Calvina Nguyen is the featured podcast interview this week, check it out on Wednesday July 26th here.
You know how powerful your message, expertise, and experience can make a massive change. It is just as important that your readers know this too.
The problem is that they will judge you by your cover because visual communications hit that much faster than the written word.
A brand kit will help you create a recognizable and cohesive visual identity that aligns with your writing style and overall image so your readers can quickly and easily spot you from the crowd. Your brand will amplify your professionalism and credibility.
Then on a practical level, your brand kit will save you time and energy whenever you need to create materials for your marketing, like social media posts, presentations, and even book covers.
Here’s what you want to include in your brand kit:
A logo. In the beginning, keep it simple. For an author, this is most likely your name. Choose a font that captures the look you want.
Color Palette. Having a set of colors you refer to means you make the decision up front, save energy later, and use the same color combinations without thinking about it.
Typography. We take fonts for granted, but with your written word, you want to choose clear, clean, and easily readable fonts. Don’t keep changing fonts. Use the same one over and over again in various places.
Images. These might be graphics, drawings, infographics, or even photos. Keep a collection of them in your brand kit to have them ready to go when you need them. It is a good idea to ensure they share a visual aesthetic so your visuals do not look messy and cluttered.
So where is the best place to keep all those things without getting lost and making a mess?
Design Templates. Once you’ve created something, keep it around and use it again. The goal is to never start over from scratch. Having a set of templates quickly available for your social post or presentations will make creating each time so much faster when all you have to do is change the colors and words around for a whole new design.
Canva is the easiest tool for a non-designer to create beautiful designs. A brand hub inside guides you through exactly where you need to drag and drop your assets to keep them all easily accessible. The brand hub, however, comes with a paid prescription to their app. But the upside is that you will access over 250,000 templates with over 100+ design styles, countless stock photos, and other stock graphics, all included and available for commercial use. This, in my opinion, is worth the price of admission.
If you choose not to use Canva, keeping everything in an organized folder will do. Make sure you give your files descriptive names for quick and easy search.
I’ve created a resource to walk you through how to set up your brand kit in Canva. Grab it HERE.
Author Bio:
Calvina Nguyen is a designer, photographer, and visual brand strategist. She runs a branding and design company called Your Brand Spark. She has spent nearly two decades in the creative field, helping small businesses to build a solid visual brand foundation that empowers them to be confident, professional and grow a thriving business. She loves educating small business owners, including authors, on how to communicate their brand effectively and beautifully to attract their ideal audience. Calvina has also created a flash course for the nonfiction authors association on using Canva for book covers, graphics, and marketing. Check it out here.
