Designing our Personality
Brand Personality vs. Brand Identity:
Personality: is the emotional and human association to a brand. Identity: is the image we create & use to relate to our audience. It includes all communication and visuals such as logos, colors or fonts etc.
A brand’s identity should be part of its personality. It is important to create both a voice and visuals that work together. A fun voice means nothing if the logo and images are all overly formal.
Style Guidelines:
Mood Boards:
Useful for establishing the aesthetic feel of the brand . Explored in the mood board include photography style, color palettes, typography, patterns, and the overall look and feel of the site
Images:
Photography?
Illustrations? Both?
Other graphic types?
How will images be gathered, edited and used? When will certain types of images be used? Will clip art be used?
Black & White or color?
Logo Specs:
It’s important to maintain the integrity of it across platforms. This includes how the logo is to be used, and not used, from placement to acceptable alterations, surrounding clear space.
Color Palette:
Each color should outline how it should be used including colors that appear only in a logo to colors that are used for backgrounds, text and other design elements. The number of colors in a palette should be kept to a minimum and can include fully saturated versions and tints. Be sure to pick colors you can use across the board for a variety of projects that will complement each other from:
• Darks
• Brights
• Traditional
• Neutrals, etc.
Sometimes creating a grid to see where the colors chosen land, may be helpful. Choose primary, secondary and Tertiary colors for the palette. Define each color with values for print (CMYK) and digital projects (RGB, HEX).
Also note Pantone colors with their assigned values. Name each color something memorable i.e., Mint Candy Apple, Pinking About You, Beach Bum Blue, etc.
Typography:
There are no real rules for how to use typography; just mostly principals and guidelines. Type should be clear and distinct, from what typefaces are acceptable, how each is used, size and use of color.
Considerations When Choosing Type
• How will it be used?
• Under what conditions?
• Are there requirements for how much text must fit in a given region?
• What features will we require? Ie; multiple weights, small caps, etc.?
• Is this a book/article, website, or product advertisement, etc.?
• Does a given font support all the special characters in the language to be used.
Readability: Asks not just can you read it but do you want to read it. Legibility does NOT equate to readability.
Display Faces vs. Text Type
BiblioTech
BiblioTech (Myriad Bold Condensed)
BiblioTech
BiblioTech (Bodoni72)
BiblioTech
BiblioTech (Mistral)
Thin vs. Thicker
Intricate detail vs. High X axis
High contrast vs. Readable due to stroke evenness
Readable far away/small scale vs. Easier on the eyes when close up
Difficult to read for long periods vs. Best for prolonged reading
“Type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters.”
- Matthew Carter
Example: Note the differences between Verdana and Gills Sans
1Il
1Il
(Number One, Capital I, Lower Case L) (Number One, Capital I, Lower Case L )
Verdana
Gills Sans
Avoid ready-made fonts that are made for one specific thing. They leave no room to grow. Instead think of characteristics you want to project:
Stable, Strong, Boxy, Geometric, Low Contrast, Powerful, Industrial, Angular, etc.
Why does it matter?
Type unifies everything we communicate about. Over time, it’s the visual language people will associate with us.
Select a few typefaces that will be used in design projects. This may include one set of rules for print projects and another for digital applications. Consider a headline or “big type” style that you can use for both types of design projects.
Most brands use one of two primary typefaces but ideally; the brand should include no more than five typefaces in their usage. It helps to select complimentary typeface and alternate typefaces with styling options.
Personality Traits:
List 5-7 traits that best describe our brand along with traits to avoid. Examples:
• FUN but not childish
• FUNNY but not goofy P OWERFUL but not complicated Hip but not alienating
Voice:
If our brand could talk, how would they speak? What sorts of things would they say? Would they speak with a refined accent, a southern drawl? Describe the specific aspects of your brands voice, and how it might change in various communication situations. We want to make sure the things we say fall in line with the brand image. This applies to everything from the copy in a poster, to the tone on the website, to the way posts are structured on social media. Copy that might be used in different situations
Copy Examples:
• Olark Greeting :
o Hi, Bob. You could be a part---time model.
• Success Feedback
o High fives! Your list has been imported.
• Error Feedback
o Oops! Looks like you forgot to enter an address.
• General Message
o Bummer, we don't have any info to report just yet.
• Critical Failure
o One of our servers is temporarily down. Our engineers are already on the case and will have it resolved shortly.
