DIY-ing your branding? It is more than just drag-and-drop!

Signature black turtleneck and jeans, grey T-shirt, blue and grey suits. You just read a list of daily wardrobe inspirations of visionaries Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama. Ever wondered why these successful people dress exactly the same every day? To quote Barack Obama - "You'll see I wear only grey or blue suits. I'm trying to pare down decisions. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make."

To summarize the relationship between these successful people and their fashion needs, this capsule wardrobe movement not only helps them create a unique brand for themselves, but also helps them minimize decision fatigue and maximize productivity throughout the day.

There is a similar working relationship between business owners and their branding needs. Business owners who do not hire a design partner and try to DIY their design and branding requirements fall into a trap of not freeing themselves up to wholeheartedly pursue other parts of the business.

Contrary to what DIY branding sites would make one believe, effective branding and design is not as easy as ‘drag-and-drop’ or ‘1-2-3’. Business owners who are just starting up and usually have to watch their budget and financials end up DIYing their branding. However, one can easily get misguided without a professional’s help and in the process can get the branding exercise wrong at different levels:

• Following the trend: DIY designers tend to gravitate towards a concept that is more popular in the market than spend time on something original and personal to the brand, thus losing competitive edge.   
• Missing the intent: Design is more than just visual aesthetics. At the heart of any successful brand is a design that communicates business values, how it looks and how it works.
• Lack of consistency: A business can have a beautiful brand identity, but it won’t be as effective if your collateral isn't keeping up with your brand style guide, whether it is your business cards, marketing brochures, website or even content for that matter.

​As part of our growth strategy, we at International Media Ideas have undergone a significant evolution, which includes the launch of our new website. We celebrated our company’s 10-year anniversary last year and as a part of the celebration, we re-branded and redesigned our website. Our new identity satisfies all of the existing expectations of what our original brand stands for, while simultaneously moving the company forward. Our designers took a very technical approach in coming up with the right branding strategy for IMI.

Color psychology: Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%. In today's connected world we are constantly bombarded by advertisements, signage, and products trying to grab our attention through various platforms. According to the way our natural senses function - color is the most influential, followed by shapes, symbols, and finally words. Therefore, our branding team uses a color palette that is a fundamental part of our visual identity to increase brand recognition. We chose Yellow to be our core color. Yellow stimulates feelings of optimism and hope. Psychologically, it is optimistic, uplifting and illuminating, brightening people's spirits, which reflects our mission of creating happy clients.

Intent: We are big believers of minimalism and simplicity. We apply these brand values in our internal branding and as well as external. While redesigning our website, we focused a lot on removing the clutter and zeroing in on what matters most. Our home page is clutter free, minimal display of 9 tiles, which has a design style that emphasizes simplicity and removes superfluous elements in design.

Consistency: No matter what gets decided as final branding, keeping it consistent is key to ensuring success. From our voice to our culture and fonts to color palettes, we keep our branding cohesive throughout the board, whether it is our website, social media, business cards, marketing collateral, and even our office walls!

Talk to our design team to get a free brand audit and learn how we can help with your branding and design requirements.