branding your business should be an effortless process, but it can be overwhelming if you don't know where to start. these free tools can help you build a functional and cohesive brand.
Canva is your go-to for easy graphic design, pre-made templates, and inspiration! As a graphic designer, I use Adobe InDesign and Illustrator to create logos, brand materials, and other more involved materials. However, Canva is my go-to for creating social media posts and quick graphics to use on my website and email marketing campaigns.
My favorite thing about Canva is that you can load your brand fonts, colors, and logos to easily maintain continuity for your brand. It also stores any photos you upload, so if you have photos that repeat throughout your branding, you can easily go back and access them.
Canva has a free and paid version. The free version is actually pretty inclusive, but I recommend the paid version if you want access to more templates and graphics, transparent backgrounds, and the ability to upload your own fonts.
I LOVE TYPOGRAPHY. So much. I could spend hours browsing fonts choosing the perfect ones for my clients. Most people don't realize that there are so many more fonts available to use besides the ones on Word. Google Fonts is a great way to access new fonts to download and use in your branding for free.
If you frequently use Adobe products such as Illustrator or InDesign, you can also use Adobe Fonts to add new fonts to your collection.
Be mindful of licensing agreements -- most free font downloads are good for personal use only, and require a purchase to be used commercially.
My Favorite Google Fonts
Poppins
Poiret One
Playfair Display
My Favorite Adobe Fonts
Adobe Color is an easy way to discover color palettes and curate your brand colors. You can easily view hundreds of color palettes created by other people. You can also select a color and explore different color combinations that will work with your chosen color.
One of my favorite tools in Adobe Color is the ability to extract colors from an image. If you find an image that really resonates with you, you can upload it and Adobe Color will turn it into a color palette! If you are a kinesthetic person like me and resonate with the vibe of a photo, this is an awesome feature!
Lastly, if you're working on Adobe products to brand your business, you can easily save your color palettes to your library to access through InDesign, Illustrator, etc.
This may be obvious, but helloooo we love Pinterest. Who doesn't!?
Pinterest makes it easy to gather inspiration by curating boards of images, logos, or color palettes you are drawn to -- for this reason, it is also my ideal way to create a moodboard!
You can also learn a lot from Pinterest. There are so many great blog posts out there for branding your business and the opportunities are limitless!
But the real branding opportunity (and the reason Pinterest is on my list)? You can curate your own Pinterest to help build a cohesive brand and show it off to your clients. Do this by taking the time to upload a profile picture and cover photo, writing an intentional bio, and curating boards that will resonate with your ideal client. Don't forget to add board covers that match your branding!
This is a new one for me -- and honestly I'm in love! Notion was introduced to me by my dear friend Mallory at Caprice & Company and it has been such a useful tool to stay organized with all my brand materials, to-do lists leading up to launch, and have all my brand messaging in one location. You can also invite others to collaborate, which is useful if you're working with a team of people to brand your business.
Notion has free and paid versions, but I personally have found that the free version has everything I need for my business on it!
Procreate is one of my favorite design tools. If you are design savvy and have an iPad, you need it. Procreate allows you to freehand draw and play around with design and color. It is usually the first place I go to sketch out initial design concepts for my clients. Okay, Procreate is not free -- but it's so close I had to keep it on this list! For a whopping $10, Procreate provides creatives a fun and effortless outlet for brainstorming!
As a business owner for over ten years, I understand what it is like to be overwhelmed by the branding process. With these six tools, you should be able to effortless build a functional and cohesive brand.
Comments