Been wondering how to create a soulful brand identity for your business? In this post I’ll talk about the simple, key principal I’ve uncovered that helps me to do this for my clients.

There’s something I’ve been trying to articulate. A feeling about what is at the heart of all the work I try to put out there for my clients, but I’ve not been sure how to put it into words.

Have you ever felt like that? There’s something you understand and embody, but you don’t quite have the words to describe it and explain it to others?

Then, I saw someone talk about art practices for painting and drawing as part of a personal course I’m taking. It finally clicked into place.

The simple, key principal I’ve uncovered for creating a soulful brand identity

You see – what I’ve been trying to articulate is really at the heart of everything that people create. No matter if it is art, music, a piece of writing, cooking, dance, film-making, architecture…a brand identity.

The creator wants the viewer/listener/reader/taster to feel something. And we are always looking for things that make US feel something too. Things that make use feel something stand out to us.

But what exactly is it that we want to feel? What makes a piece of Art, music etc either good or…forgettable? I’d argue it’s whether there is a sense of aliveness in the piece.

Whether ‘the thing’ makes us feel alive. Whether we can see the aliveness in it. Whether we can feel the aliveness of the author or artist. By alive what I mean is that it feels like it has heart and soul. It isn’t bland.

So, how do we make what we create feel alive?

Here’s that key principle:

It’s through contrasts and differences. Subtlety mixed with boldness. Lightness and dark.

This is what I already bang on about with branding, but I’ve only just connected the dots back to why it works.

Annoyingly, if you’ve ever worked with a client or employer on any kind of design or artwork and they’ve said ‘Can you just make it pop?’ (or something to that effect) this is what they mean. It needs more contrast, more differences. It doesn’t feel alive yet.

As a person, part of what makes you so wonderful and interesting is your unique mix of personality contrasts, contradictions, and differences. This is your aliveness, your soul.

When you add contrasts and differences into your brand identity, you’re infusing your brand with heart and soul too.

How to build a sense of aliveness into your brand identity

Building a sense of aliveness into your brand identity through contrasts and differences can work in many ways. It’s important to note that it really is about subtlety mixed with boldness, because when you have too much ‘middle’, things can begin to feel muddy, rather than clear and alive.

Here are some ways to begin thinking about this. you don’t need to harness each way of creating contrast, there are no hard and fast rules. We’re talking about how things feel here…so feel it.

Choose your own adventure.

Colour

In your colour palette, you can quite literally choose two or three main brand colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Colours and the way they interact with each other, what they mean, and how they make us feel is so fascinating to me. I have a lesson all about it in the Rebrand Roadmap.

The complimentary and triadic opposite colours here create a bold contrast, so you need to make sure you have subtlety elsewhere.

For example in my main branding for Lemon & Birch, I use a bright blue, pink, and yellow. This is roughly speaking a triadic palette, and so you’ll see less bold contrasts in other areas such as the fonts I’m using. Apart from differences in size, the fonts I use are simple, clear, and easy to read.

If you were to use an analogue (sometimes called a harmonious) palette, these colours have less contrast between each other, and so it would be important to create bold contrasts in other areas of your branding.

It’s always about balancing boldness with subtlety.

Brand Photography

This is something the photographers amongst us are already masters of. Balancing light and shadow, and framing a photograph so that there is ’empty’ space balanced with ‘filled’ space.

There are some really bold contrasts that can be created in an image when you know how to capture them. My client Caro comes to mind when I think of light and shadow play in photography.

You can also create a sense of spaciousness with your brand photography, but couple that with perhaps a detail rich illustrated logo, and you have a beautiful, balanced contrast.

Inversely, if you have busy floral photography for example, keep your logo and even your colour palette on the minimal, chilled-out side.

Typography

The typefaces you choose for your brand identity are a lovely way to bring in more contrast. You can use one type of font for headings and another type for body text.

You’ll probably instinctively be able to tell which fonts contrast with each other; but here’s some quick examples:

• Bold font weight with a lighter font weight
• A chunky slab serif with a simple sans serif
• A bold retro display font mixed with a simple sans serif
• Don’t forget how font sizing can play a role in creating contrast
• Colour can come into play with your typography too

I hope that discovering this principle has opened up a new way of thinking about branding for you. One where the rules are less constrictive and it’s more about creating lightness and darkness.

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In this blog post I’m sharing advice for creative small business owners, written by members of my online community, the Tree House.

I recently realised that what I was really craving something in my business – a feeling of community around my brand. Many people do a gorgeous job of creating that sense of community through their social media accounts or through their email list. But since I had my first child in 2020 I’ve found it hard to stay on top of the amount of time it takes to really build that up.

