How to create a Pinterest board for your brand

Help show your designer what you thinking when it comes to your new logo and branding.

Step away from your Google Images search and take a few minutes to learn a fun (and super easy) way to do some “visual brainstorming” for your brand.

Pinterest.

It’s a social media image sharing app, that kind of works like a digital scrapbook. Allowing you to keep all of your ideas and inspiration together in the one place.

Perfect if you’re looking for brand design ideas for your business.

Creating a Pinterest board dedicated to your new brand is also a great way to help to show your designer what you’re “thinking”.  …Because your idea of a “quirky pink bike” (for example), might be completely different to what pops into your designers head.

(AND it’s something this designer recommends all of her new branding clients do when it comes to the briefing process.)

Before you get started

Be sure to work on your brand strategy, before you start searching.

“Brand Strategy” is basically just a plan to help you uncover what your brand should look, feel and sound like. And the information in your plan is going to assist you in your search.

You need to:

• Understand the Purpose of your business (So you can search for imagery relevant to your purpose and your industry)
• Know Your Values (So you can search for images that show your business values)
• Uncover Your Personality  (So you can search for images that show your business personality)
• Learn more about Your Target audience (So you can search for imagery that’s going to grab their attention and appeal to them)
• Know your competition (So you can search for images that are different to them)

What to search for – and what to add to your Pinterest Board

Here’s where the fun bit starts! There are a few different searches I recommend you run, but be sure to give yourself time to compile your visuals as you’ll find new ideas may come to you over time.

1. Brand elements and industry

Your brand is going to have lots of different elements. It’s not just a logo. It encompasses colours, font styles, photography, graphics and more, so be sure to include them in your Pinterest search.

Search for things like:

• • logos
  • branding
  • colour palettes
  • styles
  • fonts and typography
  • imagery
  • illustration
  • aesthetic
  • design styles
  • illustrations
  • photography

And because you’re wanting to find relevant imagery for your Pinterest board, include words that describe your industry too.

For example, if you’re an art teacher for kids, search up “art teaching branding”, “art school logos”, “artist brand imagery” & “children’s branding”.

 Scroll through the results and save images you think might work well for your brand.

 2. Brand Personality

Next have a think about your brands personality. “Brand personality” relates to the human traits and characteristics we give to a brand. People buy from businesses they can relate to, so it’s important to show who you are in your branding.

Think of at least five words to describe your business. Eg. fun, energetic, youthful, quirky, educational.

Pair them with the brand elements listed above and use search terms like, for example: “fun colour palettes”, “energetic fonts”, “youthful aesthetic”, “quirky branding”.

Pin anything that stands out to you in the search.

3. Values

Think about the core values within your business. What makes your business different? Is there something special you want your business to be known for?

Show it in your branding.

 If your business embraces good old fashioned service and quality products, use those values in your search to see what style and imagery represents that. For Example. “old fashioned aesthetic” or “colour pallets that represent quality”.

 Think of synonyms for those values and include those words too.

 4. Target Audience

The last thing I recommend when searching for images is to think about your target audience or ideal client when pinning images to your board.

What feelings would you like people to have when they see your brand? How do you want your customers to feel when they use your product or service? And more importantly what sort of imagery is going to grab their attention and appeal to them.

If you’re a female marketing and mindset coach with a target audience of 26 to 35-year-old women, you might want them to feel supported, encouraged and confident when using your services.

So you would search for “supportive brands”, “encouraging Imagery” and “confident colour palettes”.

Learn more on how to identify your target audience here

Finally, you need to review and finalise your board.

• Ensure there’s consistency with styles you have pinned (rather than a mish mash of different styles). This will ensure both you and your designer have a clear understanding of you brand direction.
• Make sure you haven’t added too may pins (I recommend no more than 40).
• Remove any pins that aren’t relevant, or that you’re not loving.
• Add comments on your pins, saying what you do and don’t like about the image and why you pinned it.
• Be open to feedback. A good designer will let you know if the style you’re thinking needs tweaking before they get started – and offer suggestions.

Branding or rebranding your business is an exciting time, and creating the visuals is the best part! So enjoy the process and have fun with it.