Visual Brand Design For Small Businesses

With a natural eye for gorgeous graphics and a love of typography, Jackie Burtch tells us the top things you need to know when working with a designer on your visual brand.

Jackie, the owner of Burtch Designs, started her company about a year ago in order to gain balance in her life and diversify the work she does. She works with entrepreneurs and small businesses to create a gorgeous and cohesive brand that attracts the right customer. She also works with brides to create their invitations and other items for the big day.

“[Both worlds] definitely feed my creative side. I see it kind of as they're both branding projects, right? For the bride, we're taking her vision for her big day and putting it onto paper on stationery elements and then executing that on the day of as well for seating and menu and place cards all that fun stuff.”

Jackie goes on, “There's definitely challenges to both. And I think figuring out the best way to approach it is the main part of the design that I like the problem-solving issue.”

What is the best thing that a business owner can do before going to meet with a designer?

“Getting clear on their ideal customer and getting to know them,” says Jackie. She explains that you should really know the details before starting the project, including, where they live, their values what their family situation is like versus their business situation, are they working full time or freelancing?

Knowing them inside and out will get them to trust and admire your brand enough to buy from you. “It's obviously important that my client business owner likes what they're seeing. But even more important that their client is liking what they see, that's what's gonna attract them.”

What business owners can do before hiring a business owner.

Start going in the direction of a mood board. 

This is how you’ll find out what you’re interested in and gravitate towards. Add things you’d love to see within the visuals of your business.

Instead, gather your inspiration and know what you love about the things you’ve collected - whether it’s on Pinterest or your paper vision board. Want to take it one step further? Create a collection of items that you absolutely know wouldn’t fit within your brand.

Once you have your inspiration ready, it’s easier to show a designer your visual brand style.

Side note: The one thing you shouldn’t do is say “Here, I like this logo, let's make this.” That’s definitely the direction you never want to take with a designer.

Get to know your competition.

Understand exactly who you’re up against in your niche and beyond. Look for competitors that are solving the same problem but in a different way, such as personal training versus a group program versus an app.

Look at your competitor’s website by taking note on how it functions and what it looks like. Then take a look at their social feed and see who they’re talking to. “What what type of brand voice are they conveying? And are they consistent? I think sometimes we like to model ourselves after another one of our competitors, right. But the difference between them and you is you your unique kind of character and the viewpoint that you bring… I seriously enjoy learning about my clients when we talk about it.”

How do you work with a visual brand designer?

Voice is something that you’ll talk about with your designer as well. “We outline a couple different phrases or greetings to use that help mold your voice,” says Jackie. Then you go back to the mood board that either you or both of you created. Then you get into visuals.

With your designer, you’ll be looking at visuals as far as colors, textures, and fonts that will really help bring a brand together. Using the competitor information, you’ll be able to create a design that stands out.

Typically, you have an idea of what you need from your designer before beginning the process. “Are you looking for just a logo or are you hoping to create a brand,” asks Jackie. “I think creating a brand is important for you to kind of get everything lined up and create that consistency and that trustworthy element.” If you just get a logo, you might only be getting a couple of colors, the actual logo, and maybe the font.

“As far as getting a full brand package, you're going to get all of your colors and different versions of your logo in all of those different colors, and then font system to use,” says Jackie. You can even get examples of the body copy, headlines, and other elements you can utilize in print and web.

How to refresh a brand’s visuals or website?

The first thing you and your designer need to do is understand what’s actually not working. “When it comes to a refresh, there's usually something that feels outdated,” says Jackie. Or, the business could have pivoted. “Maybe they're selling more online and they want to establish a presence in that respect. Maybe they've closed down their shop. So maybe their logo was big, circular kind of elements. And now it needs to work better in a digital format.” Understanding pivots helps your designer elevate your visual brand.

How can business owners stay consistent with their visual brands?

Continually check back on your mood board to maintain consistency between your website and other graphics. Ask yourself, would this website page fit within the mood board or does it clash? 

When it comes to social media, Jackie suggests apps that allow you to see your mock posts for Instagram. This means you can do a quick check for consistency among your posts.

Ask yourself, “Does this kind of color wash image work within my brand? Have I used something like this before?” 

How to know which package to get from a designer?

That's a good question. And I think I think I even struggle with like, when to really push for a full branded package, and when to just provide a logo, I think, more often than not going for the full brand package. Regardless of kind of where you're at in your business, whether you're a few months in or six years in, I think starting with a full brand package can kind of help you feel. Okay, this is it, we're doing this, and this is my best foot forward. And here I am, this is birch designs, that's kind of how I had to approach my business and creating a logo and brand system for myself, because I was like, well, I like this option. But I also like that option. And just picking one and rounding out what that whole system looks like helped me get clear on who to market to and how

What type of logos should a business owner ask for from their designer?

Typically, you’ll have a primary logo. It’s the number one to use when it comes to your company. “Then you could have a secondary logo that works better for web or maybe it includes your tagline, and then getting a mark or two, that is kind of like a sign off almost for your brand, it's a little bit more visual,” says Jackie. 

She also suggests having an icon. “You can use that as like a little mark on social posts, or use it as that circular profile photo, since it's such a unique shape. Sometimes it's hard to get the longer more horizontal logos in a form that like that.” 

All of these are great but make sure you get them in different formats. “When you get all of those deliverables, you want to make sure you're getting versions for web JPEGs and smaller PNGs, as well as some print versions that are much larger, that can be scaled. So you're getting vector files, and PNGs. Those are those ones with a transparent background so they can go on any color. And getting black and white versions of your logo to are important in case you ever need them for certain print instances as well as web and then getting them all in your different colors. So you've got lots of versions.”

How to decide on a final graphic or brand design?

Go back to your mood board, competition analysis, and target market. At the end of the day, it’s really about what will help drive your customer or client to love your brand and buy from you.

What should bride’s keep in mind when getting their items designed?

Although not as intense of a branding process, you and your designer do have to work together to get the details just right for the design.

Things that help your designer are the venue, color scheme, and even how you met your significant other. If you’ve decided on a theme, such as rustic or modern can shift the design.

Want to know you’re in good hands? Jackie even did her own wedding designs!

Comment below with any questions for Jackie or connect with her!

About Jackie

I've always had a passion for color and design, but after my first typography class, I fell in love with letterforms and layout. With a natural eye for detail, it’s the little things that inspire me—hence the love of typography. After almost a decade in the corporate world, I started Burtch Designs to pursue joy, balance, and creativity.

Find Jackie on her website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.