Let’s face it, re-branding or designing your brand for the first time can be expensive and confusing. But in a world of online scrolling and 2 second attention spans, your brand is your best asset to create a community, following and growing business. Much like your personality, your brand is what makes you YOU. But how where do you start? How do you create a brand that lasts, stands the test of time and aligns with your community?

I’ve worked with small businesses since I was 17 years old and a big part of what I have done with every business and client I have worked with is help them strategize their brand. Dive deeper to understand their values, their message and create a personality for their business. Then taking this personality and working alongside talented brand designers to create brand assets that reflect all those values. After all these years, here are 5 simple secrets for creating a brand that lasts. 

1. Keep your logo simple.

A big mistake I see a lot of businesses make is thinking that the logo defines them. So they try to put ALL their personality into the logo and try to “reinvent the wheel”. All that does is create such a complex logo that 1. Doesn’t translate on a lot of assets well and 2. Limits the rest of your visual strategy and 3. Goes out of style VERY fast. 

So keep it simple, your logo is but a small part of the puzzle. 

2. No more than 5 brand colours. 

You don’t need a rainbow and having one will make your brand look chaotic. 

Choose 3 main colours and add two neutrals. Usually white and then a grey or black. 

Realistically you should use neutrals and maybe two of the colours more often with the 5th being a small accent here and there. Again, your brand is a collection of pieces that need to all fit together and compliment each other. 

3. Choose legible fonts and add an accent for special use

Here is another place many brands try to reinvent the wheel. Though fonts can tell a lot about your brand, they also have a bigger purpose which is to translate your information. If your audience can’t read it, then you are missing the bigger picture. So choose between serif and sans serif and then keep it simple. If you want to tell more of a story with your fonts, choose a cool font as an accent for little words here and there across your visuals. 

* another tip, keep your text in dark, fairly neutral colours like black, dark grey or a deep colour so that it is legible. Use your colours as backgrounds instead. 

4. Create a great style guide

A style guide is a document that has your logos, how they can and can’t be used, your colour palette with hex codes, your fonts and how/where they are used and finally some images that reflect your brand. You can also add your 5 senses to this document. 

Your style guide helps you and your team understand the vision and tone of the brand visuals and acts as a bible when planning other visual assets for your brand. 

5. Leave white space

Part of your brand goals is to allow the audience to connect with your brand, fill in their own story and absorb everything you are sharing. Overcrowding your brand assets or adding patterns, colours or pictures everywhere can be overwhelming and take away from the message you want to convey. It also inhibits the audience from seeing their own story in yours. So leave white space. In your images, in your website in any assets. Leave a void for your audience to fill and so your key messaging becomes the focal point. 

Want support with your brand? 

Book a strategy call with me and we can dive into finding your story, 5 senses, brand guidelines and visual strategy. 

You can book a strategy call here!

https://calendly.com/danielle-barich-business-strategy/one-hour-one-on-one-coaching