Step 1. Finding your style + voice (aka branding)
Your unique style aesthetic encompasses the colors, fonts, feelings, imagery, and voice that capture the essence of who you are and what you are creating in your business. Once you identify these elements, you can use them as a guide for writing your content, and choosing the visual components of your website. Creating this foundation will allow you to have cohesion throughout your online sphere!
Why is this important? Showing up throughout all of your online channels (website, newsletter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) with a consistent voice, color palette, and imagery creates trust and recognition in your community.
Take time to dive in, get creative and explore — and trust that you'll find your voice along the way. This isn't about a final product, so you can let your intuition take the lead.
Download + print your Clarity workbook
This is an important guide for identifying your visual brand + planning your website. (Don't want to waste ink? Use these questions in your journal instead!) This will be used throughout the course to help you write content and gather imagery as we continue onward.
Create a Pinterest Board (or vision board).
(Never used Pinterest before? Here's a helpful link. Not into Pinterest? You can create a vision board instead!)
- Use your feeling words + style adjectives from the Clarity workbook to guide the pinning or collecting process. Close your eyes and tune into the colors, vibes and feelings that these create. For example, if your word was earthy — you might imagine a subdued palette, imagery of nature, and organic elements.
- Choose imagery, font types, graphics, and design elements that you are drawn to. Follow your cravings and pin away! (For vision boarders, gather materials from magazines or use paint + markers! Get creative with it!)
- Once you've created a plethora of pins or gathered plenty of images, review them all and narrow down your choices. What are the common themes? What stands out? What feels like YOU?
Optional color palette exercise:
Visit Kaboompics and choose an image based upon the colors that you're craving. Maybe it's saturated colors, or muted pastel tones.
After you hover over an image, select 'see more' and you'll be given a color palette based upon that image. Download this color palette, and you have a potential palette for your website!
Try this process with a couple other images and collect these color palettes in a folder on your computer. You can use them (if you'd like) when we create a Style Guide together.