As a result, when launching my first online course and my course platform the Tree House, I knew I needed to get serious about community building. It’s a brilliant way to help people get through the whole of your course, create a sense of accountability, and allow people to connect with others going through the course at a similar time.

I set my community up on Circle and I am loving seeing it grow slowly and organically! After setting things up, I decided to create a Digital Magazine inside the community platform so that I could post Interviews with members, enabling us to get to know each other and learn about the ups and downs of our business journeys.

Here I’m sharing some of the amazing words of wisdom that have been written by 5 of the community members 🥰 They’ve given some wonderful advice for creative business owners. To read the full Interviews, sign up to the community here.

Helena Murphy – Commercial photographer capturing product, places and people.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to past you?

Nothing that is meant for you will pass you by. Don’t stress about your ideal timeline – it’s going to unravel in the way it’s meant to, and it’s not a race.

What’s one thing you learnt or implemented in your business where you thought ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?!’

I definitely would have done the SEO work I’ve done this year much sooner, if I could go back! Because SEO is a slow piece and takes a long time to make an impact, it would have been beneficial to work on it from the start and not be so dependent on a platform you can’t control, like Instagram or TikTok.

Read the full Q&A bu signing into the community here

See Helena’s website here

Lauren Clegg – Jewellery designer and maker creating sterling silver jewellery inspired by nature.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to past you?

Trust my instinct and listen to my inner voice for guidance more. I’ve spent a long time looking externally for direction, thinking that everyone else had insider info that I was lacking, but when I’ve followed advice from external sources, it hasn’t fit right. I realised I just need to trust myself and follow my own path.

What’s one thing you learnt or implemented in your business where you thought ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?!’

This is going to sound really behind the times, but downloading apps onto my phone for the platforms I use for my business. For example, I sell on Etsy, and I used to transfer all the photos from my phone onto the laptop, to upload them onto my listings. It was so time consuming, then I realised I could download the ‘sell on Etsy’ app, and I can upload images and edit listings straight from my phone. Game changer (that probably everyone else is already aware of!) Lol. 

Read the full Q&A by signing into the community here

See Lauren’s work here

Sophie Carefull – Coach for introverted creatives and a business mentor for personal branding photographers.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to past you?

I’d say: “Everything will get so much easier when you stop fighting against yourself.” I spent so many years focusing on all the things I disliked about myself, and rejecting my true nature as an introvert and someone with anxious tendencies, and actually, the more I’ve been able to face and then embrace those parts of myself, the more peace I experience. 

I never used to believe in the power of self-compassion (“If I stop being horrible to myself, surely I’ll never get anything done?!”), but now I see it as an absolutely essential ingredient for a happy life.

What’s one thing you learnt or implemented in your business where you thought ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?!’

One of the most important lessons for me has been “be a farmer, not a hunter,” as I think the saying goes. I spent so much of my first couple of years in business on a constant (and tiring) treadmill of trying to find my next new client, that I’d often neglect to appreciate my existing clients. 

It dawned on me that it’d be much more worthwhile to cultivate longer-term relationships with everyone I worked with so that I didn’t have to rely so heavily on outward marketing. I started to get more repeat bookings and referrals when I actively encouraged them, which may sound obvious but I think a lot of us overlook this, especially in the early days when your confidence may still be wobbly and you’re just so relieved when a job goes well that you quickly move onto the next thing without looking back.

Read the full Q&A by signing into the community here

See Sophie’s website here

Ammaarah Jeewa – Creative copywriter for creative women

What’s one piece of advice you would give to past you?

Stop letting other people tell you your limitations. Only you can decide what you are and are not capable of doing. You get to dictate what happens in your business, not everyone else.

What’s one thing you learnt or implemented in your business where you thought ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?!’

Be authentic. It sounds simple, and maybe almost obvious, but it’s so easy to feel like you have to conform to some type of ‘appearance’. Even when I thought I was being authentic, it turns out, I was still trying to hide. It wasn’t until a gentle marketing coach suggested that I look at what I do through the lens of, ‘Does what you’re doing make you love yourself?’ that it really opened my eyes.. 

I was genuinely surprised at how often the answer was ‘no’. It prompted me to take a good hard look at what I was doing, especially in terms of marketing, and adjust things so that I could finally answer ‘yes’.

Read the full Q&A by signing into the community here

See Ammaarah on instagram here

Rebecca Broad – Writer and social media manager

What’s one piece of advice you would give to past you?

Charge. More. Money. 

What’s one thing you implemented in your business where you thought ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?!’

