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Branding

Guide

Nail your brand basics in one afternoon

Name, colour palette, logo direction, and a voice, enough to launch consistently.

11 min read·7 steps
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  1. Pick a name that passes 3 tests

    Say it out loud on a phone call, is it clear? Search it on Google and Instagram, is the handle free? Search USPTO.gov / your country's trademark registry, is it legally clear?

  2. Register the domain and social handles

    Buy the .com first (Namecheap or Google Domains). Immediately grab @yourname on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X, even if you don't post yet. Squatters and lookalikes are the reason.

  3. Choose 3 brand colours

    Pick one primary, one secondary, one neutral. Use coolors.co to explore palettes. Test the colours on a phone screen at 30% brightness, many pastels disappear in real life.

  4. Pick 2 fonts (max)

    One display font for headlines, one clean sans-serif for body. Google Fonts is free and enough. Pair a serif + sans-serif for editorial feel, or two sans-serifs (one bold, one regular) for modern.

  5. Design a simple logo

    Use Canva or Figma. Start with a wordmark (your name in your chosen font). Add a small icon only if it means something. Simple logos work; complicated logos age badly.

  6. Write your brand voice in 3 lines

    Fill in: 'We are ___, not ___. We say ___, we never say ___. We sound like a ___ talking to a ___.' Example: 'We are warm, not corporate. We say hey, we never say Dear valued customer.'

  7. Make a one-page brand sheet

    Put your logo, colour hex codes, fonts, and voice rules on a single PDF page. Share it with anyone who makes content for you, designer, VA, printer. Consistency starts here.

That’s the whole thing.

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