ELEVATE YOUR BRAND
A FREE RESOURCE FOR CONTENT-CREATORS
This guide will help you translate the mission of your platform into a clear, aesthetic vision.When you finish, I will deliver back to you some next steps for implementing your brand refresh!
BRAINSTORM
BUILD
Now that you have your 3 Style Guides, let’s talk about what to do with them.
I’m going to use my own platform as an example - I suggest following along!
I. START WITH YOUR STYLE WORDS
In my brainstorm, I wrote a lot about books and films that inspire me in my work. I love gothic fiction and A24 films. I also draw a lot on nature in my photography work, and I am a lifetime lover of folklore and mythology. My work reflects all of this, but I want to communicate that to my clients so that the right people find me! My guide words were:
Cinematic, Organic, Ethereal
What were your guide words?
II. TRANSFORM YOUR STYLE WORDS INTO USABLE DESIGN ELEMENTS
As a starting point, we need to transform your style guides into 3 things:
A color palette, a trademark icon, banner, or logo, and a tone of voice.
COLOR
Color is a powerful way to communicate the spirit of your brand to your followers. And it’s not just about picking a “theme color.” For example, look at how I can communicate different brand values using just orange.
Playful, Optimistic:
Creamsicle orange with harmonious pinks and whites
Bold, Striking:
Bright tangerine with stark, high contrast
Sweet, Soft, Delicate:
Light, Bright Apricot, with Natural Neutrals
What colors do you associate with your style words? If you need some inspiration - look back to the books, movies, musicians, that you cited in your. brainstorm - what colors do you see represented there? Picking a marker image like I have here can be a great way to establish a palette without getting out the paint swatches!
Here’s the palette I built to evoke “cinematic, organic, ethereal”
Sea Blue, Spruce, Cloud White, Espresso Beige, and Mossy Stone
Dramatic, Moody:
Burnt orange with deep charcoals and cool neutrals
These are my guidepost colors for website fonts, colors, even photo filters on Instagram.
ICON/BANNER/LOGO
This is the place where you might want to call in a professional photographer or designer (let’s chat!) but at the bare minimum, your brand needs an icon. I grounding banner, image, or logo that centers your brand and communicates your values. Using my words, “cinematic, organic, and ethereal” and the palette above, I designed this banner image for my website and instagram.
And finally… Let’s add
TONE OF VOICE
Layering a staple font, a harmonious brand name, and a “heading” for your brand puts the final touch on your startup package. For me, this meant an elegant, but gently whimsical font, a movie poster -esque design, and my brand slogan, “Photography & Design for Artists and Adventurers”
Okay friends.
You’ve done virtually all of the work to launch your rebrand. But I want to offer you one more bit of support.
I want to offer you a free platform appraisal. No strings attached. Just give me your email and the link to your website or social media platform and I will provide a completely free appraisal of your platform with my recommendations for next steps.