Reinvent Your Business Brand Design in 2021
As we embark on a new year, it may be time to think about giving your home-based business a design facelift, offering your customers and audience a fresh experience with your brand.
Before we begin designing a new look for the business, let’s first consider why a design transformation could be a smart investment of time and resources. Not everyone’s business needs a design reinvention, but for some there could be a benefit from a few changes. And in that case, it’s worth considering new elements that can significantly impact end-user engagement with your products/ services, inspire better brand recognition, and encourage trust and purchasing.
Let’s discuss what the impact looks like for both you and your audience when choosing to rebrand. For you, it will be the commitment of time and resources. So make sure you have fully fleshed out all the steps that will be necessary to successfully execute a rebranding transformation.
A fresh look to your business can be exciting, and with the right design elements in place you can signal to your audience new ways to engage with content and the businesses online presence. But if one is not careful with the design changes, and roll out, it can become a jarring and off-putting experience for your audience. And we certainly don’t want that! Because at the end of the day, it’s about their experience with your business and their relationship with it.
When making a rebranding change to your business put a plan together! Map out what changes are needed (backgrounds, colors, fonts) and where those changes will happen (website, social media, printed labels). Consider what has the most priority, what design elements will be necessary and at what stages of the rebranding process. Roll out a schedule for design ideation, development, and execution of any future marketing campaigns. Don’t forget to budget extra time in for incidentals, and of course a financial budget if you plan to hire external help like an assistant or a designer.
Lastly, keep in mind that rebranding the business is not an annual undertaking, it’s about setting you, your team and the business up for continued growth for years to come. So, give yourself time to think about your market, consider your product/services performance, and most importantly, how your new designs can impact the customer service experience with your brand. A great design feels effortless, yet unmistakably captivating.
Here are some tips to help you navigate your design game plan:
Tip 1: Plan: Account for changes to all outlets where your brand exists, from the website to social media and any printed materials that bear your brand’s visual and contextual impressions. Prepare adequately for the changes you plan to create and consider the user experience as #1 in the decision-making process.
Tip 2: Design Reinvention: Now, for the fun part. It’s time to design. Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel here but rather give it a fresh coat of polish. One great way to do this is by merely reworking the hierarchy of your brand’s colors. For example, if your brand colors are yellow, orange, and red, red is the primary color, and yellow is the tertiary color. Consider a color remix by changing the hierarchy of the branding.
Tip 3: Functionality: Design is not only the look of a brand but also the layout and legibility of text, features, and interactions. So, when you are designing new elements on your site, or presentation, or social media, ask yourself: Is this easy to read? Open? Discover? Share? Keep in mind what elements of web design work for you when you are shopping, reading, scrolling, and visiting websites across the internet. You, me and the neighbor, are modern audiences that have certain expectations when perusing online. Therefore, include in your design process the consideration for clean spaces for imagery to ruminate, avoid crowding of text, and always consider ease of use.
Tip 4: 2021 Digital Design Trends: This year, art in all its forms is making a big splash, from retro-futurism to pop-art, to character and illustrations, surrealism, abstract and alike. Artful design play is an excellent move for engaging your audience in unexpected ways— furthermore, natural elements to geometric shapes, and 3D graphics also offer high visual impact.
Other popular trends worth a second look: colorless design (black, white, grey variants) and monochrome and duotone designs. These options give outstanding visual impact but without a high level of technical design experience.
Tip 5: Prepare: Produce brand elements and adjoining creative assets in a time efficient and easily replicated bulk process. This preparation will provide you with a large body of newly branded materials to roll out over weeks/months in advance before launching marketing campaigns. Insure communications continuity for the brand’s existing audiences by communicating upcoming changes over social and through web and email announcements.
Tip 6: Remember: Good design feels effortless and engaging to the end user. So, there’s no need to over-complicate the process. Design with the intention to entertain, educate, delight, and inform your audience.
Now that you have the plan and inspiration to reinvent your brand, go forth with style, and have a great time doing so. Good luck!