by Mel | Jun 26, 2017 | Blog |
Hey Gorgeous ones,
I thought i would pop in here today and talk about the importance of style or brand guides. Do you have one? Do you know what they are for?
I personally think that Brand guides are a crucial and important part of your business. It helps you to keep consistent and clear in your marketing and visual collateral across all forms of media, be it social media, instagram, leaflets, brochures, your offers, the list really is endless I think.
A brand guide helps you connect with your overall brand, once you have had it created. It contains valuable information about the type of colours you should use as well as the colours of your branding so that you always have the HEX or CMYK codes when you are creating your own collateral so that it stays on brand.
It lists the typography, which is the fonts of your logo and your general overall everyday use fonts. This way you know what your fonts are and are always using them consistently.
It also has example imagery or even imagery that you can use in your branding. This really helps you to remember the type of pictures or photos align with your brand so that you don’t end up with shiny object syndrome by all the beautiful images out there, but helps you stay focused when you are looking for images to use within your social media or other elements.
This is where a brand guide is fantastic, you can print it out and have it sitting on your desk or somewhere where it is visible so that you always have reference to it when you are working. Saves having to constantly go back to check what the fonts are, what the colour codes are or the type of images you are going to use.
If you would like any more information about this, feel free to contact me and I am more than happy to have a chat with you.
Until next time
Namaste
Melissa
by Mel | Jun 15, 2017 | Blog |
Last weekend I attended MBS festival in Melbourne (Mind, Body, Spirit Festival) I must say that I was completely in my element, surrounded by like minded peeps, who are so my tribe. I wanted to take a look around and see what gorgeous treasures everyone had to offer, plus I had a few places and workshops I wanted to do while I was there.
As some of you may know, I am an avid animal lover and connect strongly with the animal realm. They are my friends. I attended Scott Alexander Kings talk on Connecting with the symbolism of animals. I was so mesmerised by his passion for nature and animals and his knowledge on the animal kingdom. He is a very interesting man, who spoke about his experiences growing up as a child and adult and coming to learn the ways of the animals. He was quite entertaining in the way he engaged his audience and labeled people’s personalities as either Cat or Dog people.
I am definitely a CAT personality by nature, along with connecting very strongly with this animal. I have had a few animals that I have been fascinated over the last little bit, apart from cats, is the owl and in particular the Tawny Frog Mouth, I have also had a connection to the sloth.
I got to have a fantastic chat with Scott about all things animals and also publishing as I am looking at doing my own oracle deck using my animal drawings. I was so stoked that he took my business card and mentioned how it can be hard to find a graphic designer who thinks outside of the square and is intuitive in nature, who can also produce artwork, he would love to chat some more about some possible work creating layouts for oracle cards and design for people who come to his animal dreaming publishing to publish their books or cards. So Keep tuned for that.
I also managed to get a new logo design client, just randomly, chatting to someone on the steps outside, just goes to show you, that people are drawn to you, if they feel they resonate with you. So great. I am really looking forward to putting together a design for her.
I think it is important to remember to always have business cards on you and use any opportunity to talk to people about what you do. Admittedly, MBS was full of a lot of my ideal clients, plus there were people there that I wanted to connect with to find out more information, due to my interest in the animal and shamanic realms.
I think that you just have to be YOU no matter what YOU DO, because at the end of the day, people will either resonate with your energy or not, and inevitably be drawn to work with you, whatever your field of expertise is.
by Mel | May 31, 2017 | Blog |
I often get asked about branding and design tips and how to keep your branding and social media collateral looking brilliant across many platforms.
People get so caught up with what things should look like, or that it should be filled with heaps of colour, fonts, images and that they should change things up so that people don’t get bored with what they are looking at. I think these are the areas that people get confused with when they are putting out their offers and other bits and pieces in the online world for people to see.
My 5 quick design tips to help you get consistent in your brands message in the online space are:
LIMIT YOUR FONTS
When you are looking at fonts to use within your branding, keep it to 2-3 fonts that you use consistently throughout your branding and messages. Use it for your offers and tips and everything in between from your website if you can to your invoicing and other collateral that may go out to your regular clients or those that may be stalking you without you knowing it, so that people get to recognise you
BE CLEVER WITH COLOUR
When you are choosing colours, think about what that colour may represent or make a person feel. What colour will resonate with your niche market or the type of person you are wanting to attract to your tribe. It may not necessarily be your favourite colour. I learned this in my branding. Stick to a couple core colours and then use complimentary or accent colours throughout your social media collateral.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
When creating your social media posts and collateral, always remember to keep it simple. Less is always more when designing, don’t cram too much into visually into a post, as it will create overwhelm in your target market, make it difficult to read and your viewer will not be sure where to look first or be drawn to the most important part of the post.
