How to Create a Brand Board
Hi! My name is Kristin Ardese and I am a professional Graphic Designer and Marketing Strategist. I hope that by sharing some of my expertise, I can help offer valuable insights and build an engaging community.
Why Make a Brand Board?
Creating a brand board can be very helpful when developing a brand identity. Whether it is your own brand or a client’s, creating a brand board can assist in the visualization of a brand’s attributes and personality. A style guide for a brand also will help future designers working with the company, to ensure there is consistency:
“By referring to your brand board and staying within the guidelines you see there, you’ll begin to establish a distinct brand identity.” (Endeavor Creative)
Research
Before diving right into starting your brand board, it is important to research, ideate and refine the various elements you want to include. Start by creating a mood board or Pinterest board of branding from other designers. This will allow you to draw inspiration for your new brand.
Ideate
Then begin sketching. Your sketches should feel like a brain dump. Get every idea that you have down in your sketchbook and see how you can play off of each idea. The hardest part is getting started, but once you get into your flow state, the pages will fill!
Refine
Once you have chosen your favorite sketch ideations, it is time to bring them into illustrator (or whatever design application you prefer). This will begin the longest, but most rewarding process of your branding journey. Continue to come up with new ideas as you go along with creating your vectors. There is no wrong answers here! Only exploration.
“One thing for sure, you can underline that sketching and designing your logo is not linear. In other words, you can jump from different ideas to other ideas. You can start the new one even in the middle of an unfinished sketch.” (Kreafolk).
Getting Stuck
You might find yourself getting stuck once in a while and that’s okay. Put your work down and take a break. This will allow new ideas to flow once your flow state is ready once more.
Finalize
Now you should have narrowed down to just a few ideas. Have others look at your work and see what they think. Even if they are not designers. It is always a good idea to have a fresh pair of eyes look at what you are working on. They could find errors in readability or have an idea of their own! All of these suggestions will help you refine your work.
You might have already chosen a color or two for your brand at this point, but if you haven’t, now is the time to start. Continue with color exploration and see what fits the style of the brand the best. What is the primary color? How about the secondary colors? Where will these fit in the various elements of my brand? All of these questions should be answered by the end of your color exploration.
“A feminine brand may choose pastel colors to help add to their romantic brand vibe, and a corporate agency may choose dark or bold colors to give off a feeling of power" (Nesha Woolery).
By now you should have enough assets and ideas to complete your full brand board:
Primary Logo
Alternate Logos
Color Palette
Typeface
Patterns
