Did you know that it takes about 1/10th of a second for people to form an opinion about you. The same goes for you branding. 50 milliseconds it takes for your people to form an opinion about your website according to 8ways in 2019.
You’re branding isn’t something you should gamble with.
At it’s best it helps you attract people, increase recognition, trust and loyalty etc. At its worst it can cost you a sale or lead. People can make snap judgments that are misrepresentative of who you actually are, due to poor design. So many of us struggle to design something that not only looks good but also represents of who we are. It’s no wonder why so many us can be tempted to keep changing our brand in search for the best look.
In Todays Episodes we’ll be sharing some simple design tips to help you better your current DIY brand. We’ll touch on typefaces, colour, imagery and negative space. All of the design tips I share with you today are to help your brand look more professional. As well as providing you with simple ways to represent who you are.
Audio Time Stamp | 01:23
Basics to choosing a Typeface
Before you choose a typeface, we should go over a few things. Firstly that there are range of types including serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display. Today we’ll be focusing today on Serif and San Seirf. How to decide which is right of your brand pick. You might of already heard these terms, a serif is a typeface that has serifs which is a slight projections finishing off a stroke of a letter. Think of it as each letters have extra little feet or hands on both ends. Whether are san serif don’t have these extra elements they are smother finishing. The most common place you’ll see a traditional serif face is in a newspaper and books, why you may ask? Well it helps the readers eye to follow each line with easy because it almost creates this invisible line underneath each word.
Obviously this helpful line effect isn’t something you’ll necessary need. But what may help you decided which on your brand should be is knowing that a serif is see as traditional where as a san serif typeface is considered more modern. You’ll see many brands have updated their logo design from serif typeface to a san serif, including Burberry and Google. You might be wondering, who would pick serif and want to be seen as traditional and old? Well in branding traditional can be seen as good. A brand that picks a serif typeface may do this more to communicate that they have a heritage and are well established.
Audio Time Stamp | 03:58
Brand Colour Approach
Moving into the world of colours, colour is everywhere. We use it to warn, identity and signal many different things. It’s a form of communication without having to use a word. Are you aware colour can also increase brand recognitions by 80%. Don’t leave that opportunity left on the table. Choose colour effectively and use it consistently. To pick colour you have couple different things to consider. Firstly checking what colours are popular within you industry. Jump on to Pinterest and type in the search engine and keyword your industry would use. You’ll see a feed full of colours, not down the colours you see the most popular.
It’s your choice if you want to stay completely way from these colours and be different to stand out from the crowd. Or decided to pick a different shade or tone that isn’t usually used. However, we should also understand colour theory. Not only does colour communicate something it can also effect the way we feel. Different colour symbolises different things and meanings. It’s important to understand which type of meaning you want to align your brand with the most.
Where things go south in DIY colour palettes pretty quickly is when you overcrowd the palette with all dominate colours. To harness a professional looking colour palette for your brand you need to find colours that will support and compliment your brand colour well. This will make you brand go from looking like it screaming for attention to effortlessly receiving it. A well balanced colour palette will make you look more professional looking. Rather than having 5 colours all trying to battle each other out at once. Sometime with colour a little goes a long way!
Audio Time Stamp | 06:28
Free Professional imagery resources and common mistakes
Imagery can be tricky on a DIY brand budget, but there are a few work arounds. Firstly there are are stock image website where you can download and use their professional looking images for free. Such as Unsplash and pexels. However, to give you brand a little more you’ness. It’s best to sprinkle in images you have, at least one self-portrait to show your online web visitors the person behind the brand. However, this can depend on the quality of the images you have. If they aren’t light well enough and composition is actually a bit off it’s best to stay clear snd try and take a better one with simple ambient lighting and little or simple background setting.
If you are thinking of DIY photos for your branding. You’ll need to consider other elements such as your outfit. What you wear in these images can present you in light therefore be mindful about it. Don’t just chuck on what ever is clean and closet be strategic. Do you want to come across as established then maybe a more power suit is your vibe. Or a little more low key jeans and a black blazer. Or maybe you want to across as more youthful and femini maybe a white floaty dress etc. The outfit tell your audience a little more about you don’t let it send you into decision fatigue but definitely worth thinking about. As well as you posture and I always recommend a natural smile with both eyes and mouth!
Audio Time Stamp | 08:28
Why designers use white space
Lastly we have space when designing anything from a logo to template space is involved. When you’re designing a layout you’ll have to be just as aware of the elements that take up space and the white space around each element. The common down full we see with space is not enough. Designers will always provide negative space, you may see this as a waste of space. And think but we could put more information there. But in fact white space helps you viewer.
For example if you looked at website crammed with text our eyes will feel overwhelmed and would try to consuming it in one whole heap quickly. Well when we break this up to provide more negative space whether that the width of paragraphs shorter so one side of the screen has more white space as well as each spacing underneath each section. Our our eyes get a well deserved and need reset and we can breath whilst looking at the pages rather than fill bombarded with words.
Audio Time Stamp | 09:37
Start looking more professional today!
It’s your turn now to take these simple design tips and implement then within your brand designs today. Use typefaces to better explain what you’re brand represents. Use a well crafted colour palette to differentiate you from the crowd and evoke the right feeling. Use professional stock imagery and sprinkle in some of your own images that have good light and composition. Lastly white space has great benefits to allow your audience to breath and more likely to consume more instead of overwhelming your readers with too many things at once. Confused about how to attract your ideal people go and how it actually helps your brand go have listen to episode 43 on the BrandMade Podcast.