Branding is one of the most important aspects of building a business; however, it’s also one of the trickiest to define.

Some people refer to a brand as a business’ identity while others describe it as a business’ personality. Either way, a brand isn’t about a single color, sentence, or symbol; it’s much more complex than that.

It’s the unique combination of several factors such as your company’s mission, values, story, attitude, messaging, aesthetic, and style, both as you see it and as perceived by others.

Now, branding can definitely be an intimidating process to nail down but fortunately, you can start small by creating a brand board.

Definition of a brand board

But first, what is a brand board?

A brand board is a quick reference guide to your brand’s unique style and visual identity.

It usually displays your logo, fonts, and color palette; however, some creatives go as far as including your logo variations, submarks, patterns, textures, and images for inspiration.

With all of these elements put together in one place, document, or file, a brand board is meant to be an at-a-glance visual summary of the look and feel of your brand and what differentiates it from others.

Qualities of a great brand board

A great brand board is one that effectively encapsulates your brand’s unique style and visual identity in a cohesive manner.

A person taking a look at your brand board should be able to see, know, and even feel your brand’s personality, style, and values often without the need to read an explanation.

By extension, people who come across your graphics or brand collateral outside of your website or social media accounts should be able to recognize that it’s from you and your business almost immediately (which is achieved only by consistently following, maintaining, or adhering to your brand’s unique style and visual identity).

How creating a brand board helps your business

Since your business provides products or services to a specific group of people (your niche), creating a brand board is an opportunity for you to put together visuals that would attract your ideal customers and differentiate your business at the same time.

Treat it simply as another way for you to connect with them on a deeper level and strategically position your business as a solution to their problems or as a guide to help them reach their goals.

As a quick reference guide, a brand board can also be used as your litmus test when creating or using graphics to represent your business.

Whenever you’re deciding to use a design element to style your website, social media accounts, email newsletter, collateral, or presentations, all you need to do is put it up against your brand board and see if it matches before you approve it or reject it.

For example, if your brand board contains elements like cursive fonts, light images, playful patterns, and pastel colors, it’ll be easier and faster for you to dismiss dark and moody social media graphics.

Another example is if your brand board contains modern elements like bold patterns, striking colors, and abstract images, it’ll be a no-brainer for you to reject a website template that makes use of muted colors or “old-timey” images.

As you can see, creating a brand board doesn’t just help with your business’ branding. It can also cut down the time, energy, money, and manpower required to maintain a cohesive and consistent brand.

How to quickly create your own brand board

It’s fairly easy to create a brand board from scratch. Simply start by collecting your main graphics and visual elements then put them together in a one-page document. Here’s a list of what you can include:

Logo - the main graphic representation of your business and brand; often used on your website, formal documents, cover pages, brand collateral, etc.
Logo variations - your logo with some elements rearranged for versatility
Submark - a more simplified version of your logo; often used as favicons, watermarks, social media profile photos, in social media posts, etc.
Color palette - the specific colors and unique color scheme to differentiate your business and brand; can be broken down into a primary color palette and a secondary color palette; usually includes each color’s hex codes
Fonts - the specific fonts you use to to differentiate your business and brand across all touch points; typically includes two fonts that complement each other but can also have your header and tagline fonts (if different from your main fonts)
Patterns and textures - decorative designs that give your brand some depth and bring your brand to life
Images for inspiration - photos that best represent the look and feel of your brand and business; typically include colors from your color palette

Also if you want to expand your offline efforts to promote your brand, you can choose to customize some small items with your brand's logo. Giving them to your customers or to your employees can have the desired promotional effect. For example, a Custom Lanyard with your brand's logo on it is widely used and will undoubtedly bring a lot of publicity!

Free brand board templates (Canva format)

If you’re short on time and you don’t want to create a brand board from scratch, here are 2 free brand board templates in 2 sizes you can customize.

It’s fully editable using Canva, a free online graphic design tool and website, and you can have your brand board ready in just a few minutes!

+ Curious about Canva? You can watch our FREE Canva video tutorial after signing up below. Otherwise, check out our in-depth Canva guide and list of Canva keyboard shortcuts.

All you have to do is click the link below and download the free template.

Log in to your Canva.com account, open the PDF file, and click on the links inside to access the templates.

You can then upload your graphics and visual elements into Canva and then just drag and drop them into the brand board templates.

Over to You

Branding is a strategic way to differentiate and market your business but since it can also be a complex process, you can start by creating a brand board. A brand board is defined as a quick reference guide to your brand’s unique style and visual identity, and it typically includes your logo, color palette, fonts, patterns, and images.