So, you took the plunge and are getting serious about giving your brand and its image a revamp, congrats! We’re so excited for you to bring your vision to life!
While you may be reeling with ideas about color combos, contrast, monochrome, complimentary, trends and all that jazz, we want to encourage you to not get overwhelmed. A way we avoid getting overwhelmed when we design is by referring to our brand board. We are such big fans of keeping our colors and fonts and logos organized, that we created one place —a home, if you will—for all these elements to stay together.You can download our brand board here.
Getting Acquainted With Canva
And you can easily adjust our template as many times as you wish thanks to Canva, a free AMAZINGLY easy and intuitive designing app that can be used on desktop, phones or tablets, though we recommend major edits be done on desktop internet browser, not their mobile app.
The link to access Canva on an internet browser (that's how we use it 99% of the time) is right here: www.canva.com
Here is the link to download Canva if you’ve never tried it before: Canva for Windows | Canva for Mac | Canva for Android | Canva for Apple IOS devices
Don’t worry, you don’t need a paid version of Canva. All of the edits and tutorials we have on our YouTube Channel and templates we sell on our website only require free or basic access. However, if you choose to upgrade for use of thousands of free stock photos, more folders, and other advanced editing options, you are totally welcome to do so, especially since it is $10.95 per month! We don’t receive any compensation from Canva and are not affiliated with them, we just really love their product and have been using it for years and years.
Ok, back to the brand board!
An Example For You
Now that you’re acquainted with Canva, if you went ahead and downloaded our template we mentioned before, you’re going to see that you need a few colors, fonts, and logos, so go ahead and watch this video to get inspired to mix and match and watch how we transform the template to fit our own brand as an example!
What You See Is What You Get
Whether we like it or not, we can’t help but judge a book by its cover, or in this case, your brand. While we cannot know exactly how we will be perceived by others, we suggest you take a few things into consideration.
Try asking yourself if you are looking for a mild and neutral tone, a relaxing/soothing tranquil tone, a bold or even aggressive tone vs. one of peaceful pastels, maybe neon 80’s, classic black and white typewriter font or elegant font, young or even child-like curved font and wacky colors?
There are SO many choices!
But whatever you choose, just be aware that your market will take notice. So, be intentional about your purpose and how you, if you were in their shoes, would perceive the way you’re conveying your message. The colors, fonts, and logo are 3 HUGE tell-tale signs that a person can trust you and that the product/service you’re selling aligns with their needs.
Think for a minute now about alignment with this example. Let’s say you’re offering a kids tutoring service. You’re not likely to use a difficult to read cursive font and subtle beiges and grays, are you? No! You’ll probably go with a few bright primary colors or maybe a bold blocky font to accompany your fun attention getting tagline! The goal is to get your message out clearly and swiftly. But, you won’t do that if your message and the way you’re delivering it are misaligned. The viewer of your website or your social media or your business card shouldn’t feel confused—the kiss of death if you’re looking to turn a browser into a buyer.
Time Saving Links
Ok, moving onto the actual creation of your brand board, aka the super fun part! We referenced a couple links in the video above to help you on your design journey, so here they are incase you missed them:
HEX Color Code: https://www.colorhexa.com/
Complementary color matcher: https://imagecolorpicker.com/color-code
Scroll down to "Color Combinations" for more suggestions based on your main color that you input.
Pick a color based on an image you upload: https://imagecolorpicker.com/
Final Advice
Once you’re happy with your colors/font choices, don’t forget to download your finished version from Canva. Of course, you can edit it however many times you wish, but we recommend that every time to change it you duplicate it, so you can always see all your past ideas and selections, and then date your new file, save it as a PDF and pop it in a safe spot. It could be your desktop or a folder on your computer, for a few examples.
You might even want to save it as a JPEG on your phone or put the image in a Note so you always have access to the hex codes whenever you or your designer or marketing team might need them. You will be shocked at how much time you’ll save having the colors, fonts, and logo variations in one place!
That’s all the tips we have for now, let us know if you have questions or feedback on the blog, video, template or anything else! :)
Happy Creating!
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