A friend of mine is looking to rebrand her business and admitted she has no idea where to start. Neither did I. I knew I was looking to rebrand because when I started, I pulled a hodge podge of things I liked that other photographers were doing. My logo, style, and colors didn’t really reflect me. My work started out the same way. Then I upgraded to a Nikon D700 last year and my photographic style began to come together for me. I was looking to marry myself with my style of work and my online presence and marketing pieces. Not such an easy task.
At Christmas time I pulled this image from a magazine. Loved it. Loved it had sort of the mustard color I love (and wanted to keep) and thought it would be a good jumping off point. This was the first item that was added to my inspiration board. Which means, you need an inspiration board or digital file full of digital images in one place to contain your inspiration.
I knew I needed a new logo but couldn’t really run off to a graphic designer because I didn’t have enough information about what I wanted everything to look like overall yet. I checked out a million graphic designer portfolios online which only gave me a very clear idea of what I didn’t want. But, it was a start. Until, I did found a premade logo and marketing set that coordinated very nicely with my first inspiration piece but it contained roses and I’m not about roses. I also didn’t want to invest such a large amount of money in something that was created with me in mind. The marketing set and logo have since been purchased so sadly I can’t share them. But they were very lovely. Very clean, simple, and elegant. Overall it simpled lacked a bit of whimsy that I was looking for.
At this point, I pulled a few of my favorite images and added them to my inspiration board. These are the images….
These images reflected the style I wanted to continue to shoot and present to future brides. I’m not the kind of girl that buys into every fad and trend and I consider myself to be creative and artistic so I’m looking for couples that are unique and style their weddings with personal touches and fill the day with details that really reflect them.
Next I started to think about me a bit more. My personality, my likes, my dislikes, how I dress, and how I decorate my home. When I get dress I typically have a clean, neutral base of classic pieces and add feminine and whimsical touches onto my classic base. It could be a cardigan that has flowers embroidered on it. Ruffles on one of my layering pieces. An interesting shoe. Large feminine jewelry. But not all of it at once. Just one or two. I do my best to always look and feel pulled together. You never know who you’re going to see when you’re out and when I don’t look my best, I ALWAYS run into someone I know. I fill my home the same way. My walls and major pieces are neutral and classic and the interest, texture, color, and pattern comes in through the art, pillows, and accessories.
These are my favorite pieces that were then added to my inspiration board… I have a thing for birds. I also have a thing for a blue/brown combo and I’m so in love with the mustard color. The floral print is one out of a collection of prints I have in my great room. The bird rests on my fireplace with a mixture of white frames that contain pictures and white frames that are without glass and images.
Also on my fireplace is the white glass object that could be cabbage, a budding flower, or whatever. I have no idea. I just know I love me some pottery and I love white. Some of the color in the room comes from a collection of blue items I have around the room including these three vases.
I started to see a color trend come together but I wasn’t married to this color combo and wasn’t loving it so I developed a list of words that would a. either reflect how I wanted my online presence to look and/or more imporantly feel or b. reflect items I love that influence me, my work, and my style. Some of the words were clean, simple, fresh, touch of whimsy, vintage, books, frames, sparkles, typewriter (I love to write and like old things with character), and sophisticated. The list goes on but you get the idea.
I’m not a rose person but I do lurv me some pansies. I spent countless hours looking for a photoshop brush I could use to develop my logo that would also grant me permission to use said brush in said capacity. I found one I loved. I was looking to buy, or have created, some digital paper that I could use to combine my new logo (which was still black and white) with my new Web site and blog. This digital paper was going to set the tone, colors, and patterns of my new sites and new brand so it had to be perfect. After way too much time on etsy and a million other sites I found what I was looking for on a graphic design blog I frequent. I was hoping for paper so I could build my own designs but she had the paper, pattern, colors, and style nailed just for me so I made the investment and I’m so glad I did. The color and pattern I was looking for came together perfectly with what I like, the work I want to produce, and the feeling I want people to get when they come to visit me online.
I’m sure it’s not the only way or the perfect way but that’s how I opted to put my new brand together. A brand that perfectly reflects me, what I like, the work and style I want to offer my clients and is no longer a hodge podge of other photographer’s ideas. But, instead is a hodge podge of me.
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