How to create an effective brand identity.

Uncategorized Aug 27, 2020

Creating your brand can be a daunting experience because there are so many things to consider. Choosing the right tone for your brand can determine the type of customer or client you attract and tells the world what to expect of your business. That’s a tall order for sure. But trust me, you can do it!

So let’s break down the elements you need to create an effective brand identity.

We will be looking at brand voice, color palette, typography, and photo style. Selecting the *right* ones for your brand can make all the difference in creating a cohesive brand identity that truly reflects you and your business.

Brand voice

If you were sitting across the table at a coffee shop with a friend, how would your brand sound? Are you laid back and relaxed? Are you fun and playful? Are you serious and business-minded? Are you elegant and sophisticated? Are you sassy and irreverent? Are you youthful and cutting-edge?

Your brand voice is the personality and emotion associated with your business. Determining the type of voice you have will determine the way your messaging comes across and how you want people to take you. It doesn’t matter what voice you choose as long as it matches your ideal audience, reflects your personality, and matches your product or service.

The key is to determine that voice and then use it consistently. Your brand voice is the voice you will use when you communicate with your customer. It is the personal and authentic tone that resonates with your people.

To determine that, first, you need to decide what the goal, vision, and mission of your business is. What is important to you personally and how do you want to be known? What makes you stand out from other similar businesses?

Secondly, you need to know who you want to serve. Get a clear picture of what your ideal customer avatar looks like, what is important to them, and what they want from your brand. What appeals to them and makes them want more?

Once you have a clear picture of your brand voice, you are now ready to consider the elements that will let you share that voice.

Color Palette

Research shows that color increases brand recognition by 80% and 92.6% of respondents said that they put most importance on visual factors when purchasing products. So yes, your color choice matters.

Because colors elicit particular emotions and responses, it is important that the colors you choose to reflect your business directly correspond with the voice you have chosen. If your message is going to be fun and playful, then the colors that you use to represent your brand should reflect that.

Learning about the psychology of colors can also be effective to make sure the colors you choose match the feeling or vibe you want to promote. You can also play with various hues, tints, and shades to create the mood you wish to portray.

Color palettes can include up to 5 colors, and generally have at least 3 colors. At the minimum you want a base color, an accent color, and a neutral color. The base color will be the one most used, while the accent colors are used for emphasis and contrast, and the neutral color is a background color.

Colors are often chosen using one of these 4 ways:

Monochromatic- You choose one color and the other colors are variations (lighter and darker) of the same color.
Complimentary- You choose colors opposite of each other on the color wheel, like orange and blue to create contrast.
Triad- You choose colors that form a triangle on the color wheel to create contrast and visual interest.
Analogous- You choose coloraes close beside each other on the color wheel, like yellow, green, and blue.

As you know, I love to use the Canva color palette generator to come up with color palette options. All you have to do is find a photo that you feel represents your brand and then upload it to Canva. Canva will generate a color palette for you based on the photo colors, and BAM! you instantly have a color palette ready to use.

Typography

When you have determined the brand voice and selected your complimentary color palette, you next need to decide which fonts to use that represent your brand. Just like your brand voice and color palette, the fonts you choose will tell the customer what to expect from your brand.

Fonts come in four different typefaces that send different messages to your reader.

Serif fonts, like Times New Roman or Georgia, are considered traditional fonts. They are commonly used for academic papers and long established newspapers. If you have a brand that is long-lasting, established, and very traditional, then a serif font could be a good choice.

Sans serif fonts, like Arial or Verdana, are considered contemporary. The straight, clean letters work well for modern businesses. This is a great choice for text in sentences or paragraphs because it is easy to read.

Script fonts are often used in the beauty business. These elegant and often feminine fonts work well for accent fonts, but shouldn’t be used for longer texts as they become hard to read.

Decorative fonts like Indie Flower or Rock Salt are also used for accent fonts, logos, and sometimes headings. They tell a definite story about the business. There are literally thousands to choose from, and the key is to find something that is easy to ready and distinct for your business.

The general rule of thumb is to choose no more than 2 fonts for your brand. The fonts should compliment one another. For example, choose a simple sans serif font and pair it with another type face, but don’t try to put two scripts or a script and a decorative font together. The idea is to keep it clean, clear, and simple.You want your message to be easy to read. For variety, use different font sizes, bold, italic, or ultra bold to create interest.

Photo Style

The last consideration should be the photo style you choose. As you use your branding on social media think about the type of brand voice you have and select photos that represent that in content and tone.

It is particularly important in the beauty industry to have beautiful photos that match your color palette and that are of high quality. Things like soft or hard focus, bright or dark colors, busy or simple backgrounds all tell the story of your brand and are important considerations when selecting photos.

Create a Brand Board

Once you have made all the branding decisions and are in love with your look, you can save a lot of time in the long run if you create a brand board like this one below.

A brand board is simply a place you store all of the information you have just worked so hard on. As you or someone on our team or someone you hire works on any piece of communication, a brand board will guarantee consistency and a cohesive look.

Things to include in your brand board:

Your brand overview: goals, vision, mission statement, personality
Your target audience
Your brand voice tone: include words or phrases you like to use and are known for, emojis or symbols that work for you
Your logo: what size it should be, where you like it used
Color palette: include the HEX code, CMYK, RGB colors so you guarantee that the colors are used consistently
Typography: include the font names, sizes, variations, and where and how you use them. For example if you always use a specific font for headlines or all text is in a certain font include that information.
Image style: include details of types of photos, subjects, colors, etc you want used
Design styles: If you have graphic elements you use like shapes, lines, background colors, etc, include the details with examples.

I have a video that will show you how to create a brand board quickly and easily in Canva.

Once you have this all put together, you will find that consistency and cohesiveness becomes so much easier. Your brand will become identifiable, and most importantly, you will be attracting the customers and clients that you desire.

P.S ...If you're a beauty boss looking for branding help and social media and marketing tips and strategies to grow your business then head over to the Beauty Boss Society Facebook Group! See you there!