Before you choose colours, read this
There’s a point at the beginning of starting a business where it’s easy to get caught up in the visuals, especially if you’re creatively inclined. You have the concept of what you want to create, so naturally your brain leaps into look, feel, and all the wonderfully rich visually exciting elements. Colours, textures, fonts, patterns! All of a sudden you're overwhelmed and decision making starts to feel difficult. Why choose a slab serif font? Why does green feel right? Should it actually be orange? If this feels familiar, don’t worry. It happens all the time. You’re not alone in this, you’re just starting on the wrong step of the process.
Before any of those exciting visual elements can happen, you need to establish your brand foundations. You may have heard this before, but a brand is more than a logo. One of my favourite ways to describe branding is through the example of a person. Think about your best friend. You might describe them as mysterious, hardworking, clever, a simple but sophisticated dresser, they always have your back. There are so many different elements that work together to identify them. If you only said they wear black, that doesn’t give someone much to recognize them by. Everything together creates a fuller picture and identity. It’s how they speak, how they present themselves, what they value, and how they interact with others that creates depth and makes them distinct.
The same can be said for your brand.
Understanding these foundational elements before jumping into the visual identity is important because they influence every decision that gets made afterward. A great way to move forward is to break down those foundational pieces into three areas: your idea, your audience, and your difference. Let’s dive deeper.
The idea
What are you actually creating, and why? What is your connection to it?
Get clear about what you want to create and describe it in a practical, simple way. Understanding why you feel connected to the idea will uncover the passion and motivation that’s essential for getting a business off the ground. When you’re clear on what you’re building and why it matters to you, it becomes much easier to make intentional decisions about how your business should grow and show up in the world.
The audience
Who is your product or business actually for? What are they like? How do they make decisions? Why might they choose what you have over someone else?
When you can speak directly to your audience, this is where things start to click. An important thing to keep in mind is that this also means there will be people you aren’t speaking to. That can feel uncomfortable at first, but trying to appeal to everyone usually creates something too broad to deeply connect with anyone. The strongest brands are specific and speak directly to their audience.
Your difference
What are you creating that your audience actually needs? What problem does it solve for them? Why is what you do different from those around you? What does your business value?
The more you can put yourself into what you’re making, the stronger it becomes. The world already has lots of duplicates. What it doesn’t have is your perspective, your approach, and the way you choose to show up through your work.
These foundational areas build the core of your brand. Now, decisions around colour, typography, imagery, and tone become much easier because they’re no longer random preferences. They’re connected to how you want your business to be understood and experienced. This is where strong brands become recognizable. They know exactly who they are, what they offer, and use those foundational ideas to guide every decision they make. When those pieces are clear, branding stops feeling like disconnected decisions and starts feeling intentional.
