Have you heard of a Brand Board? If not, this post is for you. Let's take a moment, talk about the purpose and benefit of having a Brand Board.
To the left you can see I have created a sample brand board, because I believe visuals enhance your learning capabilities.
This board is showcasing my 'Passion As A Verb' Brand. The elements that are typically included in a Brand Board are:
Logos - whether you have just one logo or a few different versions
Fonts - you want to list your title font, subtitle font and body font
Color Scheme - All the colors and their hex codes you plan to use to represent your Brand. Most time not all colors are reflected in the logo, so its good to separate this out.
Theme - This can be displayed through, textures, symbols, patterns and shapes. As you can see my symbol is a Hexagon, my texture is Denim and patterns are one of my base colors with gold foil accents.
Graphics - branded and consistent graphics you would use on marketing, products, website and social media channels.
Inspirations - What items inspire your brand. If you have an office these are items you would display. Here I am showcasing a hexagon shelf, hexagon trinket box, wall art and a set of tables. All Ideas for my office. You can include attire you would wear based on your color scheme, textures and patterns. When I record videos, or travel to speak I will also be wearing my brand. Through jewelry, colors and denim which is my texture. See photos below for example how i dresses in my brand from a Conference where I recently was a Speaker.
In the photo on the left I have on my brand color mint. I am wearing white denim pants. In addition I am wearing gold Hexagon earrings and a gold Hexagon necklace.
In the middle photo I am wearing a denim shirt and denim shoes. I am also wearing a mustard yellow jumpsuit (which I am using to represent gold). Of course the jewelry is gold.
In the photo on the right I have another denim shirt accented with a gold waist belt. Pink toned gold jewelry. A very fun and comfortable pink maxi skirt (I love floor length skirts and dresses). As well as pink and gold earrings.
When it comes to attire, you don't have to stick to the same items over and over. Have fun expanding your wardrobe with your brand colors, textures and patterns. Don't worry about having all of your colors on at one time. This conference was 3 days so I was able to spread the colors out!
In addition to attire it's also fun to carry a branded prop with you for selfies, usies, event introductions and brand recognition.
As you see in this photo I have a pink (soon to be pink and gold lol...you will learn I love spray paint) Hexagon Letterboard with my topic title. I love letter boards because you can change up the message easily. I used this hexagon to take a selfie in front of the events step and repeat and also placed it on the stage when I was speaking. It's a great way to showcase your brand and create the recognition. It also helped me stand out, because no other speaker had it lol:) In addition, I am wearing navy blue, gold hexagon jewelry and a white blazer ... all in my brand colors!!! Let's not forget my favorite pink lip color!
Now that you know what a Brand Board is, and ways it can be used to help inspire your office and attire, let's talk the business side. A Brand board is very important for the internal use of your business. Simply because it houses all of your branded elements. This allows you to keep EVERYTHING consistent. Everything being:
Website
Social Media Channels and Content
Company Shirts
Company Products
Marketing Collateral
You can send this board to your graphic designer and web developer so that they clearly understand your brand direction. When you are ordering products and you need to insert your colors by using hex codes... this helps you remember what the exact color is. As well as when you are using text on ANYTHING you want to be sure to consistently use your brand fonts.
Overall it is a fun but important tool/document you should have for your business. If you have a brand board... share it in the comments below so we can inspire others! If you do not have a brand board, let me know in the comments and I can work with you to create one:)