If you want to succeed in your business niche you need to be able to separate yourself from your competitors. Of course there are lots of ways of doing so, from superior product offering, service, price, and much more. Another way of achieving this from a visual standpoint is through clever branding and design. Your website visitors will often decide within a split second whether they will stay on your website or not, simply based on appearance. This also holds true for your other brand assets. This post will cover five free design tools to help you boost the quality of your branding assets.
Logo Creator
Before you approach any of your other brand assets like business cards, posters, presentations, etc. it’s important you review your logo. If you are just launching your business your logo should be the first thing you design. Your logo is your single most important branding tool so make sure it’s perfectly executed. Perfectly executed doesn’t mean the most beautiful artwork but a logo that is memorable and resonates with your target audience. Logo Creator as the name implies is a logo maker application that enables you to come up with your own design. This free web based application is easy to use. Select a template, enter your business name and tagline, customize and download instantly. Make sure to try lots of different versions and to gather some unbiased feedback before finalizing.
Unsplash
When it comes to quality design it’s often about subtle details. One of the most effective ways to enhance your brand assets is through images. Don’t simply settle for the first stock photos you come across. Take your time and make sure the image is absolutely the perfect fit for your design. Remember it’s those little details your audience will pick up on. Use a free tool like Unsplash to find the right images for your designs. Their database is sorted by category and keywords which will make it easy to find suitable options. To give your branding a consistent touch choose a set of photos that you will use exclusively throughout all of your designs. This way there are no inconsistencies when it comes to the style and resolution of the images.
Vecteezy
Another subtle way to elevate the quality of your branding assets is through the use of professional icons. Poor quality icons like clipart can just as easily break your design however. Make sure you stay away from icons that come with word processing software or cheap design tools. Vecteezy offers over 200,000 icons that you are free to use for commercial projects. Similar to photos try to find an entire set of icons that is suitable for your branding and use that exclusively for all of your designs. This will give all of your designs a nice and consistent look.
Font Space
Fonts are often overlooked as a branding tool. Sure people spend some time picking a font for their logo but that’s typically where it stops. Don’t use random photos across your content pieces like social media posts, blog, email newsletter, etc. Font Space allows you to browse and download beautiful fonts in TTF format. Pick a couple of fonts that are easily readable and aligned with your business message. Different fonts convey different messages so make sure to be considerate of that when you make your decision. Another factor to keep in mind is font pairing. Try out different fonts next to each other to make sure they work well together.
Canva
You can have the perfect logo in place while using suitable images, icons and fonts but if your color palette is off your designs won’t be received well. Picking the right colors takes a trained eye and understanding of color theory. To make this task easier for you use a free tool like Canva’s color wheel. Start by entering a core color you like and then let the color wheel generate perfectly matching, complementary colors, and monochromatic or analogous tones. The color combination shouldn’t just be pretty for your branding but be consistent with your business values. Before you pick a core color make sure you understand what it stands for as different colors convey different meanings.
A Quick Summary Before You Get Started
Whether you are just starting out or looking to give your brand assets a makeover take a strategic approach. The first step is to decide on a brand color that aligns with your business’ core values. From there you can design your logo and then map out all of your other brand assets. Be consistent in images, icons and fonts to create even more consistency. The resources listed in this article will help you get started – happy designing!
