Custom Watercolor Logos - Maria answers: What is a "Branding Board?"

One of the first things that I often ask for after a client has decided to work with me on their custom watercolor logo design, is for said client to start working on a "Branding Board". Pinterest is my go-to for this sort of thing, because it helps makes things easy to find and organize, and it's easy to share and access from anywhere!

I often times will be asked what exactly a branding board is, or how to put one together. It's sometimes confusing but I hope I can explain it here, so that you can see what it is I mean and why it matters!

When a client comes to me, the first thing I ask them is what they'd like represented in their logo and what they'd like their logo design to "feel" like. I guess it might sound strange to ask about how a logo should "feel", but to me it really just means - the style, the energy, the soul of the logo. Is your business pretty whimsy in nature? Or is it more stoic? Do you like things messy or really neat? Are details important or are you drawn to impressionism? All of these things can be (and ARE) conveyed through the images that you choose to pin to your branding board.

How do you choose those pins? Simply run a search related to the image you are looking for. For example "watercolor foxes" will turn up many pinned images of the animal painted in different styles. Pin the one that you like the most *or* click on it and a page of further related pins will pop up.

For colors, you can search for your favorites like "blue and yellow", or "pastel color palettes" or whatever you would like to incorporate for that. If you find an image you love the colors for and it doesn't fit your branding ideas, just pin it and add a note saying it's the colors you like, not necessarily what's depicted in the image.

Check out the following branding explanation that I put together, for all of you folks that are more visual (and if you're into art and photography, well then I'm probably talking to you, right??)

I love, love, LOVE what I do. And when I first take a look at someone's board after we've discussed their ideas a bit through Etsy or email or wherever, I instantly am inspired. Your branding board just helps make *sense* of the ideas you've mentioned or your dream for a logo.

After all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Are you interested in a custom business design? Contact me here! Or check out more of my mood boards and final logos that they inspired by looking over my portfolio. Until next time!