Style the Brand

  
What is Brand Styling?

Brand Styling is the art of using type, colour, pattern, illustration and texture to communicate a carefully considered and highly intentional message. One that will help you attract the right sorts of clients, compel them to do business with you and enable you to get where you want to be, faster.
Brand styling involves more than creating a smart logo, although that’s certainly at the centre of your brand identity. A well styled brand pulls together typefaces with just the right character; colours that resonate and communicate your brand values; patterns that add depth and flair and illustrative elements that bring personality and style.



 

Your brand identity must represent you and your business

When your brand identity is crafted with focus, flair and purpose it becomes an asset to your business. Enabling your current and prospective clients see your business the way you do; building value; setting you apart from the competition and helping you gain in confidence.
Great design is a given, but what really matters is that your brand stylist captures the essence of your business. Your brand identity should feel as good as it looks. It should represent exactly what makes your company so special and make your heart sing and your spirits soar every time you look at it.
I love to see an agency with a distinctive style but it’s the ones who are are able to really listen to your very specific brief and combine that with their own creative flair that are at the very top of their game. They are the ones that will create a brand identity that will help you propel your business forwards and achieve your ambitions faster.
A powerful brand identity will resonate at an emotional and instinctive level. It will subconsciously communicate your business values, appeal directly to your most profitable clients and make doing business easier.

The Process

Brand stylists usually start by creating mood board to set the direction of your brand identity. This is a great way to visualise what they have in mind and ensure you’re on the same page. Sometimes your idea of sophisticated or fun can be very different to someone else’s, so it’s always worth making sure you’re headed in the right direction before you both commit a lot of time to creating the fine detail.
Once your mood board is agreed the next step is to create a logo and supporting elements. As you see above, selecting pattern, colour, texture and typefaces that will send out the right message about your business. This is so important, when you see brand boards on Pinterest it’s easy to think that it’s just ‘painting by numbers’ – adding together elements in a formulaic way to achieve something that looks superficially good. But truly talented brand stylists will always, always take the time and trouble to create something that really reflects your business. Only when your brand identity really represents your business and your aspirations for your company will it really help you grow.
Signing off the brand elements is just the start in the brand styling process. Next comes the ‘collateral’: the website, business cards, packaging, uniform, signage and marketing literature. Where possible it’s always worth working with your brand stylist on designing (if not necessarily producing) all of these elements because that’s how you’ll develop a truly remarkable and coherent brand identity.

Source How to Style your Brand    Fiona Humberstone