Revamp Your

Brand
GUIDEBOOK

NELA DUNATO
 REVAMP YOUR BRAND GUIDEBOOK

Revamp Your Brand In One Day

Hi, I’m Nela Dunato.
In case we haven’t met before, I’m a brand & web designer helping small service-based
businesses and indie creatives evolve into premium brands.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware of the impact that branding can have on
your business, but I just want to make sure that we’re on the same page. A strong, unique
brand can help your business in many ways, and here are just a few most important ones. A
strong brand is:

1. Memorable - this means it stays in the minds of people for long after they’ve first seen it

2. Differentiates you from competitors so there’s no confusion about who is who

3. Trustworthy - prospects perceive you as more reliable and competent

4. Attracts your dream clients and not just any clients, because we don’t want to be
working with people we don’t like, right?

5. Encourages word of mouth referrals because it’s easy to explain and recommend to
other people

6. Validates your higher pricing – you don’t have to be as cheap as others in your market if
you can prove that your prices are worth it

If this is what you want for your brand, good news, you’re in the right place!

I created a framework called the Human Centered Brand pyramid, which visualizes how
different aspects of your brand work together.

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At the bottom we have your Core Values, which are the qualities that are the most
important to you, and that you want to bring into the world through your creative work.
(For more information on this, read this blog post that explains the concept of core values in
detail.)

On the level above is the Unique Value Proposition, which is the benefit your service or
product offers to your clients, that’s different from all the other solutions they’ve tried or
considered so far.

Your Core Values and Unique Value Proposition feed into your Brand Voice, which is the
way you express yourself verbally and present your offers to potential clients. This level is all
about relationships with other people and self-expression.

Only after we’ve covered the first 3 steps can we move onto the fourth, which is Your Ideal
Client. A lot of branding advice says this is the first aspect of your brand to define, but when
it comes to service providers and artists, I have to disagree. As someone who puts their
heart & soul into your work, you’re at the core of your brand, not other people. Your choice
of Ideal Clients will depend a lot on other aspects of your brand.

After you’re done with the first 4 levels, we get to perhaps the most exciting part: the
Visual Brand. Now, it’s impossible for me to teach you how to design beautiful brands in
one day, but I’ll give you some pointers on how to select the colors and fonts that clearly
communicate the qualities of your brand.

As you may see from the visual, it’s important that you get these right in order, because
each level of the pyramid is built on the previous one. We want your brand to have a strong
and stable foundation so it doesn’t topple over.

This guidebook accompanies the video. You can print it and fill it out with a pen, or type
directly into it on your computer or a tablet.

There are two parts to the guidebook: the discovery, and the implementation.

In the discovery section, you’ll be answering a series of questions designed to identify what
makes your brand unique. These are the questions I ask my clients to get to the root of what
their brand is about and how we can communicate that through design.

The questions are powerful and deep. You can spend as long as you want on your answers,
and the more you put into this, the more you’ll receive from it. If this is the first time you’re
doing an exercise like this, it may be a little hard to answer some of those questions, but do
it anyway. You can go back to them in the following days and see what else has come up for
you as your subconscious mind was playing with them in the background.

The answers you write in this section will help define how your brand is unique.

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Next comes the implementation section. We want to make sure that you use this
information in your business today, and in the days to come. You’ll take those answers and
shorten them, edit them and let them inspire your brand voice and your visual brand.

There’s a place for you to work on your tagline, to spice up your “About” and sales pages, to
brainstorm new content topics, fix off-brand glitches on your current website and also craft
a beautiful brand moodboard.

When you’re done, all you need to do is to copy and paste the things you’ve written in the
guidebook to your website, and continue working on your content and visual brand at your
own pace.

If you do this, you can transform your dusty old brand in one afternoon.

Are you ready?

Now go fill out that guidebook, and start creating your unique, remarkable, magnetic brand!

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Brand Discovery
YOUR CORE VALUES
1 Answer each of these questions in the space below as honestly as you possibly can:

• What inspires you to do your work? What are you getting out of it?
• Why did you decide to start your own business or pursue your creative calling? What did
you realize that made you do it? Why did you find your former job unfulfilling?

• What do you stand for? What are you not willing to compromise on?
• What annoys you in your professional world?
• What do you want to achieve through your business – for yourself and for your clients?

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2 Which words and phrases do you keep repeating in your answer? What values may be at
the core of those words? Write down what stands out for you.

3 Distill the above to 3-5 values that are the most important for you. Try out different
synonyms for each one until you find a word that just vibrates with life and meaning for you.
(Here’s a list of core values (PDF) that may help.)

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YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

4 Answer each of these questions in the space below:

• What problem are you motivated to solve for your clients?

• How are your clients’ lives improved after they’ve used your service/product?
• What is it about your core values that makes you or your business different from others?
How do your values play out in how you perform your services, or how you create your
products?

• How is what you do different than all the other potential solutions? What do you bring
to the table that the majority of others don’t?

• What makes your offer impossible to duplicate or imitate?

• What unique perspective do you bring to your field of work?

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5 Looking back to these answers, give a compelling reason why someone would need and
want your solution to their problem, instead of other people’s. What’s different about you?
This is your unique value proposition.

6 Try to distill your unique value proposition into a short sentence that you could use on your
website, or when meeting new people. (Don’t worry about the exact wording, we’ll get to
that later.)

