November 16, 2021
All day long we make snap judgements. It is human nature to be quick to judge everything - from other people to advertisements. Our senses are always being bombarded with external influences, and eventually we begin to develop a taste for certain visuals, colors, patterns, and aesthetics over others.
This also means that we begin to tune out what we don’t like.
It takes about 50 milliseconds (ms) (that’s 0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your brand, and that snap judgement is made solely on your brand’s style and aesthetic. This includes your logo, the fonts and colors you use, the imagery you select. If people like what they see, they continue scrolling. If they don’t like what they see, they’re on to the next tour and activity.
When was the last time your brand had a makeover or refresh? Even iconic brands change their look over time, as society’s tastes are always shifting and evolving. Everything goes in and out of style just like fashion and home décor. Certain font styles have ‘moments’ and so do photography filters. This can make it difficult to create a timeless brand aesthetic, but not impossible. Here are some steps you can take to begin the process of upgrading your brand’s visual appeal.
Maybe you’ve been in business a long time and have never changed your look. Are you getting tired of certain elements that you use to market your tour? If you’re tired, that’s a good sign it’s time for a refresh. Take notice and even make a list of the elements you’re no longer in love with. Are you bored with your logo? Are there certain colors in your palette that no longer light you up? Consider this your permission slip to change things up.
Having a good eye for design starts with looking around you. What are YOU drawn to when it comes to colors, patterns, fonts, photography styles? You brand is, after all, an expression of you and your passions. Create a Pinterest board of design elements that you’re drawn to. It doesn’t matter if they’re related to the tour you offer – go ahead and curate design elements from different industries.
Pretty soon when you’ve collected enough elements, you should start to notice patterns. Are the fonts you collecting mostly elegant hand-written cursive or bold chunky sans-serif? Are the photographs you’re collecting brightly colored or more faded and vintage-feeling? Are there certain patterns or shapes that show up again and again? Take note of everything that stands out to you visually.
Now that you are starting to understand your own design preferences, you can begin to weed out the ones that you feel like don’t belong in your business. For example, if you want your brand to come off as whimsical & playful, but some of your design elements are a bit dark & edgy, take note of that. This is an important step for reconciling your own preferences and personality with the way you want your brand to appear to others.
Once you’ve gotten clear on the design elements that you love that you feel represent your brand’s personality, you’ll want to create a set of brand guidelines. These are guidelines for internal marketing use, but they also help when you’re working with a logo or website designer. Brand guidelines include your color palette, font selection, pattern elements, and more. Here are 30 brand guideline examples to inspire you!
Oftentimes as business owners, we can get caught up in getting design perfect, and wanting to make everyone happy with our logo or website. The most important thing is to make sure that your design is expression of your brand’s values, purpose, and personality. Trying to chase after design trends, copying another business’s design, or settling for some generic look will only harm you.
Our best advice to start would be to use the brand archetypes to home in on your tour’s unique personality. Knowing your archetypes as you’re curating your tour’s aesthetic will help you align your brand’s look to what you desire your look to communicate to prospective visitors & guests.
If you’re ready for a refresh that not only looks great but also makes the booking process easy for you & your guests, we have an exciting new service to share with you. Our website design for tour & charter operators integrates with Junglebee booking software in the most attractive and interactive way possible. We will build you an optimized website in just 10 days with the latest SEO capabilities and beautiful multimedia. We even host it for you, so that you don’t have to worry about security and maintenance. Get started today!