USE WHITE SPACE
Don’t be afraid to use white space, what I mean by this is having a large area that is not filled with text or overwhelming visuals, it helps the viewer to really engage with the message that you are portraying and also helps keep it clean and crisp and in turn Keeping it simple
CONSISTENCY
Consistency in your visual representation of posts on line is key. You want people to see your offers and posts and instantly recognise who it is. This is you key to online presence. So keeping all the above in check, being consistent with the fonts you use, the colours you use, the voice/tone of the writing, the images people will begin to recognise you in your area of expertise.
If you would like any more information or would like to have a chat about your branding, contact me below.
by Mel | May 19, 2017 | Blog |
Hi Everyone,
Today I thought that I would write about the design process, as so many people don’t really realise what goes in to creating a logo for example and the reason why it can cost anywhere between $300 – $1000+ for a logo design.
Step 1 – The Brief
Firstly the client briefs us of what they want and need. Project management timelines are being set as well during a 45 minute consult.
Duration 45min – 1 hour
Step 2 – The Research
After the design consult we begin researching possible ideas that align with their business message and their personal message which will authentically connect with their tribe. We research colours, competitors, current trends, images and more.
Duration 2-3 hours
Step 3 – The Ideation
After we have researched and looked into what their business is all about, we do a brainstorm to explore a number of concept ideas that may suit the message of their brand and branding.
Duration 1-4 Hours
Step 4 – The production
Designing and refining original artwork, consulting with the client ensuring that we are on with their vision for their brand. Multiple revisions. Final Design layouts, Putting together style guide with fonts, colours imagery.
Duration 3-10 Hours
Step 5 – The delivery
Providing and handing over the completed files and artwork. Providing files in a range of formats including source files.
Duration 1-2 Hours
So the total time it takes from the beginning of the project to the handing over of the final files for a logo can be anywhere between 8-20 hours or even more. This is the reason that logos can cost a bit, as they take a lot of time to create, they are not just a stock image which some may use, but a uniquely crafted piece.
If you are looking to refresh your logo or have any questions around logo design, please contact me.
by Mel | May 9, 2017 | Blog |
Hi Lovely peeps, hope you are all well? Just a warning that today I am getting ranty about the use of Canva.
Ok to start with Canva can have its place when used correctly, but it does not substitute for good design! I understand why people use it, and even with some training they do not use effectively. It is also becoming more and more glitchy so I have heard.
With the open use of canva now days, everyone seems to think that they can be a designer, this is so far from the truth. It takes years of training, learning about the way shapes, colours and imagery go together to tell a story and inevitably create your brand. So why then does everyone try and do something that is outside their zone of genius, to save themselves some money when these visual elements are so crucial to you and your brand message.
One of the biggest things I see happen is that people over use and put to much into their image and it becomes overwhelming with all the elements in it. Or their images and fonts change from one pretty canva image to the next and there is no consistency in the message. They see a pretty picture and think ooh that is nice, I’ll use that, but does that image really suit your message and branding? Getting it right and consistent is key!!!
The other thing people seem to get when using canva is the ‘ooh look, shiny’ syndrome and get distracted from their message, getting carried away with the pretty pictures, the fonts and colours and elements and end up with an image that has way too many elements in it, or just does not align truly with who they are or their brand, and there are way too many carbon copy images on social media rather than it being crafted specifically for you and your business.
The key to social media images is to have the same type of imagery, the same fonts and colours that are used in your branding so that when people see your offers or social media collateral they instantly recognize that it is you.
Choosing to have a Graphic Designer to create your unique branded images for you or even base images that you can use in Canva is best in the long run and an investment for the business.
So If you are sick of spending hours on Canva moving from image to image endlessly, or your just not sure if your images are hitting the mark get in touch.
by Mel | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog |
Happy new year everyone. I hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year. I had a very busy Christmas and New Year spending time with my family ddqnhme. It is always so lovely to take some time off, although i think I was even more busy with the family down visiting and then looking after my nephew for an additional week then flying him back to hong kong. It was so lovely to spend time one on one with him and getting my creative juices flowing and giving me new ideas for this year.
I hope everyone has their goals set for this year. It is going to be a cracker I tell you, so many new beginnings and possibilities, with the new one year energy. Letting go of the old and embracing the new.
Time in Hong Kong with my brother, niece and nephew.
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