EP17. Working with a Designer on Branding your Beauty Business

Hello and welcome to the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you want to find out more about our award winning online organic and cosmetic science courses, then head over to formulabotanica.com and check out our free sample class. In this episode, I interview Nancy from Align Design where she shares information all about branding and how to figure out your brand identity. Enjoy. Hello and welcome.

Nancy, hello.

We're thrilled to have you as a guest. And I know that we've had quite a few different chats before the podcast recording, and one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you for our branding series is that you've worked with quite a few different beauty entrepreneurs. So I thought we could start with you just giving us an introduction to yourself and your background.

Yes, well, I haven't always been a designer. Actually. It's something that I came to slightly later on. I used to do event management and publishing, but somehow in those jobs I always ended up being the designer in the team, probably because I kind of managed to elbow my way into doing it whenever there was something that needed designing. So I decided to go freelance about four years ago and it's been, it's grown hugely actually, from that point to the point where I'm able to work with the kind of niche businesses that I really enjoy, one of which is beauty and skincare. It's something I really, really love designing for. And also probably because I'm a beauty addict myself, that's something that I kind of feel like I've got an affiliation with Happy browsing round Space NK or House of Fraser for hours looking at packaging, and so it's sort of a natural fit for me.

So you have an interest in beauty, but did you start off sort of wanting to work with beauty brands or did that sort of just happen organically? Did they just start coming?

Yeah, I think it just started happening organically. I think actually my first Skincare Skills skincare client approached me after a talk I did for a group of small businesses on general branding. And she said to me, you know, I'm formulating some skincare with specific ingredients and I really want it to have a beautiful brand to launch. And it was just a really great fit. And that particular project flowed really well, probably because I'm familiar with that industry anyway. And I just. When you're really enthusiastic about something, the creative ideas tend to flow easily. So that was the first one I did. And then obviously because that was in my portfolio, I was able to show it to other beauty businesses and, you know, then they can then see that it's the style that suits them or if it doesn't, and then it kind of grew from there. Great.

So you designed a fabulous workbook for us that you will all be able to download in the show notes of this podcast. So I just wanted to start to talk a little bit about branding and why you felt or why branding does matter.

Yeah, it's a really huge area, actually, branding. And sometimes when you use that word, it's not necessarily clear exactly what branding is all about. But I tend to think of it as about the visual impact that your product or your business makes. And I think it's really important to have something consistent so that when you, however your business appears, whether it's in a shop or it's on an advert or on social media, if you have a recognisable image, then every time somebody sees that, they recognize you, it's that recognition, equal repetition equals recognition. So that's one of the reasons, I think that it's. It's really important, I think as well, particularly with beauty, there are lots and lots of different products out there and lots of different companies making products. And I think if you have a distinct identity that differentiates you from others in the market and puts across what's different about your business or your ingredients or your approach, it makes it a lot easier for customers to choose you. They're not having to kind of scour the ingredients or all of that kind of thing. They're kind of, oh, I like that. That looks like something that I would. Would want to buy. That's for me. And it's quite a snap decision to pick that up off the shelf. And that's where branding can be really powerful, I think. Yeah. And I think as well, it's also about elevating the image. I think when you start out, perhaps if you're selling new products on a market, store, for example, to start out, which is a really brilliant way to start. I'm sure a lovely polished brand could then help elevate that. To, say, being stocked in a retail shop or online or somewhere, it's taking it from one level to another, which I think is also really powerful. Yeah.

And so what do you think are the ingredients of a brand identity?

Yeah, so this is kind of going back to what is branding all about. I think for me it includes more than just the visuals. But from my business does is work on the visual identity. So I would say some of the ingredients are the logo. Obviously. I think a logo is a central part of the brand, but it's definitely not the whole thing. And certainly I advocate simple, clean logos and not trying to pack every message into the logo because it kind of dilutes it. So it's thinking about everything around that. So what colors you use, having a consistent color palette, what typography you use, also making sure you use that all the time. Whatever you're doing. Photography is really good in terms of products, because the way you photograph your products and the sort of scenes that you set behind it, if that's all part of your brand as well, that could be really powerful. I think if you think about the big companies, they often have a photography style that they use that becomes part of the recognisable brand. Can also be things like illustrations, if that's appropriate, or icons and patterns. Just all the visual ingredients that come together and then that makes your brand.

Yeah. So give us some examples of like, sort of photo styles and things that are sort of popular right now or that you see trending.