Oh, I love Starling Spaces. In my business account with them I have Spaces for all sorts: different tax years (I automatically put away 30% of all income), Christmas bonus, my next three months’ wages, new tech fund, and ‘investment’.

It’s made everything to do with finances so much more visible for me. I never used to feel financially safe enough to spend any business money, but Spaces help me to see what I can afford to spend.

Read the full Q&A by signing into the community here

See Rebecca on instagram here

If you enjoyed reading this wonderful advice for creative business owners, you can join the Tree House Community here!

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When you have an inkling you want to rebrand your business, it might start to make you feel unconfident to show up and share what you do with the world. Or perhaps it’s the other way round. You’re feeling unconfident and you’ve realised you need to shake things up with a rebrand.

A rebrand isn’t the absolute be all and end all. There are many ways to gain confidence (like working with a brand strategist, self-confidence or business coach, or getting help in any area of your business that feels sticky).

It is true however, that a new brand identity will help you to raise your vibration and bring some new energy into your business and build momentum.

You brand for the future; the ‘you’ that’s a couple of steps ahead. This helps you to shift energy and meet the vibration of this new season in your business and get you moving towards it.

It’s important to note that a brand identity on its own won’t bring you more clients, customers, and recognition. You and your actions combined with your wonderful new brand identity – that’s what’s going to move you forwards.

You need to be fully behind your new branding and so there are certain steps to take to make sure that it speaks of your soul and really represents what you do and the impact you want to have on the world.

When you’re fully behind your new branding you’re going to feel more confident to share everything you’re doing with the world.

So, where to start when rebranding?

It helps to go back to basics and make sure you understand what your brand identity and all the moving parts within it need to do.

Once you have a handle on the purpose of each moving part you can review and assess what you already have through a new lens. Ask yourself if each part is functioning as it should be.

This first puzzle piece is one I find my clients have sometimes missed in the past. Having knowledge of what each item is supposed to do means you’ll know when your branding or rebranding efforts are on track. It also means that your efforts are going to be cost and time effective.

What’s the purpose of my brand identity?

Creating a brand identity really is simply telling your brand story through typography, imagery, illustration (if that’s needed), and colour.

If we’re talking about your brand as a whole, you’re telling the story through your words and actions too.

Storytelling with visual branding isn’t linear. Think of it as “Telling a story with layering”. Layering up different elements in your brand to build up a technicolour picture.

When you’re thinking about all the layers in your branding rather than simply the logo and maybe the flat block colours, that’s when you start to build a brand identity that feels technicolour, evocative, exciting.

What’s the purpose of each part within my brand identity?

I have a 20 minute video for you all about demystifying what branding is and what the purpose of each part of the identity is. It’s the first of 5 videos in my branding mini course, The Rebrand Roadmap.

You can sign up to my online course cabin The Tree House to watch this first video for free!

Click the video below to go to the Course page.

And here’s what other people have said about the full mini course:

“Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insight in such a clear, simple to understand and accessible way. It was exactly what I was looking for. A framework to get me started, and a few insider tips too. I will be dipping in and out of it again and again over the next few months I think as I start thinking more in depth about my rebrand. I just wanted to let you know how happy I am with it.” – Lauren Clegg Jewellery

“I have been working on a logo after watching and working through the Rebrand Roadmap. It was so so good – thank you Meg! I got so much out of it, useful information, tips and tricks. I have really enjoyed the whole process.” – Kathryn Goddard Photography

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A question I frequently get asked is how to make sure a brand identity stands the test of time. It’s so hard to work on your own brand identity; you’re really close to it and you see it so often that your own perception of it is skewed from what other people see. People need repetition!

The main thing to note about your brand identity is that people need to be able to identify you again once they’ve seen your branding the once. So there is a little wiggle room for variety, but things always need to be identifiable as being yours. This is where trends can harm you rather than make you necessarily look more up-to-date.

And so here are my thoughts on how to create a timeless brand identity.

Think about what would stay the same even if your work evolved

Firstly, you’ll need to think about what your brand stands for on a wider level. If you had to pivot and change your product or service, what values or elements of your story and brand would stay the same?

An example is if you’re a jeweller, your work and style might evolve over time, but what inspires you at it’s core probably won’t. What is it that’s at the very core of your brand – the why or how you got here?

It could be a set of values, it could be your story, it could be a number of things. I don’t mean all the rest isn’t important, it totally is…but you want to get right to the heart and work out what’s unwavering.

And so how do you translate that into design?

Not every part of your brand identity needs to convey EVERYTHING

The fun bit! You’ll want to build these foundational things into your main brand identity – so into your logo and branding elements, your colours, the mix of fonts you use. It’s about finding the balance.

