Mastering Simple and Effective Brand Design

Transcript

Introduction to the Pool Party

Hello, it's Jules. Welcome to the pool party. If you didn't know this, I am a brand designer and I've been seeing a ton of horrible brand design out there these days. There's a lot of images generated with AI and I just think to myself, Oh gosh, if we didn't lay off all the designers and art directors, things would look a lot better because there definitely are rules to design, it's not just creativity and doing what your heart desires, so I'm gonna help you out because I actually do believe that people should Be using the tools available to support their brands, tell stories, and basically share their talents and mission with people.

The Importance of Branding

Whether that's you're an artist, let's say you're a DJ, you want to create a cool logo, or you're a an author and you're thinking about making a cool book cover that matches your website. Branding is important because it's what makes you recognizable across all platforms. Let's say you're looking for a job and you're on LinkedIn.

You have a website as a writer, and you're trying to pick a font. These are all very simple branding things that you could decide ahead of time. In order to make your work look simple, get to the point, tell a story, and have it be more recognizable.

Key Elements of Branding

The key point here is not to overcomplicate it, but there are several facets I want to mention today, including fonts, colors, and text.

images, icons, and creating a mood board that will be helpful in guiding you with your branding journey. So welcome to this special edition of the Pool Party. This is how you can create good branding. Stop overcomplicating it and take back your brand story. If you ever work with a designer too, these are good for you to plan out in advance.

Side note, I see many people work with designers and they fill out these questionnaires about what their brand represents and they're too wordy. You're trying to accomplish way too many things all at once and so we're going to make this really simple.

Understanding Fonts

Again, we're going to talk about today fonts.

Colors, images, icons, and creating a mood board. This is aimed for the people out there who are not designers. I will talk about some technical terminology, but let's go ahead and get into what good branding is. Again, we wanted to talk about keeping branding simple and having it tell a story about who you are, what you're offering, and it doesn't really matter you.

Who you are or what you do, but it's important to have a very clear pitch at least one Two three sentences of what you do. Go ahead and write this down just as an exercise Doesn't have to be perfect. But let's say you're a fitness instructor if you work online and you film videos, write that down. If you work in person, write that down.

If you have a niche for only doing fitness classes in nature, write that down. These are all important facets of your brand and they're going to determine the look and feel of the direction you go. It'll make you unique and help you stand out. But again, we want to keep this simple. So let's talk about some of these facets of branding.

So choosing fonts. What is a font? A font is a style of type or letters that you choose that's basically my, how would I describe a font to a five year old? So when you open up a document on your computer, let's say like a Word document or you see any words on a book, whatever the style is of the words, that's going to be your font.

I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with the font Comic Sans. It's that rounded style of lettering. It looks friendly. That's because it's like It's actually meant to be for comics and a lot of times comic sans is used in like preschools and with kids or like when you're joking and it has that effect of being comical because it's friendly and it's round.

So there's a friendly quality to it because it is round. A lot of people use comic sans in lowercase and the lowercase itself also makes your font round. We're going to go a little bit more technical now, we've graduated kindergarten and we want to talk about two different types of fonts. If you've ever wanted to know the difference between a serif and a non serif font, this is a super easy way for you to decide which font to choose.

Now let's start with our serifs. Little history lesson. Serifs. Ceres are essentially the lines that you see at the end of a line. So let's take the letter I, for example. Capital I. Sometimes I is just a straight up and down line, but when you have a horizontal line on the bottom and the top that makes it look like a sideways H, that is a serif.

Now you can add serifs to any sort of letter, and the whole reason why we had serifs to begin with is because type used to be handmade with blocks. Type setting used to be carved out and then made into metal blocks that were actually put into a printing press and that is how we had our first printed books.

One of the first printed works was the Gutenberg Bible. We're going back way, way back now and you'll notice a lot of old fonts, a lot of classic fonts have these serifs because they were physically needed in order to the letters into a physical printer. We don't need that these days, and then so we developed non serif text.

Non serif text is everything else that does not include the lines at the end of each letter. For this reason, They're actually considered a lot more modern. The reason is because serifs are not necessary for typing on the computer. We developed non serif fonts because we decided that it was important to actually make design way more simple.

The lines at the end of letters were considered to be more Way too much and complicated for the eye, and we developed this idea over the 20th century that anything that was unnecessary or not needed in order to get a point across, you would just take that out. So it's one of the reasons why, for example, You can write a capital I without the serifs, or you could write that by hand, of course.

But it's think about the letter C, for example. You're not just going to put a line at the end of each point of the C. And you don't need it because you just don't need it. Let's make this even simpler. Is your brand modern? Is it In the technology space do you consider yourself something that is relatively new as a service?

Are you trying to innovate? You might want to use a non serif font. Some non serif fonts that are out there are things like Arial, Helvetica, Poppins, Helvetica New. I mentioned Comic Sans earlier, that's another non serif font. Your serif fonts. Again, these are the classic ones, the ones that were created for type presses.