Yeah, I mean, I think the last few years there's been a lot of kind of, I suppose, millennial pink, pastel gold calligraphy, those sorts of things going on, which can work really well. And I think also you have to be careful not to follow a trend too closely, because one, you can disappear into it and two, it might date and then you find yourself a bit behind. So I think it's good to have something original and a little bit classic so it doesn't fall into that. Yeah, so that's definitely been a trend that's been going on. Something else I've noticed as well is a really, really minimal trend with packaging, particularly not so much the photography styles, but packaging and branding. There's been this kind of really black and white, simple label on a brown bottle look, which I absolutely love, but because I'm seeing it more and more, I'm starting to think. I don't know if that necessarily on its own is different enough. Yeah, I suppose it's.

Yeah, it's sort of inspired by the Scandinavian kind of.

Yeah.

Kind of look.

And like you say, if you get too many.

Yeah.

Then how do you know? How does that differentiate you?

Yeah, that's right. And it might just be about putting a twist on it. So you can definitely go for that look, but maybe add a twist, like an illustration of something or a pop of colour, I suppose.

Keith, do brands come to you wanting to use illustration? Is that quite popular?

Yeah, actually, sometimes it could be like an illustration of an ingredient. It could be a botanical pattern. A particular client of mine rose from Flora and Curl. She makes gorgeous products for curly hair and she's used like a botanical kind of jungle pattern as the background of hers and then paired it with really simple typography. So it's really lovely. It's not too busy. So that's really lovely. A really lovely combination. Yeah. Sometimes illustration is a good fit. Sometimes people prefer to keep it minimal or they might want to use something a bit more abstract, like a paint splash or, you know, a splash or some watercolor or. There's so many possibilities. And I tend to do two to three different concepts for packaging. So explore a few different looks before we pick, you know, a final one.

So what do people need to start. Need to think about when they're starting to create their brand?

Yeah. So I think that workbook is going to be really useful that people and download after this. It's got some questions to get you thinking. I think for me it's about stepping back a bit. So rather than going straight onto Pinterest and going, oh, I like that, I like that. Like that, which can get really confusing and you end up with a mishmash of stuff, it's going back to the start. Okay, so, you know, even almost, why am I doing this? You know, why. Why have I chosen to do this business and what is it about it that I'm so passionate about? Because often that's the key to kind of what makes you special, I think. What's different about the products that you're producing? Why, if you're particularly keen on natural ingredients, why is that? What, is there something special that you're using that other companies don't? Things like that? It's about kind of teasing out the differences which might be so obvious to you that you're not even thinking about them. And then once you've asked yourself that question, you can really start to tune into what a customer who doesn't know your business would want to know. And then the next step, obviously, is translating that into visuals so that it's a nice, clear message. Yeah.

I mean, you've got some really interesting brand discovery questions in this workbook, and.

One of them is, who are your.

Competitors and what do you do differently to them? I mean, why do you think it's important for a brand to have a.

Look at their competitors? I think there's a couple of aspects to that. One is to see what they're doing really well, if they're successful, what are they doing well and why is that working? And that's not to say that you're going to go ahead and copy them, because that wouldn't work anyway. But it's identifying strengths that perhaps your company also has or equally what are they doing that you're doing better? There might be something that you're doing better that again, you're so close up to that you haven't really identified it. It might be that you're, I don't know, the base ingredients that you're using a particularly form fine quality, or it might something to do with the lifestyle or the type of customer that you're aiming at, whether it's, you know, people with specific skin conditions or something like that. And I think that could be a good benchmark to look at the competitors who are in your. Whether it's in your price bracket or the types of products that you're doing, whether it's, you know, organic or whatever, and see where you sit. Because that will also help you think about the price point, which is another difficult issue. If your competitor is l', Oreal, what are their prices? What do they charge for moisturiser or, you know, and can you justify going above that because there's something different that you're offering? So, yeah, there's a lot to think about, I guess. But it doesn't have to be over complicated. Yeah.

And I suppose it can really help you maybe even discover your niche a little bit if you're able to pull out. I mean, does that. Do those sorts of things all help you as a designer working with a brand?

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, this, the workbook is actually sort of, for me, mini version of what I give to my clients when I start working with them, because I always do some discovery work before we start designing anything. It's really. Yeah, it's hard to just go in and go, this is a design if you don't know the background. So I tend to get quite nosy and really find out about the background. And particularly with beauty businesses, you know, the ingredients, the formulation and all of that sort of thing. So that when it comes to starting to do design, you've already done a.

Lot of the work.

You already know what it doesn't need to look like, which is half the battle.

Yeah, it's an interesting way of doing it, I suppose.

Yeah.

If you eliminate what it doesn't need to look like, then pull out things that. Yeah, that maybe it does. I mean. Yeah, I mean, I found the workbook questions really interesting.

