Using a Brand Guide to Help with Wellness Branding Ideas

One of my favorite parts of my job is after a client has made the final decisions. That’s when I put together their branding guide. It’s kind of like a travel guide to your company’s universe. They hold all the essential information you (and anyone who works with you) need to create products, campaigns, and packaging that are authentic to your company’s identity. Your brand guide can also serve a lesser-known (but no less important) purpose––inspiring lifestyle and wellness branding ideas when you’re feeling stalled over packaging or developing a new marketing campaign. 

After all the branding design rejection, revision, and hard decisions, your brand guide is a tidy collection of everything that makes your lifestyle or wellness brand unique! 

And, of course, you can always revise. If things don’t look the way you expected, or you don’t vibe with something you loved at first, your guide will pinpoint the elements that aren’t working. 

Some things you can include in your brand guide

Every client I work with has different goals for their company. So, I customize the brand guides I create to my client’s needs, whether it’s print-specific, destined for the internet, or just a starting point while their company finds its voice. A few things most brand guides include:

Logos

When people think about branding, their logo is usually the first thing that comes to mind. It’s how you introduce yourself to the world, showing people what your company embodies. Many people don’t realize just how many logos they need to represent their brand: social media, business cards, web pages, and favicons. It’s a lot, but they should all feel the same to your audience.

Fonts

In a lot of ways, the fonts you use are the voice of your company. Serif, san serif, script, and display fonts all have different purposes, from the headlines on your website to your monthly newsletter or text-based posts on social media. 

Consistency in fonts does so much for your brand recognition. But fonts aren’t always easy to recall. Your brand guide has the names and examples of the fonts. Plus, it will say where to use them (titles, H1s, H2s, Instagram, etc.) for your web designer or social media manager. 

Colors

Picking colors–paint for walls, nail color, or handlebar tape for your bicycle–is FUNdamental to how we express ourselves. Okay, that was corny, but seriously y’all, color is one of the most fun parts of branding. 

Color is also–it might surprise you to learn–very scientific to designers and digital artists. 

Every color has a specific number depending on where it’s being used–hex for online display, Pantone or CMYK for print, or RGB for television. A brand guide with examples and values for every color ensures that your palette stays consistent between your print materials, website, and packaging. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re getting a vibrant red and ending up with magenta, amiright? 

Brand Values, History, and Mission

Remember my blog on onboarding for wellness and lifestyle branding? Onboarding is a discovery process that I do with all my new clients to help generate wellness branding ideas for their company. In that blog, I went over workshopping to define your brand’s archetype. 

Your archetype should also go into your brand guide! It lets anyone who works with your company understand the heart of your business in a universal branding language. Plus, use your brand guide to introduce designers, copywriters, and marketers to your company’s voice, mission, and audience! 

Deciding you’re ready for a brand guide

There are so many reasons to invest in a brand guide. Maybe you’re starting a new lifestyle or wellness business and want every branding and packaging decision made before launch. Or, you’re taking the plunge and committing to your side hustle full time and want to mark the occasion with branding. Or, hey, you’re like me and rebranding after a half-decade in business! 

There are dozens of scenarios, and saying yes to the brand guide (okay, that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue…) is super personal. If you’re uncertain if you’re “ready,” email me to learn more about Blades Creative wellness branding. 

I recommend having your brand guide in place before you work with a printer or web designer. The technical information the guide contains will save them tons of time (and you loads of money) finding the right fonts and colors for your marketing materials. 

Finding lifestyle and wellness branding ideas in your brand guide

Now that you know the ins and outs of brand guides, here’s how you can use them to inspire your wellness branding ideas. 

First, real talk: you don’t have to have all the answers before getting your brand guide. And when you collect all the information you have in one place, it’s a lot easier to shape your company’s branding into something magical. 

At Blades Creative Design Studio, I’m not into forced decisions and settling. Finding your brand’s voice can take time and a lot of false starts. I love when clients come to me with little more than a feeling of their brand’s identity––because I’m able to put that feeling into colors, fonts, packaging, and logos. 

But letting that process happen can sometimes take a few surprising turns–isn’t it the unexpected adventures that are the most fun?

When you can see the basics of your branding in a guide, sometimes it works like a Tarot deck, making the next steps more clear. Or sometimes, it makes it Very Obvious that you actually hate serif fonts. 

Those “oops, I hate this” catches are pretty valuable before you order something printed on 1000 bags or envelopes. 

Develop a brand guide with wellness branding ideas from Blades Creative Design Studio

I work with lifestyle and wellness brands to give color and form to the heart and soul of their company. There’s something magical in authentic branding. It forms an emotional connection with your audience and reminds you and your team of your company’s identity. When you look across your social media feeds, packaging, and marketing, it should all remind you why you started the business. And why you come to work every day!

Branding guides from Blades Creative Design Studio can do that. When you’re ready to start your branding journey, reach out, and let’s talk wellness branding ideas!