They're going to be the more classic fonts, and that's things like Georgia, Garmond, Roboto Mono, Courier New. Notice how these are the ones that kind of remind you of your typewriters and print books. If you have any work to do that is more classical literary, if you have a very classical brand and you like that older feeling, you want to go for a serif font.

It's that simple. All right. Okay, so we talked a little bit about fonts. So we talked about the different types. Serif, non serif, and I made the choice really easy for you. You're going to choose your font based upon if you're modern. So if you're modern, choose a non serif. That's the font with no lines at the end.

If you're more, If you're more classic, you're going to choose a serif font. That's the font with the lines at the end, like Times New Roman. Think like New York Times. That's classic. Okay, so Next thing, when you're considering your branding package, you only want to use two types of fonts.

Make it even simpler and just choose one. Just choose one. You don't need more than two. And there are a few things you can change with your font. You can change the spacing between the letters. That's your That's your tracking. You can change the kerning, you can change the line space. Kerning and tracking, This might be getting a little bit too technical, but we're basically talking about the spacing between your letters.

And you can play with this easily on Canva. Make your, write down the word dog, make it wider. Make it more crowded, and just see how that changes the way your font looks. Some people like more space in between each letter, and that works. But consider the story that the spaces between your letters is telling.

If it's more crowded and more tight maybe that's because you want to create a feeling of coziness. If it's more spaced out Maybe your brand has something to do with airiness and creating space. Maybe you're a yoga teacher. You definitely want a little bit of space in between your letters then. And that's another way to change up a font without choosing a million different fonts.

I promise you, you only need one to two fonts. If you have more than that, it's gonna look amateur. And I know that you have decision paralysis. But choose one to two fonts, and if you want to be a baller, just choose one. Okay, let's say you like a really cool funky font. That's when I'm going to tell you to choose two fonts.

Your funky font is going to be one, And then you're going to choose a very simple font for your second one. Make it so simple. Choose a serif or a non serif. Arial or Times New Roman. Keep it simple. And the reason is, you don't want to write your paragraphs with funky fonts. It just doesn't work, it looks bad, and no one can read it.

Okay? Great. Alright. We talked about fonts. Let's go on to colors.

Choosing the Right Colors

Again, we want to keep it simple. I'm going to force you to choose three colors, and we're going to use all of our senses now to think about what these colors represent, and we're going to use adjectives, words that describe things, like strong stark, vibrant, maybe subtle.

I need you to choose which category Your brand or your product fits in and we are going to choose colors that match this pick three And make sure the colors look good together You're going to want at least one color that you use on everything so Be mindful of how much you use this color. Keep it simple If you need help, choose black, white, and then an accent color.

Maybe that accent color is pink because you're Barbie. That works if you're Barbie. But let's say for example that you are a hot sauce brand that is made with orange peppers. It might make more sense for you to use the color orange. So pick your colors even based off of if your product has a certain color.

Just make it simple.

Again, if you want to be even more elite with your branding, just choose one color. In the three color palette I chose you to, I told you to choose, I said white, black, and an accent. Typically, I would even say just choose one color, and then white and black is a given. But if you want to play around with more color, just make sure these colors look good together, but you're generally going to need white and black anyways.

And then so once you pick your three colors, just choose one and run it by some of your friends who are visually inclined and play around with even just writing the word, writing the name of the product in white or black on this color and see how it makes you feel. See if that is something you want to stick with and that will develop your color choice.

Using Images Effectively

All right, next up we're talking about images. Now images, unless you're a photographer, we don't have to get super detailed into the types of images, but there are a few things to consider. One thing that I think about a lot as a graphic designer and a brand designer is if my colors I'm including are going to be if my photos I'm going to include are going to be in color or in black and white.

Sometimes when I work with non profits, it's a lot easier to actually make the colors of these photos black and white than Because it gives a sense for people, but it takes out a lot of the noise. And I'm just genuinely not trying to put a lot of focus on photos, but it does a really great job of unifying the imagery.

If I make the images black and white, you can do this with any filter, but I would highly suggest. not really using filters if you're not good with color grading your photos and you can be honest with yourself or ask someone because sometimes images just look way better without filters on them or just in black and white so keep it simple again have your two options color or black and white and then leave everything else saturation brightness alone unless you are a professional and you know what you're doing okay So let's talk about high quality imagery.

You don't need to have studio shot photos these days. You can even take your own photos with. Just your phone. Make sure that you wipe the lens though, because I will tell you the amount of times that I get images that people shot on their iPhone. And then once you upload it onto Squarespace, if there's just like a little bit of oil on your lens, you can see a light halo, it looks grainy, it doesn't look good.

And then in that case, if you don't have your own photography, use a website like Pexels, that's P E X E L S, or Unsplash. This is free photography you can use that's professional. You can search up images so you can find images from things like people working out at the gym or a sauna or water bottles that you could put your logo on, things like that.