Oh, good.

I think that it will make you. You have a lot to think about. And then I suppose if someone is then working with you or designer, they're going to have to potentially come up against some challenges of some of the things they put down. So, for instance, like questions about retailers, for instance. Because if someone, I guess, has put down their ideal retailers, I don't know, Sainsbury's or Tesco, and then you work through all the other questions and you figure, I don't know.

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I mean, actually, some of the questions are designed to challenge you a bit, but that's a good thing because I think, again, it's coming back to just taking that bit of distance between what you think is going to be the right branding and actually what should it be like? And it does take a little bit of going around and about and challenging some of the things you already thought. Certainly when I was coming up with the branding for my own business, it wasn't easy. Definitely wasn't easy. Even though I do it all the time for other people. Because you're so close to your own business, the answers aren't always obvious. But it's worth the work because when you've done that background work, it's like you say, it's coming back to that idea of a niche. And the more you're willing to focus on a niche, the more powerful your brand will be. So it can be quite challenging to say, okay, I'm narrowing down my target market to this group of people, because then you feel like you're saying no to another group of people. But that's where the power is because it's almost like building your tribe. And that's certainly, with this kind of business that can be really, you know, a lot of my clients use Instagram and have huge followings on there of people who absolutely love their products and they're part of the tribe because, yeah, I'm loyal, I love this brand. And okay, so they might be aiming at, say, I'm just seeing a particular client who makes products for afro and curly hair and they have an enormous tribe. It might not suit, you know, X, Y, Z person, but they do have. Are so devoted and will shout about their products that it really doesn't matter that it necessarily appeals to, you know, everybody.

Yeah, yeah. I suppose that's an interesting thing because I suppose we think of a niche as something quite small, but the world has got 7 billion people, so you could actually have a lot of people. So I suppose, yeah, we shouldn't be afraid of considering, well, not deliberately shutting people out, but saying, well, I'm going to target my branding or to this, you know, group or Demographic of people.

Yeah, I definitely advocate that. And like I say, I know it's not an easy thing to do because when you're starting out, you think, well, I need to appeal to as many people as possible. And if, like, you're limiting yourself, but actually, there is an awful lot of power in that because you don't. You don't need to appeal to everybody. You don't need to hit 6 billion people with your. So, yeah, I think it's just a case of questioning those and not getting too stressed about it.

Yeah, I suppose this, the branding, the packaging, finding your niche, finding your target audience and. Or target customer. You know, it's probably one of the things that I think our community feels really stressful about because. Or stressed because it's questions that we get asked all the time in relation to branding, and it's why we wanted to do a podcast series on it. I think, you know, if we can try and take the stress out a little bit, then that would be nice.

Yeah. With things that feel stressful, sometimes it's because you don't really know where to start. And if you've got a system or a process to work through, then it makes it a lot easier. So, you know, having specific questions to look at. And I also really advocate doing mood boards, Pinterest boards and that kind of thing. If you. Actually, I think that takes the stress out of it because you started to see, oh, actually, okay, now I can see where I'm going, and I can see that my brand needs to look, I don't know, minimal and modern or I need. I can see it needs to look natural and organic or, you know, you start to get a sense of it and then it gets kind of exciting and fun.

So that leads me on to my next question. Can you design your brand identity yourself?

I think there's a lot that you can do yourself, but I think there are some things that it's advisable if you've got the budget to hire in expert help. I think definitely doing some discovery yourself, doing some visual exploration, getting inspired, Doing some mood boards is really helpful because even if you are handing the whole thing over to a designer, they will really appreciate that as well, and it makes their job easier because they're not just coming at it from a blank slate. So, yeah, definitely. You know, there's lots of background stuff that you can do yourself. Unless you're a designer. I wouldn't design my own logo because I think a logo needs a professional eye to make it really clean and polished. The Same, really. I mean, I would say that because that's my job, but the same really, for the branding elements. I think if you want it to look really on point and really polished, you need a designer's eye to really pull everything together. And also it's that collaboration of your designer won't know straight away what you need, but you'll work through different ideas as a process in collaboration, which, again, is really powerful. You're not just coming up with one idea, you're batting some ideas back and forth and something will grow out of that process. So I think it's definitely good to have a bit of help, certainly.

Yeah. I mean, typically, how long do you work with a client and, you know, how long does sort of roughly each phase take? Just to give our listeners an idea of kind of time frame?

