Get yourself a strategic direction first and trust the process filter out everything that doesn’t align with your brand anchors (no matter how lovely it may be).ĭO NOT: Focus exclusively on your personal taste and the things you like looking at So before you look around at visual inspiration, get clear about the heart and soul of your own business and then look for design inspiration that’s in alignment with that. Keep in mind that someone else’s design solution may not fit your problems. Not only is that incredibly overwhelming, but you’re likely to end up with a knockoff version of someone else’s brand or some Frankenstein version of a few visual themes you’re drawn to. People commonly skip over this most important step and just start looking at pretty things or at what other people are doing.
So as you think about color, typography, imagery, your website design and your logo (the building blocks of your visual brand identity), you’ll intentionally look for inspiration that conveys these brand anchor qualities.ĭO NOT: Start start looking at what everyone else is doing before you’ve created your brand anchors Anchor concepts will help you create consistency, and when you’re consistent–you build awareness, become remembered, and create raving fans who will spread your brand message automatically after your work together is through. If you haven’t yet launched your business, you can ask co-workers, friends, classmates, and colleagues to describe your strengths and the qualities they appreciate about you.Īfter you decide on your adjectives, the next step is to “anchor” them in your mind so that everything you create is infused with these qualities. If you don’t know what your client experience is, ask your clients how they felt about working with you and steal their words! I would never have described my service as “fun,” but that word came up time and time again in testimonials my clients wrote for me. That’s the experience I want to create for my clients, but I know that it’s the actual experience because my clients have told me so. When I did this exercise in my own business, I landed on the words EMPOWERING, FUN, and PERSONAL. What is one word that describes the “uniqueness” of the experience of working with you? (Not unique in the whole world, just your little corner of it.).When your customers give you feedback, what words do they use to describe the experience? (Look for patterns.).What are the words you would love to hear your customers use to describe you to a friend?.What characteristic do you want your business to become known for that your dream customers will value?.Here are some questions that’ll help you choose adjectives that will resonate with your dream customers: How it works: you’ll choose 3 adjectives that summarize what your brand stands for and the experience you want to create for your customers. I use the term “brand anchors” to describe the personality of a brand because it’s a nice little metaphor that helps us get our mind pointed in the right direction. Here’s how you can create your inspiration board using Pinterest: STEP 1: Define your brand personality When you’re both looking at visual examples, it helps to clarify and get on the same page without sitting down at the drawing board to throw darts, hoping you hit the mark (which can be costly). An inspiration board makes it easy to store everything you gather while you’re doing your research.Īn added bonus if you’re working with a designer: having an inspiration board to show them will help you speak in the same “visual language.” Words aren’t always a reliable way of communicating what you envision–one person’s idea of “bold” or “feminine” or “modern” can look very different from another’s.
It’s important to know what your competitors are doing, what’s appropriate for your industry, and to find out what fonts, stock images, textures, patterns and other design resources are available to help you express your brand’s personality. Designing a visual identity is a process, and you can do it too! I’ll share a little designer secret with you: there’s no magic to it. This is where creating a brand mood board can really help! And there’s no better tool to create yours than Pinterest. But it can be daunting to settle on a creative direction when we’re faced with so many choices. We all want a visual brand identity that captures our dream customers’ attention and makes us feel proud and happy every time we look at it. If you make a purchase, I'll receive a commission.
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