In order for your content to be successful, it’s important that it be on brand. This means that it should have brand consistency in visuals and style, as well as in voice and tone.
Brand consistency is the practice of always delivering messages that are in line with your brand values, that are familiar to your audience, and that are recognizable as your brand.
This helps build brand recognition, trust, and loyalty. It also helps you stand out from the competition.
In this blog post, we’ll go over some best practices for creating brand consistency in visuals.
1. Choose a color scheme that represents your brand
Color schemes are a great way to convey your brand’s personality in visuals. You can use color schemes to set the tone for your brand, express your brand’s values, or even communicate what your brand is all about. If you’re managing visuals across multiple platforms and want to ensure design consistency in scheduling tools, consider using tools like Hootsuite.
Take the time to think about what colors represent your brand and how you can use them to create a cohesive visual identity. If you’re not sure where to start, you can use a color scheme generator to get some inspiration.
2. Create a brand style guide
A brand style guide is a document that outlines the design elements of your brand. It’s a reference point that everyone on your marketing and design team can use to ensure that your visual content is consistent.
Your brand style guide should include:
• Logo usage: Examples of how your logo should and should not be used
• Color palette: The colors that represent your brand and their hex codes
• Typography: The fonts you use in your brand and how they should be used
• Imagery: The types of images that should be used in your visual content and how they should be styled
• Iconography: The icons you use in your design and how they should be styled
• Design elements: Other design elements that are often used in your content, such as shapes or patterns
Your brand style guide can be as simple as a one-page document or as complex as a 50-page document. The most important thing is that it is easy to access and that everyone on your team knows how to use it.
3. Use the same photo filters
Photo filters are a quick and easy way to ensure your visuals have a consistent look and feel. You can use filters to adjust things like brightness, contrast, and color balance to make sure your images look like they belong together.
When choosing a filter, think about what kind of mood or emotion you want your image to convey. For example, if you want your visuals to feel warm and inviting, you might use a filter that adds a little bit of orange or yellow to the color balance. If you want your visuals to feel cool and calming, you might use a filter that adds a little bit of blue or green.
You can also create your own custom filters in a program like Photoshop and save them to use on all of your images. This is a great way to ensure that your visuals have a consistent look and feel, no matter what kind of image you’re working with.
4. Create graphics and icons in your brand’s style
Not every graphic or icon in your visual content has to be custom-designed, but it should reflect your brand’s style.
If you’re using stock icons or free graphics, try to find ones that match your brand’s color scheme and style. For example, if you have a retro brand, you’ll want to use graphics that have a vintage look and feel.
If you’re creating custom graphics using AI image prompts, you’ll want to make sure they’re consistent with your brand’s style. Use the same fonts, colors, and design elements that you use in the rest of your visual content.
You can also create a library of custom graphics and icons that you can use in your visual content. This will help you save time and ensure that all of your graphics and icons are consistent with your brand.
5. Use the same fonts
Fonts are an important part of your brand’s visual identity. They can help you communicate your brand’s personality and values, and they can also help you establish a sense of visual consistency across different platforms and mediums.
When using fonts in your visuals, it’s important to stick to just one or two different typefaces. Using too many different fonts can make your visuals look cluttered and unprofessional.
To create a sense of visual consistency, choose one font for your body text and one font for your headers and sub-headers. Then, use these fonts consistently across all of your visuals.
If you’re having trouble choosing fonts for your brand, you can use a tool like Fontjoy to help you find font pairings that work well together. You can also use resources like Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts to find free and paid fonts for your brand.
6. Create a consistent posting schedule
The more frequently you post, the more important it is to maintain a consistent look and feel. But even if you’re only posting once a week, you’ll still want to make sure your content looks and feels like it’s coming from the same place.
In addition to the quality of your posts, you’ll also want to think about the timing and frequency of your posts. Try to post at least once a day, and make sure to vary the times you post. This will help you reach a wider audience and keep your content from feeling stale.
7. Create a brand voice
Your brand voice is how your company communicates with the world. It’s the language you use in your content, the words you use to describe your products or services, and the tone you take in your messaging. You can also extend that voice through referral programs — tools like ReferralCandy make it easy to encourage happy customers to share your brand with their networks. By keeping referral messaging and visuals aligned with your brand identity, you ensure that even word-of-mouth promotion feels consistent.
Your brand voice should be consistent across all of your marketing materials, and that includes your visual content. Just like with your brand colors and fonts, it’s a good idea to create a set of guidelines for your brand voice. Incorporating employee voice into this process can also strengthen authenticity, as employees often reflect and reinforce the brand in their own interactions.
8. Use your logo in your posts
Make sure your logo is visible in your social media posts, but don’t let it be the main focus. Instead, your logo should be used to help your audience quickly identify who the post is from.
In the example above, the logo is clearly visible and lets the viewer know that this is a post from the cold email platform, Mailchimp. But, it doesn’t take away from the main focus of the image, which is the headline and the illustration.
9. Use the same photo composition
Photo composition is the arrangement of visual elements in a photo. It’s how a photographer or designer decides to place the subject, the background, and other objects in the photo.
Composition can also refer to the way a photo is cropped, or how the camera is angled when the photo is taken.
Some brands use composition to create visual consistency by always using similar photography styles.
For example, many lifestyle brands use the rule of thirds to create visual interest in their photos. The rule of thirds is a photography principle that divides a photo into nine equal parts, and then places the subject of the photo at the intersection of those lines.
In the photo below, you can see the rule of thirds in action. The photo is divided into nine equal parts, and the woman’s eyes are placed at one of the intersection points.
You can also use composition to create visual consistency across your photos. For example, you could use the same color scheme, or place your subject in the same part of the photo.
In the example below, you can see how the photographer used a consistent color scheme to create visual consistency.
10. Use the same color palette in your photos
Color is an important part of your brand’s visual identity. The colors you use in your photos can evoke different emotions and associations in your audience.
To maintain a consistent visual brand, use the same color palette in your photos. If you’re not sure which colors to use, you can start by looking at your logo and website design.
Choose a few colors that are used prominently and then use them in your photos. You can also use a tool like Adobe Color to create a custom color palette for your brand.
11. Keep your bio and profile photo consistent
Social media is one of the most important places for your brand to have a consistent visual identity.
That goes beyond just your posts. When someone clicks on your profile, they should be able to get a sense of your brand just by looking at your profile picture and reading your bio.
Your bio should be clear, concise, and representative of your brand. You can also use emojis to break up text and add some personality.
For your profile picture, you should use a high-quality version of your logo. Make sure it’s centered and not too small. If your logo is a horizontal shape, you can add a colored background to make it a square.
Conclusion
Brand consistency is key to building a strong brand that’s easily recognizable to consumers. To achieve brand consistency, you should begin by creating a brand style guide that outlines your brand’s visual identity. Then, use the best practices above to ensure that your visuals align with your brand’s identity across every piece of content you create.