How to Unf*ck Your Inconsistent Brand Visuals

Are you finding it super challenging building consistent brand visuals? If your answer is ‘YES’, then this is for you!

We’ve all had that ONE friend, partner, or colleague who was a ‘crazy person’. They were volatile, flew off the handle at random times, never stuck to their word, kept you unsure of what to expect next.

And when you’re unsure of how a person is going to behave, you’re constantly on high-alert. This signals to your brain (and body) that the situation is unsafe. When you feel unsafe with someone, or something, you don’t trust them.

 

Chaos equals confusion. Consistency equals safety.

The human brain is hardwired to pick out patterns because predictability equals safety. In psychology, this is called Cognitive Load Theory. Meaning, when something is unpredictable, our brains have to work twice as hard to process it, which triggers a subconscious red flag.

The exact same psychological mechanism applies to your brand visuals. If you’re constantly changing your brand colours, using different typefaces, not settling on a specific visual style, your audience’s brains do the same thing as if they were in an unsafe situation.

They don’t trust you.

They also won’t remember you.

Current stats tell us that a person needs to see your consistent content at least 11 times before they remember you. I reckon it’s a lot more, considering the rate at which we scroll through our social feeds.

I’m going to repeat it.

When your brand visuals are inconsistent, you won’t be remembered or trusted. You need to be remembered in a safe way in order to be trusted. And you need to be trusted before people will buy from you or hire you.

I see coaches and designers constantly telling small biz owners to keep their branding consistent, but few of them actually explain the details on HOW to do it. That’s exactly what I’m going to do next.

 

5 Simple Actions to Keep Your Brand Visuals Consistent

These 5 actions are going to sound boring AF, but doing the same thing all the time is boring. It’s also the hallmark of consistency. Having a plan and sticking to it day in and day out until you can do it without even thinking is what builds mastery.

And it makes things so much easier if you keep everything consistent. It takes the thinking off your plate and frees up your mental energy to focus on more fun things like ideas and execution instead.

Actions to take:

1. Keep your typefaces/fonts consistent

Pick 3 typefaces:

• a bold one for hooks and big headings,
• an eclectic one for highlight text and accents,
• an easy-to-read one for body text. Use them consistently.

Test them out together to make sure they complement each other. Then always use the same font style for headings, the same one for text highlights, and the same one for body text.

2. Keep your colours consistent

Choose 4-6 relevant colours with good contrast and that work well together, and stick to them. Make a note of the codes (Hex, RGB, CMYK, Pantone) so you can use them consistently in your social posts, ads, printed items. If you can, incorporate them in your reels, e.g. wear clothing in your brand colours, or use a background that matches.

3. Use matching elements

Create, purchase, or find a set of 10-15 drawings, simple graphics or icons that you can use through your social posts and printed items. Make sure they are in a style that matches your logo and brand aesthetic, and that they are all the same style. Stick to just those. They become quick recognition points for potential buyers.

4. Keep image styling consistent

Decide how you want your images (photos, reels, product pics, etc) to look. Then stick to that style for each image type across the board. Examples are product images: make sure you use the same backgrounds for them, or the same type of background. If you’re using filters or overlays on images or videos, pick one or two and stick to those only, for every piece of content. Make sure you pull the same styling through to printed items. Doing this will help people recognise your brand straight away.

5. Build a quick reference brand board

Create a brand board for yourself and keep it on your computer desktop, in your diary, or print it out so you can refer to it for every brand visual you create. Or share it with your designer or social media manager to help them keep things looking aligned. The brand board should include your logo versions, fonts, colours (with codes), elements, and examples of image styling. If you don’t know how to do this, I have a Canva template you can grab to use as a guide, or just give me a shout and I can build one for you.

When you’re working on these, keep in mind how you want people to feel about your brand. Different colours and fonts evoke different emotions so try to pick ones that align with your message.

 

Grab my R50 ready to use Canva template to help you build consistent brand visuals forever.