When you have deadlines it's easy to get ahead of yourself and lose site of the important things. Think about it. If your branding sheet says you should use Arial Narrow for all text bodies and you're in a huge hurry to send a flier to the printer it is very likely you will skip the branding sheet and just use whatever Microsoft Work gives you by default. Probably Calibri or Times New Roman. But just because Calibri is a sans-serif font like Arial Narrow does not mean the two are the same.
Fonts convey different feelings. Arial Narrow the colors and images you've used might convey efficiency because you are trying to save space. Calibri doesn't do this. This changes how your brand is perceived by your customers.
If you have a brand sheet, follow it. :-) Yes, it takes a little extra time but it is a necessary evil to make sure you are seen exactly how you want to be seen. The tiniest things make the biggest differences.
Now let's address trying different things. We'll assume you don't have a brand sheet at this point and are toying with ideas yourself. First of all, DON'T TRY OUT YOUR IDEAS ON THE PUBLIC. This is the worse things you can do. Right off it shows people that you are not only inconsistant but they may begin to think you are disorganized or rushed. Find something you kind-of-like and stick with it.
Now that we've convinced you not yo try things on the public we can tell you to try it on everyone else. Print a few things and hand them to different people you know: family, friends, co-workers. You may also try it on Facebook. Ask them how each material makes them feel. Ask for their ideas and truly listen.
We hope you can take this knowledge and help out your own image. (Yes, we are about to plug ourselves.) We would be happy to help. Our branding services cover what fonts you should use on everything, which version of your logo to use, colors for specific situations, kinds of images/photos that are okay to use.
Give us a call: 405-227-0393 !
