Looking for a Visual Identity

Over the past two weeks or so I’ve been trying to find a designer to work with to develop the brand’s visual identity.

What is a Visual Identity?

To me, a visual identity is the combination of colours, images and shapes that make up a brand. As you can probably tell if you’ve been following this blog and you’ve read about me, I’m quite aesthetically driven. I’m drawn to spaces and things that are interesting and well put together. I don’t like untidy spaces – something I reluctantly had to relax about when I had the girls. I feel liken I’ve come to a point where it’s time to elevate the visual identity of the brand. To date, the only help I’ve had with visual identity was to design my logos. I have two logos, one is a text version and the other is a pictorial one.

Why is it important?

Visual identity should fall in line with your brand’s values. Branding evokes feelings. Branding is important. I believe a lot of what you feel when you encounter a brand happens very quickly and in your subconscious. Without a physical space (for now 😉 ), my online visual identity and packaging play an even bigger role in how you feel about Mummy’s Muse. Aside from getting the logos designed, I’ve chosen the fonts, designed the website layout and not really followed any visual guidelines when it comes to social media or any other sort of comms. I’m not a designer so my mantra to myself was, ‘make it clean and inoffensive.’ I now want to take a step beyond inoffensive and have my design be Considered. I want every way you – my potential customer – touch and encounter Mummy’s Muse to be consistent. Consistent and on brand. It’s important because, just like in real life, you feel like you know and trust someone who is consistent. You feel comfortable around people who are the same at home, at work and when they’re out socialising. This is what I want for Mummy’s Muse. I want to create a brand that people fall in love with.

So what’s the next step?

I’m currently in the process of talking to designers. I can already tell I’m on another of those steep learning curves. I’m trying to find someone who gets what I’m trying to do with design, while I don’t fully grasp it myself. I’m trying my hardest not to be an annoying client. Another consideration is how much should I pay? As you all know, Mama hasn’t sold a single garment yet (laugh-sigh). I’m willing to invest in things that will grow Mummy’s Muse however, even if you can pay for it, the question is should you pay for it. So I’m in the process of engaging with different designers. Some of them that are out of my budget, I’ll definitely bookmark. When we’re in the big leagues, hopefully I can come back and engage them. In the meantime look out for some design upgrades.