It’s not an easy process, but what I mean is that different parts of your brand foundation can come through in different areas. Always try to see the bigger picture of how things work together.

Not every part of your brand identity needs to convey EVERYTHING. That’s why you have different ‘moving parts’ (logo, palette, font system)

Colour is great for quickly conveying FEELINGS, EMOTIONS, and VALUES. Typography can show if your brand is MODERN, CLASSIC, or RUSTIC.

And logo icons, graphics, and illustrations can actually tell stories, or convey ideas and meaning in visual form. Everything works together to build a picture for your audience.

Focus on conveying the true essence of your brand so that people can quickly self-select

You’ll want to make sure it’s clear and that the things you’re showing are going to resonate with your audience. BUT at the very beginning you might not know your audience well, so don’t let that bit hold you back.

Focus on conveying the true essence of your brand so that people can quickly self-select. “That’s for me”, or “That’s not for me”.

The WORDS you use need to be much more rooted in the knowledge of who your client or customer is, and your WORDS are something you can easily tweak as you get more clear on that. Your brand identity is there to show the core of who you are (as a business), what you value and why, so that you attract like-minded people. Then you can have fun with trending things like gradients – as long as not every part of your brand identity is changing with trends, you’re allowed to have fun!

If you enjoyed this blog post you can sign up to my email list for more tips and insight into the branding process.

Safiyyah approached me via Instagram and asked me to create a Brand Identity Design for her business and I couldn’t wait to get started working with her!

Safiyyah is a British born artist and textile designer based in Birmingham. She specialises in floral print and pattern, taking inspiration from her original art work.

Her unique watercolour style embodies the magical unexpected beauty and wilderness found in nature, with all its imperfections. Safiyyah’s style encapsulates nature in its entirety as she strives to transport you to a world full of enchantment and beauty through her art.

Her audience for her beautiful nature inspired artwork had grown quickly on Instagram and so she wanted to make sure her website and the packaging for her paintings and products was professional and created a beautiful client and customer experience.

Here is our goal for how the Safiyyah Studio Brand Identity needed to feel.

A BRANDING EXPERIENCE that MAKES YOUR AUDIENCE FEEL ENCHANTED and SOOTHED as they DISCOVER YOUR ART – an identity that is TIMELESS, with an IMPERFECT and APPROACHABLE edge.

This addresses 2 key things to help keep your brand consistent and strategic: (1) how you want to make people feel and (2) what words that you want them to associate with your business.

After we were on the same page about how the brand identity needed to feel, I put together a mood board to show the direction.

After the mood board phase I was excited to dive into the design and I managed to create something Safiyyah loved during the first design round!

I created a unique typography logo, hand-drawn the leaves and branches, and overlaid them with Safiyyah’s own watercolour work and photographs.

I used overlay effects in InDesign so that the different layers of the background somewhat blend together to create this gorgeous textural effect. It bridges the gap between Safiyyahs floral artwork and her landscapes and feels distinctive without taking the emphasis away from her art.

See the process video of the brand identity I designed for her, along with a closer view of all the details below!

The Design Process

Final Logo and Brand Design elements

Here’s what Safiyyah said about working with me:

“Meg was a joy to work with! She just completely understood me and my brand and created something that is full of magic and soul. She helped me create beautiful, cohesive brand packagind that evokes a feeling of enchantment!”

Looking for a designer for your brand?

If you’re looking for stunning, professional branding head let’s work together in my Unfurl Your Brand package.

You can also join my email list below for branding tips and advice, new work and availability.

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When creating a brand design, either for yourself or as a designer for a client, the most important step is getting the right information down on paper at the beginning. Talking on the phone or in person is sometimes important too, but a paper questionnaire allows time and space for reflection.

I don’t work with clients who come to me with a brief as such. They may have some ideas about the direction they want to go in which is great as a starting point, but I’m always wary of working with a client who wants to dictate exactly what they want their logo to look like.

Many graphic designers prefer to have a set brief to guide them and for some clients that is exactly what they want to give and that is fine of course. But the way I like to work is to gather lots of information in the beginning and then let that information guide me on the design choices I make. I’m guided by the persons story, how they got to where they are, and I’m always trying to infuse as much meaning into the brand design as I possibly can.

This is not to say that the client has no say in where the design goes – of course they do! The difference though, is that they are hiring me as a branding expert to steer them in the best direction for their brand. A direction that feels true to their business and who they are, and a direction that will also appeal to and make sense to their target audience/ideal clients.

