march meet the maker : day 4 : branding

day 4 : branding

when i decided i wanted to get really serious about this whole small business gig, i knew i needed to have a cohesive design across my product range.

i was already putting my name and website on the back of all of my cards, but knew that wouldn't be enough. i had business cards that had all the pertinent information, but they were a basic vistaprint design that didn't really represent me. i had one small banner that i created for my outdoor booth space, but even it was a little lackluster. 

so i started jotting down ideas in one of my gazillion notebooks - what did i want my business to represent? what emotion did i want to invoke when people saw my display or my products? what represents me as a maker?

one main thing kept sticking out : color. 

of course! color! anyone who knows me knows how much i love all the colors. nearly every room in my home is a different color and yet it kinda flows quite nicely. believe me when i say that i love white space as much as the next person, but sometimes it's that pop of wow that hits you in the face and helps you feel a certain way. 

this is also where i want to note that a lot of my setups for shows [and in the craft castle] are in rainbow or roygbiv order. this is for several reasons - one: i'm ocd [cdo] and like things in the order they should be in. b: it just looks pretty and organized and 3: it reminds me of kindergarten. this third reason might sound stupid - but hear me out. when you're young and just learning about all the things and you're surrounded by shapes and numbers and colors - you take it all in. this is also the time that [most people] learn to share, to be kind, to be a friend. that's what 1cre8ivemess is all about - sharing handmade kindness to as many people, both friends and strangers, as possible. 

i began to think about how i could represent myself with color without being random and i remembered that awhile back i had played around with some distress inks and watercoloring some backgrounds for cards. a lot of it was just playing with some color theory, but i remembered one that turned out really well and i didn't know how i wanted to use it. 

i decided to take a photo of the piece [upper left in the above photo] and add to it with my favorite canva app. this became the start of my branding for the most part. 

i had new custom business cards made with this colorful swatch as the background. new banners for my outdoor [and indoor] display have the same background. i created a collage so that it's the background behind my images on instagram. it's even visible on my website. it's literally behind everything with my name on it and i couldn't be happier about it.  

some say that a brand has to have a logo - that a line of text isn't a logo. well i claim that it is. my name on the back of my cards is part of my logo - as well as my brand. [and to be honest, off the top of my head - diet coke, gap and crayola are all just words that describe their brands. none of them have an image aside from the wording.] but they all have characteristics that people associate with their brand; silver can with black and red writing, a blue square with iconic white letters and a yellow box with green angled points. 

so that's pretty much my story of how i created my brand - and some of the things that i stand for. i'm sure with time it will change as all good things do, but i'm certainly happy with where i started. 

if you've followed me for a while, or even if you're new - from looking at my available items, how would you describe my brand? i'd love to hear what you think!