These are the essential V’s of visual style — three simple steps to keep your personal or business brand in line. This isn’t a check-list. There isn’t anything that can be crossed off, completed, finito. Each of these requires an ongoing process to keep it balanced, sustainable. Oh no, this here is a checkin-list. Check in with your V’s on a monthly basis. Your biz and brand will thank you for it.
Streamline your visuals.
Visual style magnifies your business and simplifies your updates + edits. Even for my own projects, I like creating a simple visual style guide — a color palette and a handful of graphic elements, like buttons and icons — in a Word document or Photoshop file. This helps get new projects started, and it especially helps when jumping back into a project (like updating your own website!) to maintain a consistent visual brand. Let’s not recreate the wheel each time.
Polish your voice.
We’re drawn to the beauty of an authentic voice – even in business. It’s everything: the message, the language, and the display itself. Copy isn’t just for explaining your services. Keywords + phrases aren’t just for SEO. Yes, how you shape your message matters. So what keywords + ideas are part of your biz voice? (For me: creativity, sustainability, light, balance, beauty, growth.)
Refine your values.
This is the core of your work, why you do what you do, what lights your fire. Beyond the what of your offer, this is the why. For some folks, this is easy to nail down — for others, it’s more challenging to pinpoint. The important step here is to constantly circle back to these values of yours. Review, refine, reflect. Keep that at the heart of what your work offers.
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What tricks or tips do you use for your visuals, your voice, or your values? I’d love to hear them… Email me, tweet hello, or leave a comment below!
PHOTO BY D SHARON PRUITT
