Let's say you're starting your yoga teaching career, OR already have, and jumped right into crafting a catchy Sanskrit name and asana-inspired logo. That's it, right? You have a business!
Well, there are a few steps before this, but let's say you jumped right in...or tried to and now it's driving you spare! Or you settled on a logo and a few colours and fonts, but you feel it's not really capturing you wholly.
To start our Yoga Brand Building, I'd like you to have a read of some designers' feedback when I asked them:
When you have a new client, what's the top questions you start off with? Apart from the design project itself - logo, web design, interior design, personal design - what information do you need to actually do the job? Do you ask if they already have preferences in terms of colours, fonts, mood and tone? How helpful would that be?
There's a similar thread in their responses. Can you pick it up?
I like to know what kind of look people like, but sometimes they find it hard to put it into words if they don't have defined branding - Sarah Holder
I ask them about what they want their branding to achieve as well as their business’s core values / mission / vision and how they perceive themselves as well as how they think their audience perceives them. - Jess Ibbett
I ask them for examples of designs they like or think suit the vision they have for their brand, but actually having a firm idea of who their business is and their mission is essential. - Megan Haering
I also ask for examples of designs they like, as often their written requirements are so very very far from the reality! - Erica Elizabeth Jeffrey
Being an Art Director, I totally agree. But I know that from the other side of the table, the client's side, it's a daunting task to put all these ideas together, specially if you're doing it all by yourself!
I want to highlight some key concepts from what these creatives said.
Defined brand. Core values, mission, vision. "Who" your business is. Written requirements far from reality.
All these are the Primary elements of the design process. The logo and a catchy name come after and will, in fact, be easier to define once you've defined yourself. The articulation of who you are, your Passion, Purpose and People are the bedrock of your brand. In our future course - The 4 Keys of Branding, we go deep into how we can craft this part of your branding. But for now, let's do something fun that will (hopefully) satisfy the excitement of starting with the visual, colourful elements. These may change as we go along so don't invest your soul into it.
But this exercise will hopefully bring out what's screaming in your heads of how you think your brand should look.
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