How to create a timeless brand

How to Create a Timeless Online Brand the Right Way

Creating a timeless online brand is a big goal for many Entrepreneurs. It has a lot to with the aesthetic of your branding, but it does go deeper than that. Think about the aesthetic as the gateway.

With your branding; the logo, fonts, colours and key message, you are creating a feeling too.

Creating a feeling with your brand helps it to become memorable, successful, and to stand the test of time.

When we talk about creating a feeling, your first thought might be about the adverts you see on TV.

While these are a great example of evoking emotion with a brand, they are not the only route to market. So much of how your brand makes people feel is in the simpler, less costly things, like the design of your logo and your tone of voice.

Here are a few important points to consider when creating your own timeless online brand.

Keep your brand design clean and simple

Have you ever noticed how certain fonts become trendy for a while? These things tend to go out of fashion almost as quickly as they come in.

So I want to start by steering you away from trends or fads in design. Instead, I want to encourage you to stay simple when picking fonts for your branding.

Do you remember the early incarnations of the Airbnb logo? If you can’t then I recommend Google searching and taking a look, just to illustrate this point. The first two logos dated horribly, with the 2008 text in a bubble writing font.

If you search for examples of bad branding, another that comes up often in Bing. Their logo is considered unappealing mostly due to the wide font, and the colours don’t help either.

The best branding, that has truly stood the test of time over decades, is simple.

Think about Apple, Coca-Cola, Google and McDonald’s. Each of them have evolved their logos and general appearance over the years, but never drastically. Small changes have been made to keep up with the world – but these basic logo shapes and designs are timeless.

When you are designing your own logo, think about the brands that inspire you. What do you like about their aesthetic?

Is there any aspect of your brand that could date badly, like a trendy font or colour that might go out of fashion? Consider switching this out for something simpler.

You can test out logos for free using an online tool like LogoCreator. If you want to compare colors and shades against each other, you might like the Color Mind tool. Or outsource your logo design to a trusted design partner.

Use colour psychology in your branding

Research has found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about products can be based on colour alone. Considering how important colour psychology is considered to be in marketing – let’s make sure we approach choosing our brand colours wisely too.

What do you want your brand to say about your business?

  • Are you dependable?
  • Are you positive and fun?
  • Are you a serious choice for serious people?

If you search Google you will find listicles and infographics that give you a surface level overview of what each colour means to people. But keep in mind that this is very general, and doesn’t account for personal tastes or cultural differences.

Consider what you like and feel good about personally, and then how that might compare with the rest of your industry. It may also be wise to ask your audience if they feel your branding is appropriate for what your business does.

Again, this is a place to avoid fads or trends and stick with the classics. This is how your branding stands the test of time. 

When brands get this wrong, like Airbnb, they have to rebrand. A bigger name, like Airbnb can get away with this. But for a smaller business, rebranding several times can have more of a negative impact.

Branding is there partly to make you memorable, and to keep changing harms that. Get it right sooner by polling your existing clients to see what they think and feel about your company’s brand.

Focus on how you make people feel

A final point that I really wanted to share, is to consider how your brand makes people feel.

Again, think of those big, timeless brands. They all give you a feeling of one kind or another. This is by design, as emotions help us to remember, and brands succeed by staying memorable.

To stand the test of time, work on giving your customer a good feeling or vibe. And again, it’s about finding what’s appropriate to your business.

For example, if you offer a financial service of some kind, then you are most likely to want to invoke a warm feeling of security and trust. Barclays Bank does an amazing job of using emotion in their advertising.

For a completely different example, Money Supermarket do an excellent job of making us want to use them, because they make us laugh. 

When you look at their branding, you will see they haven’t gone for the traditional green of the financial advice services industry. But their purple works for them, as they have a fun yet reliable brand. So as mentioned above, choosing your brand palette is about finding what feels right for you.

To conclude, here are those 3 main points to remember when building your own timeless brand.

  • Clean and simple aesthetics are timeless. Avoid fads and trends, and stick to what never goes out of fashion – simplicity.
  • Remember to use colour psychology, but not too rigidly. Just because your company offers a financial service, doesn’t mean your branding has to be green. Consider what you want your brand colour to tell people about you. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback on this.
  • Focus on feelings, as emotion makes you memorable. Is there room for a little humour in your brand? How about warm and fuzzy vibes?

As long as the emotion is positive and appropriate for your services, you can’t go far wrong. People mostly gravitate to brands that they feel a connection to, and that they trust.

So focus on building a connection with your branding. If you are providing something of value then trust will always follow.

All these things combined will help you to build that timeless brand.

Remember, once you have your vision, you can always outsource this to a trusted professional!

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