Building trust and authority through intentional branding and logo design for your life coaching business.
When starting her life coaching business, Michelle Jackson was determined to avoid the common pitfall of many new coaches: a disjointed brand identity that looks, in her words, “duct-taped together”. Her primary goal in working with The Creative Accent was to achieve a cohesive, buttoned-up brand design that would establish her position as a trustworthy professional, while also feeling warm and friendly.
Building on the initial branding, our collaboration grew to include a Kajabi website, email workflow, and on-brand collateral such as social media and pitch deck templates. Come explore the ins and outs of our design process and this comprehensive branding endeavor for YouAnew life coaching.
01. The Brand Strategy
Defining the moodboard and color palette
Before diving head first into design, the first step was to define a clear brand strategy. Even if you choose to DIY your branding and logo design, you should do this first!
Defining the brand strategy first allowed us to easily outline the creative direction in the form of a moodboard. Color psychology came into play as we carefully selected the right color palette for Michelle’s brand. The idea behind this essential part of the design process is to narrow down the 3-4 keywords that should represent the brand.
For YouAnew, the keywords were Balanced, Thriving, Inviting, and Reliable.
“An exceptional brand partner who captured the unique essence of my business. Carrie has a wonderful creative eye and selected fresh, modern colors that perfectly fit my brand.” – Michelle
02. Branding and Logo Design
Designing the logo suite and brand assets
Next, we set out to create the branding and logo design suite for YouAnew. Opting for a speedy turnaround, Michelle was enamoured by the fun, engaging qualities of this semi-custom brand kit.
Rather than focusing on a single logo, we created a flexible, dynamic logo suite. The full branding package included:
- Main Logo Design
- Alternate Logo & Submark
- Brand Color Palette
- Typography Hierarchy
- Brand Textures & Patterns
- Icon Set
- Style Guidelines Pdf
When designing the main logo, we look for elements that can build on each other, working together as well as separate. Here’s a breakdown of the design process and resulting logo anatomy:
The Logo Wordmark
The YouAnew logo includes a bold, modern serif font that balances strength with femininity. This is important because Michelle’s ideal clients are mostly ambitious, go-getter women climbing the corporate ladder. The thickness of the lettering conveys strength, while the subtle rounded corners on certain letters add a softness that keeps the brand slightly feminine and approachable.
The Brand Symbol
The brand symbol is an element that is woven into the main logo, but can also stand on its own once you reach a high level of brand recognition (think Nike swoosh or McDonald’s arches). As a life coach for professional women, Michelle’s brand symbol alludes to the many moving part of trying to maintain work life balance. The open squares add a sense of movement and innovation.
The Tagline
The main logo usually includes a short tagline that clearly communicates what you do or some differentiating quality that sets you apart in the market. For YouAnew, we chose a clean, sans serif font to complement the more intricate style of the wordmark.
03. Kajabi Website Design & Copywriting
Website goals
While Showit is hands-down our website platform of choice (read this article for some of the many reasons why we love it so much), on occasion we’ll have requests from brand design clients to design on other platforms. Call it a virtue or a vice, but we tend to love a challenge here at The Creative Accent.
Drawn to Kajabi for their all-in-one features, Michelle wanted a clean, organized online hub to start growing her life coaching business. Her primary website goals were to a) build brand awareness through blogs and educational content, b) grow her email list, and c) generate leads for her 1:1 and group coaching programs. The website design package included:
- Custom Kajabi Website
- Landing Page Design
- Copywriting and SEO Research
- Design and implement email workflow for lead magnet
04. On-Brand Canva Templates
Keep your branding cohesive across all marketing platforms
Finally, we finished up the project with a set of on-brand templates to help Michelle keep her branding consistent across multiple platforms. Whether it’s a webinar presentation, a business card, or an Instagram post, keeping your branding cohesive shows your professionalism and helps build trust with your audience. These Canva templates for YouAnew included:
- Instagram post and story layouts
- Business card design
- Letterhead design
- 30-page pitch deck
- Email banner layouts
Ready for the done-for-you branding solution that will turn the ideas in your head into reality?
Here at The Creative Accent, we believe that intentional brand design is in the subtle nuances that will set you apart and position your business strategically. Explore our Signature Design Solutions and our Semi-Custom Brand Kits and get inspired for your new brand identity!
