4 Tips to DIY Your Brand Design

Of course I think that everyone should have their logo professionally designed, but I realize when you are first starting out you can’t always afford a logo designer. But just because you can’t afford a professional designer shouldn’t mean that you can’t have a powerful brand. I’m here to tell you that it IS possible for you to not only have a stunning logo for your business, but also you can create visual elements for your brand aka your brand’s visual identity! You (yes you! the non designer) can design your own brand!

Creating a brand visual identity is going to make your business look more polished and professional. Plus it is going to make you show up more authentically and confidently in your marketing efforts in a fast and easy way!  No more spending hours to create social media graphics because you will have a system in place.

Are you ready to hear my secrets for DIYing your visual brand? Some of these may surprise you… it’s not all about your logo!

My top 4 tips for creating your own brand

1. Start with a solid brand foundation.

When you are starting to design an Instagram post, Pin for Pinterest or even your website, it is easy to start scrolling those platforms for inspiration. You find one that catches your eye and you try your hardest to copy that other solopreneur. 

As tempting as it is, please STOP!!! I know it is hard especially if you are inspired by another small business owner in your field. But the problem is you aren’t going to stand out! You are only going to look like a cheap, generic version of that brand you tried to replicate. Or you are going to look like you are trying too many things. Like someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. I don’t know about you, but I do not want anyone to think my business is cheap, unprofessional or inexperienced! 

Instead, let’s think of your brand as a house. Let’s create a rock solid foundation that is going to grow with your business and evolve with you.When I am working with my one on one service based clients, I ask them a series of questions. Here are a couple of them:

Five questions to create your brand’s foundation:

1. Why did you start your business in the first place? 
2. Where do you want to see your business in the next year? And where in the next 5 years?
3. Who is your ideal client? Tell me what they do for a living, where they live, age, etc.
4. What is your ideal client’s biggest problem/struggle that they are coming to you to solve? 
5. How do you solve that problem differently than your competition?

2. Create a cohesive brand style

Now that you have laid the foundation of your business, you are ready to start thinking through the rest of your brand. Going back to the building a house analogy, there are so many houses you could build – tudor, ranch, mansions. How do you decide what kind of house you want? You pick one that fits your day to day needs in your life and style.

We need to do the same for our brand. We need our brand to have the style of what it is like to work with us. We want it to give that first impression of how amazing our business is. By creating a defined overall brand style your brand will look professional, recognisable and start to build trust with your ideal client. 

Before I start designing a logo or website, I ask my client these 3 questions to decide their brand visual identity.

3 questions to ask to design your brand

• What are 3 words your client would say best describe their experience working with you?
• What are 3 words that you would use to describe your ideal client?
• What style will resonate with your target audience?

If you are having trouble thinking through these questions, then download my free brand guide, 4 Easy Steps To Creating A Memorable Brand. I take you step by step how to create a memorable brand that helps you stand out! 

After you have answered those questions, then go back to your answers in the first tip. You will start to see some words repeated. When I am working with my logo and branding clients, I start to highlight and circle some of these keywords. These become our brand keywords that best describe the overall look and feeling we want their brand to have. 

Create a mood board for your brand

Once the brand keywords are established, it is time to start pulling the visuals in place! I love to do this by creating a mood board of images that reflect those words. Pinterest is a great tool to find these images! You are looking for images of patterns, colors, quotes, photos that all align with those keywords you circled. The mood board is a visual reminder of the overall vibe you want your brand to have for its logo, colors, fonts, pattern, social graphics, website and anything else you may possibly want to design! 

Need help creating a mood board? I got you! Check out my 3 easy steps to creating a mood board post. I go over step by step on how to create one! (even if you aren’t a professional designer).

3. Design a simple logo for your brand

While a logo is NOT your brand, it is typically the first thing you design for your business. Your brand will carry over some of the elements (fonts, colors, icons and style) from your logo. 

It’s easy to think that your logo is supposed to tell your audience everything about your business and ALL of its keywords! But that’s not the case! An effective logo should be clearly telling someone your business name. The rest of your brand assets should be telling the story of what it is like to work with you.

For example, I designed a logo for a client that is a law firm that specializes in helping ranch owners with their land assets. They told me they wanted their brand to look like the TV show, Yellowstone because that really reflects their clients. And they suggested to us having running horses like the Yellowstone opening credits in their logo. I explained to them that we need the logo to translate on their business cards, website, letterhead and scaled smaller on their envelopes. While the running horses is a creative idea, it will be confusing if their opposing team receives a letter in the mail with that on there. Instead we could incorporate some ranch elements to give their law firm that western look but still seem like a professional, reliable and experienced law office. On their website, we could incorporate some horse imagery to connect with their clients. 

So when you are DIYing your logo, just remember to keep it simple! This is going to seriously make your brand look more polished and timeless. 

Not sure where to begin with your DIY logo?

Start by choosing a main font that reflects your brand keywords. Then play around with it by typing out your business name and phrases that you use a lot in your business. Make sure it’s easy to read. 

Next start playing around with color! Pick colors that reflect your brand keywords.

OR if you would love to feel like you have a designer helping you design your logo every step of the way, then check out my Canva Logo Templates. I provide you with guides on which font and color you should use for your logo. I also provide video tutorials so you can easily customize the logo templates perfectly for your brand and have it done in one day!

4. Be consistent with your brand design

Now that you’ve spent the time to get clear on your foundation of your business and created visuals that reflect this overall feeling you want your brand to have, it’s time to stay consistent! 

How many of you spend time swapping out your fonts because you want your post to look cute? 

I am gonna give you a bit of tough love. DON’T KEEP CHANGING YOUR BRAND! You may get tired of looking at the same brand but it is NEW to your potential client!! 

Besides, who has time to constantly redesign their logo or website? You have more important things to be doing in your business!

Being consistent is not only going to make your marketing efforts a heck a lot easier because you don’t have to play around with the font, colors or graphic elements, but it is also going to allow your business to become more memorable. 

Using a different font on a social media quote and then a different font on your next post or website is going to make your brand feel unprofessional. The potential client is going to feel like you aren’t that experienced and are going to be confused. Remember, your visuals are going to be giving that first impression of our brand! Let them do the work for you!!! 

When I am working with my logo design clients, I create a brand guide. This is the how-to guide for their brand. In this guide, I break down their logos, colors, fonts and main brand keywords. This ensures that as they are creating their own marketing, they are staying consistent with their brand. 

Here’s an example of a brand guide:

Being consistent also goes beyond the visuals, it also plays in the client experience. Going back to how you want your clients to feel when they work with you means a lot for your brand. If you wrote down that you wanted your brand to be seen as a personal brand, then you could send a handwritten note as part of your thank you package. 

Looking for more help in designing your brand?

If you want more help in creating your brand, then make sure you download my free guide, 4 Easy Steps To Creating A Memorable Brand.  It helps you create a powerful brand that will attract the clients you dream of working with. Consider it your branding blueprint!