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When the time comes to create an amazing visual brand, there are a few DIY branding and design myths that hold most business owners like you back. These things can delay or totally derail your business dreams, turning today into someday aka never, and chaining you to another several years as a desk jockey for some big name company you hate. Yuck. Ummm no thanks.
Today we’re going to bust those DIY branding and design myths once and for all so you can create the brand of your dreams.
Because after all, they’re just myths and that means they’re not true. If there not true, there’s really nothing holding you back from creating your dream brand. Let’s break these myths down into bite sized chunks shall we?
Myth#1 – Your brand will take tons of time to create.
When you sit down at your computer to create your visual brand for the first time ever ( or even THINK about creating it) you might envision yourself, slaving away for days, weeks, months, maybe even years, drowning in colors and fonts and tech tutorials which spiral around you in a tornado of despair that sucks the very life from you.
Ok that’s dramatic. But if you’re an overthinker like me, it ain’t too far off.
But let’s come back to reality here, creating your own brand these days just doesn’t have to be that hard. With the invention of amazing, user friendly software like Canva, and thousands of professionally designed templates to choose from, you’re not going to start at ground zero.
You can start with a framework that you can SEE before you buy, and just basic Canva knowledge, and it doesn’t have to take all this time.
You could customize a template set to your liking in just an afternoon.
Myth: busted!
Myth#2 – If you DIY your brand, it’ll look sloppy and unprofessional.
You’re not a designer. Sooooo doesn’t that mean you probably shouldn’t design? Maybe so, but that’s why templates exist and are an excellent investment. (Shameless plug here!)
Templates provide a professionally designed framework created by experienced designers who do understand design principles, color theory, typography and all that fancy stuff you just don’t really have time to care about.
Experienced template designers have worked with hundreds of real life brands like we have here at Thirty One Palms Studio, even before designing templates.
You can literally steal that expertise with a template purchase to set a professional foundation for your branding.
This of course needs to be said…..not all people designing templates have experience, expertise, or even skill. The cool part though? Unlike a lot of other services and products, you can actually see exactly what you’ll get before you buy it.
If the template’s branding and design caught your eye, and made you feel the emotions that connect to the brand you envision in your head, chances are it’s going to connect with your customers in much the same way.
There’s zero chance of having your DIY branding and design look unprofessional if you can see how professional it looks before you start!
A word of caution: Less is often more. Don’t go over-customizing the templates beyond recognition, then you might have an issue!
Myth: busted!
Myth#3 – You’re stuck with your first ever branding….forever.
It’s like marrying your highschool sweetheart. Sometimes, it works out great and you’re happy forever. But usually….you both change, and things don’t go so well, and you break up.
What if someone told you you had to stay with your very first beau for life? Would you even want to commit at all?
Probably not, that’s a big ask! So is committing to just ONE brand forever with zero tweaks.
Your brand actually SHOULD evolve. Your business is evolving after all!
But there’s a way to do it right. My fiance hates it when we’re in the car and I turn the dial for the heat from low and CRANK it up to speed five in one swift motion. “Small adjustments!” he shouts.
This might not work for me when I go from freezing to sweltering in milliseconds and back again, but for your brand, it’s the perfect solution.
Aim to make small tweaks as you evolve. Maybe add a font or slightly switch it here. Add another shade of your brand color there. Refresh your logo a couple years in.
Don’t do anything drastic without just cause, like an intentional, full rebrand. Otherwise, your customers won’t ever grow to know and trust you, because you don’t have any consistency with your brand…..so they never know what to associate with you.
We don’t want that. Make sure when you make changes, they’re based on research of what’s working for you and what’s not. Be strategic!
Myth: busted!
Myth #4 – You’re not creative enough to design your own DIY brand.
Maybe you’ve spent your whole life thinking you “aren’t creative”. Be it the school system that programmed you that way, or some other social construct, it’s just not true.
Everyone is creative! There isn’t one single person who, if they search deep inside themselves, is uncreative. Especially entrepreneurs! If you truly were not creative, you wouldn’t even be trying to start your own business or do anything different from the same old norms.
I’m going to suggest it again, because I believe in it so much I’ve devoted my whole life to it, but templates can make you feel more creative by laying out a framework to get your DIY brand started.
It sure as heck beats staring at a blank slate! Having something already in place might spark new ideas and thoughts you wouldn’t have quite known how to explore alone without design experience.
Then, you can customize it to YOU, which afterall, is the beauty of templates. You want to be unique! You are creative, I promise.
Myth: busted!
Myth #5 – It’s too hard to figure out Canva and other tech.
We’ve all got different levels of tech proficiency, from “can’t even turn on a computer and probably still use a flip phone” to complex coding and programming that writes all the software we all use.
No matter what level you’re at, having experienced all design softwares such as Adobe programs like Illustrator and Photoshop, I can assure you:
Canva is the most user friendly DIY design software you can get your hands on.
They didn’t become a billion dollar company for nothing! They truly are bringing design to everyone.
The interface is user friendly and intuitive, and you can do some pretty neat stuff, both on the beginner level and more advanced level.
I’m a broken record here, but if you combine premade template sets with the millions of tech tutorials for Canva like ours here, you can easily create your own branding materials.
I have full faith in you!
To jump ahead, download our free guide 18 Pro Tips for Canva, which will teach you a few basic tips, and a few tips you might have never known to improve your proficiency with Canva.
Myth: Busted!
When it comes to designing your brand and finally making your business a reality you only have a few options.
You could pay someone $2k+ to design your branding for you. You might not have that budget right now, or even enough market experience in your niche to know what to ask for and maximize a designers time.
You could just grab random willy nilly templates from Canva for free, struggle to make them work for your brand, have no consistency, and never grow.
You could give up and let your dreams slowly die.
Or, you could toss all these myths we just busted to the side about creating a DIY brand, grab a consistent template set that speaks to you, and lightly customize it to give it a unique flair that is genuinely you.
I know which option I’d take….its a no brainer! Which will you choose?
ps. The Business Template Collective contains all of our cohesive templates for 75% off. Never search for templates again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tamara Morrison
Tamara is a Graphic Design & Brand Building expert that helps entrepreneurs craft the perfect brand. She gets inside your head to bring your dream brand out and to life! She’s been creative since, well, birth, and she spends her time traveling with her race car driver fiancée and she’s obsessed with her cat.
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