” How to Style Your Brand: Everything you need to know to create a distinctive brand identity” by Fiona Humberstone
Let me begin by saying that this is an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE if you’re just starting a business or rebranding an existing one! And here’s why….
I was trying to style and define my business for several years, and every time I did, I always felt like it was lacking something… the images were inconsistent, the feeling to it wasn’t very cohesive, I had so many overwhelming thoughts that I didn’t know where to begin and always rushed into another rebranding thinking it will fix the looks and my feeling as well. But it wasn’t until I discover Fiona Humberstone’s book that I opened my eyes and finally was able to ask myself the right questions about my brand and find the right answers at last!
First of all, I have to say that I get really inspired just by the looks of the book and yes I do judge by the cover (don’t we all?) because if the author is talking about branding then I want to see that she/he knows the basics of the good styling and cohesive looks. The quality of the paper and images is gorgeous, pages are thick with lustrous feel, layout is easy to read and is keeping your attention on point so you read it without getting tired. Information is written in a very free-flowing, yet professional style as if you are just talking to the author herself.
Now lets get to the details! The contents are organized in a way that you first learn the basics and then start putting all of that information together.
The Chapters are:
- Brand Styling Basics
- Planning
- Create your vision
- Create your logo
- Pulling together your brand elements
- Styling it up
The first chapters are explaining the importance of defining your ideas and focusing on asking yourself the right questions that help you shape your vision. Ever felt like you have so many thoughts that you can’t even properly explain to
someone what your business is about? I definitely did! Fiona Humberstone guides you though the steps of making a plan that will work for you. What is your business about? Who are your clients? Who are your dream clients? What do you expect your branding or rebranding to look like? Are doing it yourself or hiring a professional? How to work with a branding professions? The first chapters have the clear guides fo you to answer these questions to help you stay on track and not feel overwhelmed one it comes to the actual styling process.
Once your mind is clear and set on the right goals, you continue to learn about the aspects of a branding process. What do the colors mean? How to pick the right font? Why is it important to know the visual language of design and have all of the things working together? One of the most eye-opening moment for me was learning about ‘The Seasons’ of personalities, business personalities. Fiona classifies all of the different personalities into four main seasons and just like the seasons of the year, Spring personalities are blossoming with ideas and enthusiastic, Summer personalities are more intuitive and graceful, and so on. She defines key features of every season helping you better find your season to later simplify your styling process. Every season has its colors, font and styles, but cross-styling and combining different looks is still possible if you follow her steps. This approach has simplified the branding for me tremendously! After reading about all of the seasons I could find that I’m leaning more towards the winter season and that helped me make my decisions once I started picking colors, fonts, etc. On top of that Fiona talks a lot about the color psychology and how important it is to pick the right colors for your brand because people do learn a lot about brands just by looking at the logo or the main color combinations. It might be very subconscious, but intuitive at the same time.
Now it’s time to start putting all of your elements together. The author helps you create your vision board with guiding
suggestion on how to pick the right pictures or how to simplify your ideas. The vision board is just a collection of pictures, textures, patterns and fonts that are inspiring you and you feel like they relate to your business, but it’s important to keep in mind your brand’s main aspects that you defined in the first chapter and how they translate into imagery. What you like personally might not be the right fit for your business looks, and Fiona does a great job at helping you separate your brant from your personal ambitions and treat it as a separate being.
By the time you finish reading this book ( and I was studying it like a textbook) you feel like you have mastered a completely new skill of branding and now can fluently speak the language of style. I keep coming back to it when I feel in need of an advice and inspiration. Just briefly flipping through the pages refreshes my memory and the notes I made to myself when I was first reading it and reevaluating my business branding.
You can check out Fiona Humberstone’s personal website https://www.thebrand-stylist.com/ to learn more about her approach, read other related articles and even work with her to get the right branding you need.
ISBN: 978-0956454539
Published by Copper Beech Press.
You can find this book on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956454534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0956454534&linkCode=as2&tag=kkhrystyfinea-20&linkId=806851457c96c6312321f3d5775e5e53
Or check out her new book “Brand Brilliance” https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956454542/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0956454542&linkCode=as2&tag=kkhrystyfinea-20&linkId=fac718d15626bee0a51c59578180d992
Thanks for reading and if you read this book or any other book by Fiona Humberstone let me know in the comments what you learned from it and how it helped you get your business on the right track !
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