Creating a unique and memorable brand is mandatory for the success of your business. It doesn’t matter the niche, you want your visitors to think of you when they see your logo, your colors, or your font. Think about Twitter, for example – you would recognize that bird anywhere. You need to accomplish the same.
Graphic design is one of the first things people notice about your brand. You should put a lot of effort into making it stand out visually.
Only a detailed plan can help you get a fresh and memorable design, so don’t rush it. You need to take a lot into consideration and every aspect of it should fall into place, take your time with it. If you’re keener on collaborating with professionals to help you out in the branding process and you’re stationed on the West Coast, you definitely want to look up a branding agency San Francisco. On the other hand, if you want to tackle the subject yourself, here’s the plan on how to achieve it.
What should you consider?
We’re going to help you out with the foundation for creating a visually striking brand. In essence, it includes the following seven key objectives:
Start with an emotion
Do you want to emphasize stability and trust? Or is continuous progress the key aspect of your business? Think about your goals and decide what kind of emotions you want to evoke through your graphic design first.
Finding the right emotion is important because it determines the further development, so take as much time as you need to get this step right.
After that, everything will be more or less easy, and a matter of personal taste.
You might want to go with passion, but you end up with anger. Don’t dwell on it too much, or be afraid to give up on your first idea. It’s impossible to get it right at once. In this brainstorming phase, it’s important to be creative. Your thoughts and creativity will guide you to an original and advanced solution.
Once you know which emotion you want to spark in your target audience, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Color pattern
Keep the emotion in mind while picking your colors. You should go with the most appropriate color scheme based on your brand message and the emotion you are trying to evoke. There is a whole psychology branch related to colors and emotions. We’re only going to give you a bit of a head-start here.
Let’s say that you are trying to establish a brand related to serious topics. Since you need to gain a lot of trust from your visitors, going with shades of dark blue and gray would be a good idea. If you are trying to capture their attention or create a sense of urgency, you should choose bright colors such as red or yellow. Be careful with these though, as they might make them hungry or angry (even hangry) instead. If the content is subtle and peaceful, you should choose a pastel color pattern. Going with blue or green is never a bad idea – they evoke trust and prosperity, together with ease.
Logo design
The logo is the primary symbol of your brand. It is what will make you recognizable. You need to think hard about the direction you want to go in while keeping in mind the overall vibe of your business and what you are trying to convey. You probably aren’t skilled enough to create your own logo design. Unless you are willing to learn it up or use one of the generic logo-builders, you should consider hiring the best available graphic designer.
A skilled graphic designer will follow your instructions and create the best solution based on the brief you provide, but it will require some patience. No one can guarantee you that the first designer you find will successfully convey the idea of a logo that you have in your mind. So, the best solution you could use would be to open a design contest. This way, you can get several different entries to choose from.
A font that fits well
One of the main rules is that you shouldn’t mix more than two fonts. Even if the house is on fire!
With that in mind, you can choose the most suitable fonts based on the emotion you are trying to evoke. Again, go with block letters for stability, and cursive for elegance, for example. And, of course, keep the fonts in combination with the previously created logo.
Layouts and templates
You should choose the templates and layouts that work well with the type of site you want to create. When starting with your website, make sure to determine how you want to present the content. When you pick the ones that suit you best, make sure to use the same templates on each page. It’ll make it easy for visitors to navigate the site, which will have a huge impact on the user experience and conversion rates.
Always remember: in the world of graphic design less is more. With the minimalist design trend taking over by storm recently, that’s become the essence of the school of design. This translates to picking the simplest templates possible to satisfy your visitors. Keep in mind, they need to skim through content and find what they need in a couple of clicks.
Photography that fits your style
Graphic design is all about balance. This again speaks that you should only use the images that fit your style. By now, you’ve already established a particular emotion, color pattern, logo, fonts, and layout. From there, the photos simply need to match the aesthetic you’ve established!
Consistency across all channels
If you are considering an omnichannel presence, that’s already a plus. However, that’s not enough to run a business successfully. Your goal should be to become recognized by visitors and clients. The only way them to remember you is to use the same design on each platform and channel. In short, do your best to avoid confusing the visitors by staying consistent on each channel.
Overall
The road to a visually striking brand is long and difficult and most of the time painful, but if you take it one step at a time and follow these tips, you’ll get there sooner than you think – I promise.