Yeah. I tend to say if I'm designing a full brand identity, so that is the logo, colors, fonts, packaging, like the full kind of thing. I tend to say four to six weeks to. For the whole process. So that includes the time doing the background stuff, consultations and that, and then coming up with some initial concepts, going through those works and what doesn't, and then doing the final designs. I just allow a good amount of time because sometimes people need space and time to digest the ideas in between so it can be done quicker. But I think it's good to leave it with a bit of breathing space.

Yeah. Take your time.

Yeah.

Absorb it. Yeah.

And how do you think. I mean, what advice would you have on finding the right designer to work with?

I think a lot of it is just going through portfolios, going through the work that the designers have done in the past, because if their style that they design in is something that you love, what resonates with you, you think that might work for your products, that's really a good way to weed out the ones that don't. Because lots of designers have completely different styles. I mean, I know designers who do very masculine, kind of edgy, fantastic designs that wouldn't necessarily be right for a skincare brand, or they might if it was, you know, aimed at men, for example. So it's about finding a designer who fits with you, because obviously, if you choose somebody who hasn't designed in the style that you like before, that's going to be, you know, that could be a hurdle to get over. So I definitely think that's a good first thing to look at. And then once you've kind of found a short list of people that you might like to work with, just see how you get on with them. Because a lot of the design process is really about understanding each other and getting on, because it's a creative process. So I know that the clients that I have a fit with, the process is a lot easier because you can communicate freely. You know, I know what they want or what they don't want, and it just makes it easier. And I think as well to find out from them how collaborative their process is as well, because I know some companies or designers might produce designs for you without necessarily going through a lot of consultation, which might suit you fine, or you might prefer more input into the process. Will they look at the mood boards that you've come up with and consider those as well and all that sort of thing? I think, yeah, it's about finding someone who you feel comfortable with.

Yeah. So I suppose it's taking the time to research the designer, asking them for their portfolios and then asking them some good key questions.

Yeah, definitely a lot of free. If you're going with a freelancer, a lot of freelancers have their portfolios online, so you can trawl through those on Pinterest. There's some designers have Pinterest boards of their work, which just. Just reminded me that I need to do that for mine. I was like, in the say. Yeah. Going through portfolios. I think with agencies, obviously, if you choose a design agency, there's more, there's a bigger overhead than going with the freelancer. But then you might think, well, you know, I prefer to work with an agency who can, you know, do all my marketing and all my design for me in one place. Again, I think the same principles apply, though. You need to get on with them, you need to feel comfortable that they're going to look after. Because I think people's products that they've formulated themselves, they're so personal to them and so precious to them. If you're going to trust somebody to look after it for you, make a brand for it, you know, it's quite a big commitment, I think.

No, it is, it is. And, you know, our community are just passionate about formulating about the ingredients that they use. You know, often people have taken years to come up with different combinations and they work really hard on getting the fragrance right. So I guess you want someone who is willing to spend the time on finding a brand identity that works for these amazing products that you have created.

Yeah. And that's just made me think of something else as well, is that you need to be prepared that the design is going to push you a bit. Yeah. I think part of the job is to suggest new things and suggest things you might not have thought of. And crucially, the brand and the packaging is designed for your customers. It's not designed for you, it's designed for your customers. It's not just about what you love, it's also about, you know, what the retailer is going to love and what the customers are going to love. And that's. That can be difficult to separate in your mind because you might love bright pink and you might love unicorns or glitter. Exactly. But if that doesn't suit your brand or your customers, then, you know, it comes up every time. I mean, it's just a natural thing, but it's about separating, if you can, yourself from brand.

And I suppose that's why it's worthwhile putting all of the effort into researching your customers.

Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. And you. This is where customer avatar work can be really useful. I think you might have talked about that on one of the other branding podcasts. Yeah. Having one or two or three customer avatars that you will think of when you're. When you're making decisions around marketing and branding is really, really useful. Yeah, definitely. That's always a good exercise to do.

Great. Well, I think it's probably a good time for us to end it here. Thank you so much again for joining us, Nancy. I really appreciate your input and your advice.

You're welcome. I'm always happy to talk about branding. I could go on for hours.

Well, you'll be able to find all of Nancy's details and the workbook and everything in the show notes. Thank you for listening and thank you again, Nancy, for joining us.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to Nancy for sharing her advice, tips and guidance on branding and finding your brand identity. You will be able to download the workbook that we refer to in the show notes that accompany this episode.

I really hope that you find it.

Useful and it helps you on your branding journey. Once again, thank you so much for listening. If you want to find out a little bit more about Formula Botanica, then head over to formulabotanica.com and check out our free sample class and see if you fancy becoming an organic cosmetic formulator. You can also find us over on Facebook, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram ormulabatanica. Thanks so much for listening. We really appreciate your time.