
• Marketing materials and proposals
It is also helpful to develop a brief Brand Standards document that documents all the visual elements of your brand (colours, fonts, typography, etc.) in one place and outlines any restrictions for usage of your logo and branding. Most graphic designers will offer this option as a part of a branding package. This document can be shared with any future vendor you work with to make it easy to communicate your branding elements to incorporate into any project.
At the end of your branding exercise, ensure that the graphic designer provides you with all your brand assets in multiple file formats for print and digital use so you have a complete library to draw on.