Curating Your Brand

When I started telling friends and family that I was pregnant I would often hear “I can’t wait to see what you’ll do with the nursery!” We bought our house a little over a year ago. We knocked out the smallest of the four bedrooms within the first few months to put in a larger bathroom. The three remaining bedrooms are still very small. One of the rooms was set up as a walk-in closet. I knew right away—the minute we found out I was pregnant—that my walk-in closet was a thing of the past. It would now serve as a nursery. At one point I actually contemplated building a crib into the closet. We ended up taking one side of the closet shelving down and keeping the other side up so that we could still use it as storage space.

While I was excited to start designing the nursery I was challenged by having one full side of the room taken by an open shelving unit. I knew that I needed to find a way to cover it that would help create a theme or direction for the design of the room. I decided to use a pattern that I designed to produce fabric for curtains that would cover the open closet. It’s not the dreamiest way to begin a nursery design but it is practical. We don’t always have the luxury of rebuilding everything in order to continue moving our business forward. In fact hiccups or obstacles can force us to start where we are and use what we currently have to build creative solutions.

My guess is there are items in your brand wheelhouse that are already working for your business. While hiding the half closet in our nursery seemed like an awful way to start designing the room, it ended up creating a dream-like space that feels exactly the way I wanted. Is there something that is holding you up on creating promotional pieces or branding that will move your business forward? My recommendation is to start with items that are already successfully working for you and see how those elements can move you past your current obstacle. Even if it’s as simple as the colors you are already using—you should be able to identify areas of your brand that are working well to represent your business.

Ready to get started? Below are a few steps to help you start curating your brand.

Step 1. Make a list of the items that are holding you back. Identify the areas that need work so that you can move on. For instance, perhaps you really love your logo but it doesn’t fit well in the space allocated for profile pictures or logos on social media. Or maybe you really like your web content but the overall design feels messy or incomplete. Make a “Wish List” of items that you would fix if budget was not an issue. For me it was the fact that I had limited space and one entire wall surface would be covered by an open shelving unit. Whatever was going to cover it would need to not only look nice but match seamlessly with the other items in the nursery.

Step 2. Collect the items that are already working for you. These items can be used to create a style guide to pass off to a team member or a designer for direction. No matter who is working on your new brand elements you’ll want to give them some direction. The best way to do this is by passing off the items that currently represent your brand in a way that you are pleased with. Once I decided to use the willow pattern I then collected items I already have that worked well with the pattern. This included a set of antique chairs with a small round table, a white wooden giraffe I purchased in college, and a small dresser that was my mom’s when she was a child.

Step 3. Identify and list what is working. It may be the brand colors, fonts, photographs, illustrations, or marketing copy. You may like parts of your logo the best. Now is the time to identify these pieces by making a list. Review your list and see how you might apply what is working to the items that are holding you back. This eliminates questions, saves time, and ultimately ensures that your unique style and voice is represented. I decided that what I loved the most about my pattern design was the peach and green color scheme and the botanical design. That gave me a starting point. From there I created a Pinterest board that includes the images above. Many of the items I have pinned on my board ended up in my nursery.

I’m confident that if you create your wish list, collect your successful brand materials, and list out the attributes that are currently working you’ll begin to see a positive shift in your marketing efforts. If you’re looking for help with your wish list click here to schedule a brainstorm session.