And so, I thought it would be helpful to show you how I peel back some of the layers with the questions I ask my clients at the very beginning of their projects.

The important things to remember is that the person you’re working with probably doesn’t know the information you need in order to create a meaningful design for them. You are the expert, so you need to guide them.

And if you’re not a designer but are looking for someone to work with you on your branding, hopefully this will help prepare you for the experience a little!

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1. Is there any special meaning behind your business name?

Maybe this sounds like a super obvious question, but it really is necessary to ask it. Like I just mentioned, your client might not realise that this would be really useful information for you to have.

If your client is using their personal name for their business then maybe this won’t give you any nuggets of wisdom, but if they have chosen something other than their own name it can give you a wealth of information to start with.

An example of where this simple question really paid off for me is with a recent client of mine – Caroline, see her website here.

When Caro first booked in with me her business was called Blue Cicada Photography, but she wanted to rebrand to bring herself more into the centre of the business. She wanted to rename the business to her own personal name, the short and sweet ‘CARO’.

On the surface it didn’t seem like there would be any meaning to find from asking the question, but upon reading Caro’s questionnaire she surprised me with some beautiful information that really helped steer the direction of the project.

An extract from Caro’s questionnaire is below:

Is there any special meaning behind your business name?

There is [meaning behind the name Blue Cicada Photography] but I feel that I have moved on from there and that my business has evolved to be more about me.

It’s funny because recently, someone pointed out that cicadas stay in the dark until they shed the skin that protects them as they are growing.

Once it is done, they go in the sun and sing their heart out. I feel like this is me now. Enough staying in the “dark”, I feel more ready than ever to celebrate my business, who I am, what I can do and the skills that I have been working on for the past 20 years.

After reading this I knew straight away that although the Cicada was not going to be in Caro’s business name anymore, the imagery was still something I wanted to explore and perhaps keep in the new branding because it represented the history and story behind Caro’s business.

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2. Why did you start your business? Is there a story that lead you to where you are now? What is driving you to deliver your product or service?

So this is a few questions in one, but sometimes I like to ask questions in groups to get my client thinking about not just each question, but how each question/answer interacts with each other. The three questions are separate, but they are also linked and there is probably some crossover in the answer for each.

I also mention that these questions might warrant a long answer and I make sure to say they can write as much as they like which allows the client to feel a bit more free.

Asking the questions together is almost prompting them to reflect and think more deeply and answer in long form rather than with a couple of sentences.

I love reading this section of the questionnaire the most because it really helps me to understand the persons history and the driving force that lifts them. Often, because the answer is longer than a paragraph I can pull out or highlight small sentences that feel like they could take me somewhere – as in they might be a starting point for imagery to explore for the logo and branding.

An example is a simple sentence I got from my client Katie when she was explaining her story is “I love the magic of translation” (she is a translator and copywriter). This gave me the idea that we could add a sprinkle of magic into the branding, nothing over the top, just a little something extra.

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3. List 2-3 of your ‘competitors’ or businesses that are somewhat similar to what you do. What are they doing well? What are they NOT doing well?

I don’t particularly like the word ‘competitors’ because I think if you have a strong and defined brand then the notion of competitors sort of fades into insignificance. Your brand can be so unique that for your ideal clients or customers, you are the ONLY choice for them to go for. I can write much more on this subject so let’s save that for another blog post!

The word competitor is easily understood by all though and most people will have a few businesses that they know they are somewhat similar to, so I do use it in this question.

Asking follow up questions like ‘What are they doing well/not so well’ helps me to understand what my client views as ‘good’ and ‘not for them’ in terms of business and branding. It’s always so interesting to see the answers to this question and it really helps to know who we need to differentiate their business from.

Often, clients might say a business is similar to them in terms of services, but they want to have a much different feel to their brand so that they’re attracting a slightly different customer. They may often describe this other businesses brand in words and so it gives me a benchmark and an understanding of what words they use to describe different ‘vibes’. This is really helpful because words sometimes mean different things to different people.

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After working through all the answers my client has given me, having pulled out various snippets that stand out, I will head over to Pinterest to begin to find some imagery that feels like it matches with all the information and come up with a visual direction for the branding.

This is such a fun part because I will get to try various combinations of colours and imagery to see what feels right. This is where words lead to images and images lead to more images and I’m sent down a wonderful rabbit hole!

I try to look for inspiration not just from branding that has already been created, but from other sources, like book covers, magazine layouts, beautiful artwork, tiled patterns, interior decor, and nature (to name just a few).

I hope this has given you a good starting insight into the branding process. I’m always open to questions so feel free to email me at meg@lemonandbirch.com or DM me over on Instagram!