One thing that I've found through my constant internet stalking, blog reading, and marketing and advertising classes, is that I can't get enough of studying branding. I talk about fonts and typography (two completely different things!) like a lot of people talk about politics or current events - VERY important. When I chose to revamp this blog last summer from Pretty Shiny Mine into Cooper & Thames I already knew what kind of "brand" I wanted to create for myself, but I wasn't quite sure how to get there. After hours-long chats with my friend Alexa, who I met through blogging, and who shares my love for branding, and several unsuccessful attempts at finding a designer to recreate my blog for me, I decided to give it a go myself. That included re-branding, my favorite part, and HTML/CSS coding, my least favorite part.
Lucky for me, I found Lyssa's blog series on how to brand your own blog, which is by far the most helpful guide online. Check out her blog for amazing style, coding, and design tips. Her's is definitely one of my go-to blogs for inspiration!
For the first step toward finding my own brand, I followed Lyssa's advice and created a private pinboard of images that I liked. I found that I was drawn to natural patterns and textures with pops of green, coral, and sea foam colors.
For the first step toward finding my own brand, I followed Lyssa's advice and created a private pinboard of images that I liked. I found that I was drawn to natural patterns and textures with pops of green, coral, and sea foam colors.
This was the fun part of the process, for sure. The hardest part was narrowing the pins down. When I finished finding photos that really inspired me, I had over 130 because I had simply repinned everything from my own pinboards that I truly liked. Ultimately, after serious deliberation with Alexa, and a bit of discouragement, I was able to trim my board down to a svelte 26 images. Really think about the ones that define your style, not just in clothes, but in design. Do you like having bright colors on a website? What about clean lines or fonts?
Next up I'll share how I came up with a general "theme" of my blog according to Lyssa's guidelines!
Is anyone thinking of re-branding their own blog spaces?
While the process could be super annoying for me, it was also one of the most rewarding experiences!
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