Episode Nine
Welcome back to SHEcorporated ONE STEP Empire podcast!
Last week we worked on part one of your brand identity, and creating your logo. Hopefully you have settled on a design you are loving and have started the process with a graphic designer to getting your logo finalized.
We talked about how critical it is to get feedback from a variety of people on your logo, and if you want some feedback from the SHEcorporated community, just send us a DM on Instagram or shoot me an email with some pictures and we can share it on Instagram and get you some feedback from other SHEcorporated community members. You can also send me an email from the website shecorporated.com.
So last week we talked about brand identity and how your brand identity generally encompasses the visual aspects of your brand that identify it and distinguish it from others in your market. like colors, fonts and logos.
So in this episode we are going to talk through Steps Two and Three, your typeface and your colors.
2 Choose your fonts
Different typefaces have different personalities. Each conveys a certain feeling, which is why it’s important to choose the right one for your brand identity. Most brand will choose 2-3 typefaces as part of their Brand Identity Kit
You will want to make sure that it’s different from the typeface your competitors use, and feels unique to your brand, You will also want all the typefaces you choose to work well together in a complimentary fashion.
It’s also important to keep in mind the readability and functionality of the fonts you choose. Make sure the fonts you choose are not only in line with your brand feel, but that they are easy to read, join up to each other nicely and work well with the words that you will use a lot.
We had a font chosen for one of our brands that was a script font we liked the look of, but every time we wrote my name in it the R’s looked disjointed, and since my name had several r’s it was something we ran into a lot and eventually had to change up because it drove me crazy, it looked so weird.
I suggest that you test it out on some of the copy you are using in your business. Try it out on your web page copy, or content you are creating. Make sure it looks good in multiple applications.
2. Choose your Colors:
Color is such a powerful tool and an important part of your branding. Different colors will create different responses in people as well as reinforce messaging about your overall brand.
For example the color red is associated with hunger and energy, and that’s the reason you will see it frequently in branding for fast food restaurants, they want you to eat and get out quickly, think McDonalds, Chick Fil A, KFC, Wendy’s etc.
Blue is soothing and calming and that’s one reason you will so often find it in medical or therapeutic settings, resorts, and spa’s.
When you’re trying to communicate information about your brand, if you use color effectively you can amplify the intended message, and hopefully compel people to take the action you want.
When you are choosing your colors it’s also important to consider who you are targeting and what colors will appeal to them. You also want to consider what colors your competitors already use, so you can choose something that will help you stand out.
How to Choose Your Brand Colors
1) Start with Color Inspiration
You can use a color tool, a photograph, paint chips, or even and pinterest board to find the colors that fit your brand. Luckily, there are a ton of color inspiration sites and tools to help inspire you. Coolors.co is great for finding palette of colors that works well together or even taking a photo and creating a color palette from that photo.
You’ll want to make sure you have a mix of light and dark colors in your palette.
3) Identify Your Dominant and Accent Colors
The palette you create is up to you, but we recommend you choose four to 6 colors with one main color, 2 accent colors and then any auxiliary colors after that.
Various applications will require various codes to interpret your colors. So, for designing in canva or choosing colors on your website you will need the hex code, but for printing your logo on a mug, for example, you will need the PMS or pantone matching system code to get the color right. So make sure you record both sets of numbers for your brand identity colors to keep yourself consistent on everything you use them for. Encycolorpedia.com is another favorite site for finding complementary colors and I use it regularly to find the hex code for a pantone color or vice versa.
Finally, make sure you note any special considerations that are specific to your brand, like if the logo needs to always be positioned a certain way, or if one of your fonts is only to be used for certain applications. This document will be incredibly useful to share with your designer, employees and others that work with your brand, to make sure the look and feel of your brand is consistent every single time it is used.
Here are some real world examples of branding Style Guides you can check out for more ideas and inspiration https://www.canva.com/learn/50-meticulous-style-guides-every-startup-see-launching/ you can see how companies like apple, Heineken, Google and Walmart laid out their brand guidelines.
Don't get overwhelmed – yours doesn’t need to be nearly as complicated as theirs, but pick the pieces you think are critical to your brand and just include those in your own style guide.
So that’s your one step for this week. And to help you make Brand Identity Kit of your own with your very own color palette and fonts we have created a free Brand Identity Kit download for you to pull it all together and have all your info one place.
So get the free download – go to shecorporated.com and look for the link in the header where it says Brand Identity Kit, get your pictures printed out and design your ideal future.
Next week we are going to figure out where you are going with your Mission and Vision statement, how to craft them and why they are important. So make sure you meet us back here next week!
So hit us up @shecorporated on social and we’ll see you back here next week.