Guest post / BRAEVIN
Hey everyone! Sarah from Braevin here to share a little bit about cohesive branding and the recent Light & Dwell logo refresh!
Braevin (pronounced bray-vin), is a full service graphic design and photography business based in Portland, Oregon. I do everything from branding and websites to wedding, portrait and interior photography. I'm passionate about storytelling and I believe there is a story to be told whether my client is a new bride or a small business.
When it comes to cohesive branding, storytelling plays a big role. When I begin working with a client, we always start with stories. I want to know who they are and what they're all about, because that helps set the tone for the project. We talk about inspiration and style and goals for the work ahead, and then I pull together a mood board that communicates those desires. Below is the mood board I created for the most recent Light & Dwell logo refresh:
moodboard
Our goals were to really simplify the logo and create an identity that not only spoke to who they are, but that would also be reflective of their interior design style.
In our digital world today, our identity (whether personal or business), is represented all over the internet between social media, websites, email profile photos, etc. When there isn't a clear strategy or cohesiveness, things can look scattered, messy and unorganized. To help clients avoid this, I always design a few variations of the logo that I like to call the "logo family". This creates a group of options that all relate, so that everything from an Pinterest profile photo to a logo on an invoice or a business card feel connected. Below is the logo family for the Light & Dwell refresh:
logo family
In addition to logos, there are so many other elements that make up a cohesive brand like color, pattern, and type. Once I've designed the logo and before I dive into the website design, I always create a style guide. This is a simple way for me to figure out how the various typefaces will look together digitally and in print, as well as how they appear with any colors and patterns I'm using. Having a style guide to refer back to while designing websites is always a huge help in keeping things consistent and cohesive.
style guide
One final way to add brand cohesiveness: PHOTOS. Having professional photos taken that speak to who you are and what you do does wonders for your brand. You don't have to use all of them at the same time, but just having a folder of images to use for your website and social media draw in clients, customers and/or viewers to your business in a powerful way. To accomplish this for Light & Dwell, Molly and Aymee have me come to the end of interior design installs to take photos of the (gorgeous!) finished project. That way, all of their portfolio photos look polished and connected to their brand.
website homepage with logo & photos
If you have a start-up business that needs branding and a website, or have an existing company that could use a brand refresh, I'd love to hear YOUR story and see how we can work together! My email address is sarah@braevin.com - shoot me a note anytime!