pillow / outfit / mug / interiors / earrings / workspace / heart
Creating an inspiration board is a crucial first step in designing anything. As the client, it’s the part of the process where you scour the web for pegs and inspiration that will set the course for the entire project. As the designer, this is the part where we put together what the client has gathered, along with some additional ideas of our own, into a cohesive “look” that will serve as a guide in designing your brand.
While creating the inspiration board is probably the most enjoyable part of the process, it can also be the most overwhelming. Pinterest, alone, is brimming with ideas and beautiful imagery, and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up having an inspiration board that is just.. all over the place. You might end up wanting too many colors or too many fonts, or too many ideas. As a designer, I help my clients refine their choices.
The result is something like the one above. As you would have noticed, it’s the inspiration board I created for Chasing Dreams. ;)
After finalizing the inspiration board and creating the logo design, I then create a final brand board that serves as guide in designing the website and marketing assets like business cards, media kits, brochures, etc.
Inspiration Board vs Brand Board
Take note of the difference. An Inspiration Board is the rough draft or the collection of images, patterns, colors, that you’ve gathered to represent how you want to convey your brand. A Brand Board, on the other hand, is the final presentation of your logo, logo variations, brand colors, and other visual elements such as patterns, typography, textures, and style, which serves as guide in designing your website and other marketing assets.
A simple brand board is something like this:
For personal websites or blogs, or for smaller companies, a straightforward brand board like the one above should suffice. However, for bigger companies, you may opt for a full-blown Brand Identity Guideline, like this one I made for Matus Jewellery. Go check it out!
Designing Chasing Dreams
The hardest designs I had to make are the ones I made for myself. I’ve changed my brand board a lot over the years, but as of June 2014, this is what I felt resonate most with who I am. Care to read an old blog post? Here’s one from last June when I re-launched Chasing Dreams. Everything is still true, as if I just wrote it yesterday!
Brand boards periodically change as the brand evolves, just like Carmel’s blog if you remember. And that’s okay, as long as you don’t change up your brand’s look too fast and too drastically that people don’t recognize your brand anymore. The most important thing is that you stay true to who you are, and allow that to reflect in your brand, and if you do that, then your brand board won’t stray too far also. ;)
(I dug around for my brand board over the weekend to join Shay Cochrane’s giveaway, which made me realize I haven’t shared my brand board and process here, so there you go.)
I offer wordpress, logo, and branding packages for creative people who dig dreamy and minimalist designs. I also design stationery and invitations for weddings, birthday parties, and events. Feel free to message me if you like what you see. Read my Design Process to know more. Or view my Design Portfolio to see some of my work. Let’s create something beautiful!
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