We love supporting small businesses and understand that we are all in different phases of entrepreneurship. While we LOVE professional branding projects, we realize that in some phases it’s best to DIY for two primary reasons: budget and business identity. When these two factors are not in the right place, we recommend you DIY your branding.

Let’s dig in.

Two Reasons to DIY your Branding:

Reason 1: Budget

It’s no surprise that professional services cost more than DIY options. A brand new business may not have the resources to invest in a quality branding package. This is when we recommend to DIY your branding or purchase non-custom branding assets from online sellers if needed. These may not be as custom and may have certain licensing limitations, but it’s a great starting point to a cohesive online presence.

If you’re unsure if you’re ready for a branding investment, it never hurts to book a call and get a quote! If you’re ready to look SO professional and credible, we honor quotes for several months AND offer payment plans.

Reason 2: Business Identity

Did anyone make some wild aesthetic choices as a teen and remember LOVING it at the time… but cringe a little when you look back on the photos? We’ve all been there. I had a LIME GREEN bedroom. It was amazing in the 2000s, buuuut I don’t love neon walls anymore. I still LOVE color, but my tastes and preferences are more refined. Sometimes business identities are similar! Their ideal customers, their processes, and their goals may become more refined after they get a few years of experience under their belt.

If your business identity is still growing, it doesn’t make sense to invest in a branding package. If we designed your branding around your Year 1 goals and then core elements of your business shifted by Year 3 of business, your branding may not be as effective for your business. We want business owners to be sure of who they are before making such an important investment. If you just launched a new biz and you’re in the growing phase, keep up the great work! When you’re ready we’d love to design a brand for you.

Sometimes we work with people who have been in their industry for a long time and are branching out on their own. (Yay go you!) These people usually have a strong idea of what they want for their business and know exactly who they want to serve, so in these situations we do recommend launching with a professional brand + website to establish that professional credibility from the very beginning.

Tips to DIY your Branding

If you want your online presence to look good but aren’t ready to invest in professional branding, here are some things to consider when creating a brand yourself:

Choose 2-3 fonts to use exclusively

• This makes your brand + marketing materials look cohesive
• Reduces decision fatigue (how many minutes have you spent testing fonts in Canva? If you already picked 2-3… just stick with those)
• Make sure the fonts are easy to read. Sometimes if fonts are too scripted, too unique, or formatted to be too close together… it makes your words difficult to read.

Choose 3-4 colors to use exclusively

• The goal is to create an identity for people to associate your business with. Using the same colors on your website, social media accounts, marketing emails, etc. will make your business look more professional.
• Pinterest has color palette examples if you need inspiration! The colors may not match your brand values, but it’s a great way to get started.

Canva Logo Limitations

• Canva is a great tool to create a lot of things and often a 1st stop for creating a DIY logo. These are fine for social media usage. However, logos created with Canva designs cannot be trademarked! This means you don’t have a legal leg to stand on if someone tries to copy your logo for their own business. We recommend you review Canva guidelines before trademarking any logo to ensure you’re following their rules.
• Logo size limitations: Canva cannot export in vector format other than an SVG file (this is really only best for website use). If you ever needed your logo printed large on a huge sign or banner, you could run into some blurring issues.

Logo Sizing Tips

• For a horizontal website header, your logo should be roughly 250–400 pixels wide and exported in JGP, PNG, or SVG. You also want to keep this around 250-350kb in file size so your website loads quickly and efficiently without large image sizes weighing down the site.

If you’re in a place of entrepreneurship where the DIY path is best right now, we hope this helps make sure you’re working in a cohesive direction 😊

If you’re in the place of entrepreneurship where you’re ready for professional brand strategy + professional graphic design, let’s chat. Our inboxes and DMs are eagerly awaiting to hear from you. We will even accept carrier pigeons 😎 For the MOST convenient way to get in touch with us, visit our contact page and submit the form and we will be in touch.