Marketing Copy Example
BiblioTech resources puts the control in your hands, allowing you take control of your educational and entertainment experiences.
It sets us apart from the rest:
A brand’s tone of voice should be distinctive, recognizable and unique. We all employ language - both written and spoken - in our own way and we each have our own idiosyncrasies, favorite expressions, inflections, pace and so forth.
It builds trust:
There is a strong link between familiarity and trust. Because something familiar requires little effort to process mentally, we are more likely to feel at ease around it. We must be consistent through our use of language so that we become familiar to the customer.
It can be used to influence and persuade:
Maya Angelou onc e said, "People don’t always remember what you say or even what you do, but they always remember how you made them feel.”
It’s often the way we say something that breeds a certain feeling. People can be very sensitive to language, forming impressions of people as soon as they begin to hear or read their words.
A simple sentence can be said in different ways:
Think of what it feels like when someone texts in all caps or when an intended joke didn’t sound the same via text as it would have in person.
• “You wouldn’t happen to have a pen I could borrow, would you?”
• “Do you have a pen I can borrow?”
• “Pass me that pen.”
Voice: A voice is consistent, your style and point of view , encompasses a brand’s personality.
Tone: Is specific to your messaging, attitude, and can change depending on the message being conveyed
Mailchimp Example:
“MailChimp’s voice is human. It’s familiar, it’s friendly, and it’s straightforward. Sure, we crack jokes and tell stories, but our priority is to explain MailChimp and help our users get their work done and get on with their lives. We use language that educates and empowers people without patronizing or confusing them.
We wouldn’t say: Facebook is a great social-media website where you create a profile and connect with friends. Facebook and Mail Chimp can share information so you can add a MailChimp signup form to you own Facebook page.
Instead, we’d say: Add a newsletter signup form to your Facebok profiles. Here’s how it works.
MailChimp has a sense of humor, so feel free to be funny when it comes naturally to you. Don’t force jokes, though, because forced humor never ends well. We know when to be funny and when to keep a straight face. Our tone is usually informal but it’s more important to be clear than entertaining.
MailChimp ’s unofficial tagline is “love what you do” and that spirit should come through in evey r piece of content we produce.
MailChimp is:
• Fun but not childish
• Clever but not silly
• Confident but not cocky
• Smart but not stodgy
• Cool but not alienating
• Informal but not sloppy
• Helpful but not overbearing
• Expert but not bossy
• Weird but not inappropriate”
Why is tone important?
Our voice and tone come from our audience and brand. If our brand could talk, how would it speak? What sorts of things would it say? Would it speak with a folksy vernacular or a refined, accent? There’s a difference between voice and tone. Look at it this way: You have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes. You might speak in one tone to your closest friends and family, and a different tone with your boss. Your tone also changes depending on the emotional state of the person you’re addressing. You wouldn’t use the same tone of voice with someone who’s scare or upset as you would with someone who’s laughing. Same goes for MailChimp’s voice. Our voice doesn’t change much from day to day, but our tone changes all the time. When you’re writing, consider the reader’s state of mind. Is the reader relived to be finished with a campaign? Mad that they can’t log in? Confused about which merge tag to use? Adjust your tone accordingly.”
Why? Many writers, one brand
The role of web writing is often decentralized, with responsibilities shared between many different content authors, in many different places. These guidelines can be helpful as a central reference to keep the overall voice consistent.
Copy examples used in different situations/interfaces:
• We’re experts, but we’re not bossy.
• We wouldn’t say: You must fill out an application before we can talk to you about it.
• Instead, we’d say: Looking for a job? Here’s an application and this is why it’s so great to work here…..
• We keep it positive.
• We wouldn’t say: You can’t submit a request if you don’t have all the information we need.
• Instead, we’d say: Here’s a list of the information we need to get your project started.
Use the image structure below to help you guide our writing:
Brand Guideline Examples for Inspiration
1. MailChimp - https://mailchimp.com/design/
2. Instagram - https://about.instagram.com/brand/
3. Headspace - https://www.headspace.com/press-and-media
4. Casper - https://www.behance.net/gallery/61593209/Casper
5. Uber - https://wolffolins.com/case-study/uber
50 additional brand guidelines provided by Canvahttps://www.canva.com/learn/50- meticulous-style-guides-every-startup-seelaunching/
A ton of tips, advice, articles from Canva - https://www.canva.com/learn/50meticulous-style-guides-every-startup -see-launching/