16/12/2022
Just broken through the Branding Audit Week 💪 that we’ve organized together with Startin.LV startup association. We took 7 startups, reviewed their positioning, competitors & visual assets, and came up with ready-to-make steps to improve their visual communication. All that in the form of a one-hour consultation & written recommendations.
We are so grateful to all of those who applied, and to Startin.LV for co-hosting this. We bet it was a never-stop-learning experience for all of us.
Each startup is a unique universe, each stage deserves an individual input, but here are a few basics for the very beginning of a startup journey.
🧐Inconsistency
Shifting priorities to anything but branding, many have a kaleidoscope of different visual materials put together by different designers and founders themselves. All in all it makes a lot of unnecessary noise, weakening the communication.
😎Tips: if you don’t have an opportunity to invest in branding in the early stages, go for less: one main color, one font, ready-made templates, one set of icons or illustrations, and quality content (good pictures and video-materials). You’ll define your visual personality later on as soon as you're ready to invest a sufficient amount of time, effort and budget into it. Before that, better be shy and neat. Let your idea shine in a neutrally pleasant environment.
🧐Poor storytelling.
Saying too much about the product, and not enough of what the user needs to hear. In a few cases it took us a while to understand what the product or service stood behind, or why we would need it. And you can easily see when things got piled up along the way, together with the product updates.
😎Tips: That’s what the user wants to see on the main page in the most understandable way possible: what is it? / why do I need it? / key USPs / social proof / supporting images / where can i learn more if i need to? / call to action. That’s it for the main page. Keep messages short and senseful, use graphics only if it adds up value to the message, give the details later on the road. And if you add smth later on (new feature f.e.), make sure it fits nicely into the whole storyline.
🧐Poor pitch deck.
Perhaps, a good idea will still break through, but neat design will give you a few extra points. It’s very human. Every detail in design, text, pictures, spacing, size, matters. All these details affect and direct users' attention. They can make you unnecessarily overwhelmed or completely bored. Neglecting their effect can cost you success on the pitch. Good design, on the contrary, can give your audience a feeling of comfort, energize them, make them feel safe and eager to say YES.
😎Tips: Pick a ready-made template with your dominant color, stick to it, try not to move things around too much, change sizes or fonts, use the given text+pic compositions. Or find a way to get a designer to work on your pitch deck. We bet you are good at what you are pitching about, so, why spoil it with poor performance? Let those who are good in visual communication have your back.
We’ve got great reviews from participants 👍and branding audits will definitely stay on our menu. Feel free to apply, if you are struggling with visual communication.