And then this will help create the imagery for your brand. Keep it simple though. Make sure to look at all your photos together and you want to make sure that they look like the lighting is a little bit the same. So again, that kind of goes through back to that whole color or black and white topic.

Sometimes it's easier to make all the photos look better together if it's black and white. But consider what your brand is. So yeah, just choose a few photos. And if you need to use any photography Choose some high quality, free professional photography from pexels or unsplash. And if you have your own photography to include, just make sure that you took some care to wipe the lens before you shot the photo.

Otherwise I'm going to tell you to shoot again.

Incorporating Icons

All right, this fourth one icons. Not everyone needs icons, but let's say that you're making a website and your website is a website that brand your company is a burger company, you want to have a cute little burger icon, you want to have a little menu icon, and maybe a little ketchup bottle.

I'm going to recommend The Noun Project to you. This is a website where you can go and get icons. I need you to only choose icons with the same line thickness. Do not choose three different icons that have different line thickness because they look like they're made by different people. You can tell that they are and they just Don't make sense.

Try to get icons that are made by the same person in a pack. And again, if you go to the noun project, these ones are going to be free. You can even find paid ones on sites like creative market where you can download and pay for them. You could search them up on Pinterest but just make sure that your icons are uniform.

And if you need new icons in the future, you can edit the icons. You can. You can take the icon and put it in Illustrator and change the thickness. You can hire a designer like me to do that for you. You can try to do it yourself, but be real. Look at the icons and ask yourself, do they look like they belong together?

Because if they don't use them. A bullet point is better at that point than a bunch of icons that look mismatched. Thank you so much. Alright, last one.

Creating a Mood Board

We're going to talk about creating a mood board. Now that we've talked about font, color, images, icons, I want you to create a mood board. And you can create this mood board using anything.

You can open up slides, PowerPoints. Just start collecting images online. Take screenshots of logos you like, of websites you like And then add them to your mood board. This is what I want you to do though. Be real with yourself. Make decisions. Don't include fonts that are serif and non serif. Make a choice.

Make your decisions. I gave you the options. For font, it's choose a serif or non serif font. For colors, it's pick three colors, then one, and then white and black, and then with images, black and white or not. And then you could even go on sites like Pexels, Unsplash and The Noun Project to take a look at the icons and the photos and collect some imagery that you think you would want to use.

If you don't make these decisions, someone else is going to make them for you. And what you're doing is you're basically paying a designer to make the choice for you because you can't. And that's not a great place to start with your brand. I know that a lot of times we think that designers, it's easier to hire a designer because they're making the decision for you, but it's actually better if you have some insight into what you want and why, because it's going to make it more likely that you stick to your brand.

It is super annoying when people hire a brand designer and get a brand package done and then they don't stick to it. It defeats the whole purpose of branding and it makes your brand look messy. It makes you look unprofessional. So create a mood board And in this mood board if there are multiple decisions you like Create multiple mood boards, but at the end of the day, you're the one who needs to make a decision And when you make a decision and you choose a route that's going to make it a lot easier for you to Basically, you just created your brand packaging right there for free and you can evolve on this over time But branding isn't the most important thing in whether or not your product, your business, your service succeeds.

Final Thoughts and Advice

It's just a thing that helps you feel confident and put yourself out there. It's what makes you recognizable, and that's what you need to do when you're trying to promote yourself. So don't get caught up on things like branding and indecision. Just make your decisions and create a mood board. You could even use things like Pinterest and search it up, there's There are templates even on Canva for developing branding assets, and you can fill it in right there.

I encourage you though, don't try to do way too much with your branding. The strongest branding is actually really simple. It's very direct, and because it is so simple and resolute, It's easier to expand upon, it's easier to give to a designer, it's easier to get right. The more you complicate your branding, the harder it's going to be to work with other people, and there's no one else to blame for it but you.

Okay? Alright. A little bit of tough love today on the branding sector. But this has been how to create good branding. Stop overcreating. Overcomplicating your branding. I beg you. I am giving you free advice as a designer And again, there are a lot of tools out there these days I'm seeing a lot of horrible AI art and we will talk about that later but We didn't even talk about AI art today.

I just gave you some really foundational ways of making your branding look better and I really hope that you follow these as you make your resume, you create your LinkedIn you make your first Squarespace website. And if you need more help with branding, if you already did this exercise and you're like, Jules, please help me.

I'm lost. You can go ahead and look up my website. It is juliaspero. me, J U L I A, E S P E R O, dot, that's a period, M E, and contact me on my website. Take a look at the branding projects there to get some inspiration, and I would love to help you with your brand. This has been The Pool Party, and if you liked this episode, give it 5 stars, follow this on Spotify, and we're gonna continue with this series because I'm tired of seeing shitty stuff online.

I don't care if you made it for free or if AI made it. Make some decisions. Don't let the computer make them for you. Have a backbone. And that's been my soapbox rant for today. Thank you, and goodbye.