Solidify your brand’s unique style in the customer’s mind by picking or creating an aesthetic.
A noteworthy thing about the current generation is their love for aesthetics. Whether it is a style of dressing (like dark academia or cottage core) or their zodiac signs, this generation yearns for something to use as a self-descriptor. Naturally, to appeal to this generation, companies must adopt a specific way to define themselves as well.
This can be accomplished by having a unique brand aesthetic. A brand aesthetic refers to the look and feel of your company and is the first thing a customer sees when they come across your brand and its products. If you have just started your own business and are wondering what your brand aesthetic should be, here are a few tips that can help.
Find out your brand identity
The first step to figuring out the kind of aesthetic you should go for is to know your brand identity. Is your brand playful and quirky, or is it strictly professional? What are your core values as a brand? What is your target audience? How is it different from the other brands out there?
A good example is the makeup and skincare brand Glossier. The company has made itself stand out within the makeup industry by focusing on the “no-makeup makeup look”. They have tapped into the new age of makeup where you don’t cover your imperfections but instead try to make your skin look as natural and healthy as possible. Its brand identity is all about keeping it real, in the truest sense of the word.
Choose the right color palette and font for your brand
Once you have figured out your brand identity, the next step is to think about a fitting color palette and font. Different colors and fonts imply different things to the customer. For instance, the color blue signifies trust and security, and red implies a sense of urgency and excitement. When it comes to fonts, Georgia, Baskerville and Garamond give off a sense of professionalism. In contrast, handwritten scripts (such as those in the logos of Cadbury and Disney) make one feel relaxed.
To understand this better, let’s look at the brand Coca-Cola. Not only does it have a signature color palette of red and white, but it also has a signature font that makes it extremely memorable.
Create a mood board to inspire yourself
It might be hard to come up with a brand aesthetic completely organically, so you can always refer to the branding of other companies for inspiration. This isn’t to say you should flat-out copy what other people are doing, but it is instead meant to give you an idea of what you like and dislike.
A brand with its own unique style that is worth looking at here is luxury fashion company Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton belongs to the Baroque design aesthetic. This aesthetic stems from an art style of the 17th century by the same name. Baroque uses elaborate patterns and classic iconography to evoke strong emotions in the viewer. Louis Vuitton perfectly fits into this aesthetic with its repeated patterns, such as the and the two-toned . Alternatively, you can also look for inspiration from a brand with a more modern style, like Apple. The brand’s products have a clean, minimalistic feel to them. So, find a brand that most closely resembles your own and seek inspiration.
Combine the brand aesthetic resources
Once you have decided on the color, font and style, you must go ahead and compile these together to create a brand aesthetic toolkit. This can be referenced by employees whenever they are designing the products or even just working on social media posts for the company.
You can use Google Drive or Dropbox to safely store the toolkit for future reference. It might also be helpful to create templates for future products/social media posts using platforms like Canva. Canva requires no prior design experience and is a great tool for planning and creating visual content for your brand.
The final thing you need to do is make sure that the visual content of your brand is cohesive. Whatever brand aesthetic you choose needs to work everywhere, be it on your website, your social media handles or your physical storefronts. This consistency pays off. According to a study by brand template platform Marq (formerly LucidPress), consistent branding leads to a 33% increase in revenue.
Since all brands are creating content with a target audience in mind, you can even consider asking your customers for feedback on what they think about your new aesthetic. This can give you some perspective on what a customer wants so that you can deliver that effectively. As long as you are mindful of the points we listed above, you should be set to create a cohesive brand aesthetic.
Also read:
- Why Is Rebranding Not Always Successful?
- Tips to Build a Successful Rebranding Strategy
- How Should Luxury Brands Fight against Counterfeiting?
Header image courtesy of Unsplash