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YOUR BRAND VOICE

7 What kind of topics do you most enjoy talking or writing about? What matters to you?

8 If you had to pick one thing you want to be known for and considered an expert on, what
would it be?

9 I’ve prepared a list of brand voice qualities for you – look over this list and mark the ones
that seem to match your way of expressing yourself through words and other mediums
(visual art, music, performance etc.) Also note those that have a strong connection to your
core values.
Formal Intellectual Closed Cool
Conversational Emotional Subjective Technical
Gentle Serious Objective Humanistic
Harsh Humorous Meditative Raw
Simplistic Cheerful Active Refined
Complex Poignant Introverted Common
Feminine Sensual Extroverted Extraordinary
Masculine Cerebral Agreeable Intimate
Sophisticated Transparent Contrarian Reserved
Plain Enigmatic Moderate Expert
Assertive Mysterious Extreme Beginner
Shy Clear Quiet Detached
Bold Cryptic Loud Compassionate
Mild Exposed Passionate Calm

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Excited Childish Verbose Laid-back

Ethereal Playful Concise Dramatic
Grounded Geeky Metaphoric Comedic
Esoteric Extravagant Mystical Sensational
Common sense Glamorous Unconventional Ordinary
Friendly Idealistic Whimsical Informative
Professional Cynical Natural Focused
Theoretical Rational Literal Expansive
Practical Imaginative Fun
Mature Creative Expressive

10 From the qualities you marked on the list, which ones feel the most important to you? Are
there any other qualities that are not on the list? If so, add them as well. Try to narrow down
to 10 brand voice qualities at most.

11 How do you view your relationship with your clients? Are you taking on the role of a
teacher, business advisor, friend, leader, parent, sports coach, guru, celebrity... (This is
different from what you actually do – it’s about your approach with your clients.)

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YOUR IDEAL CLIENT

12 What kind of person is most likely to:

• need the unique value you provide?

• share your core values and appreciate your personality (displayed through your brand
voice)?

• be most enjoyable to work with?

• afford your products or services?
Think of their profession, interests, living situation, family role, income, desires, dreams...

13 Do you have any clients that you adore working with? List the names of 3 people who come
to mind.

14 If you had to describe this type of person in just 2-3 words, what would you call them?

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The answers above should now give you a good idea of who your clients are, both
individually and as a more general group.

15 Now imagine one person — either a real one you already know, or an imaginary ideal
client you would like to attract — and focus just on him or her. Try to answer the following
questions about this one right person. This is your ideal client.

• How does (s)he describe herself/himself? (Eg. in Twitter bios, how they perceive
themselves in their mind etc.)

• What are his/her main interests & hobbies?

• Where does (s)he hang out in the real world?
• Where does (s)he hang out online?
• Where is (s)he at currently in his/her journey as it relates to your products or services?
What had (s)he already tried or considered? What does (s)he struggle with?

• What type of content does (s)he prefer to consume (text, pictures, audio, video)? Why?

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16 Bonus: find a photo of one of your best clients, or a photo of a person online that looks
like your ideal client. Print this photo and glue on this page. It really helps to have a face to
remind you that your ideal clients are real people.

Additionally, you can also create an ideal client moodboard. Using the instructions for
creating a brand moodboard on page 13, collect imagery that relates to your ideal client:
their interests, profession, family life, any anything you feel is relevant. This will provide a
great visual reminder whenever you need to put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes and
create an offer or marketing campaign tailored for them.

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YOUR VISUAL BRAND

17 For easy reference, copy your core values and your brand voice qualities below:

Core values:

Brand voice qualities:

18 Now you’re ready to create your brand moodboard! Here are the steps on how to do it:

• Create a new folder on your computer, or a new Pinterest board. Name it “[My business
name] Brand Moodboard”. (You can also use the online service Moodboard which
doesn’t require an account.)

• Keep your list of core values and brand voice qualities in mind as you’re looking for
imagery that gives you the “vibe” of these values and qualities.

• Browse the web for half an hour or so and look for photos, illustrations and other images
that reflect your core values and voice qualities. Save them to your folder or Pinterest
board.

• Think of the aesthetic preferences your ideal client might have, especially if they’re in
a different demographic than you are. What visual elements are they attracted to? Save
images that reflect their choices to your folder or Pinterest board.

19 Examine your finished moodboard. What patterns do you notice? Are there some elements
that are repeated throughout your moodboard? Think in terms of atmosphere, colors,
textures and content/symbols.

Atmosphere:

Example: Nostalgic, hopeful

Colors:
Example: Muted, earthy, honey brown

Textures:
Example: Sand, natural, organic

Content & Symbols:

Example: Women, feathers, trees

20 If you’re a visual artist, are there any elements that you frequently use in your work?

Atmosphere:

Colors:

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Materials:

Textures:

Content & Symbols:

21 Which of the qualities listed below match with what you see on your brand moodboard, and
your brand voice qualities? Please choose up to 5 most important ones.
Casual Masculine
Classic Luxurious
Healthy Mysterious
Eco-friendly Hand-made
Artistic Elegant
High-tech Whimsical
Corporate Fun
Traditional Creative
Geeky Glamorous
Athletic Playful
Extravagant Bold
Mystical Minimalist
Unconventional Modern
Natural Retro
Feminine Other:

Copy the ones you’ve marked below:

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22 Looking back to the qualities you’ve selected, your core values and your brand voice
qualities, check the color meanings in the cheat sheet below to see where these words or
their synonyms show up. (Note: you don’t have to stick to the color meanings in the chart!
They vary from culture to culture, and people perceive color subjectively anyway. Use this
as a reference if you’re stuck and need a starting point.)

Black Power, luxury, mystery, elegance, mourning, sophisticated, depth, formal

White Peace, purity, innocence, minimalism, clean, quiet, neutral, perfection

Optimistic, youthful, happiness, joy, creativity, warning, energetic, intellect,

Yellow
the Sun

Energy, vitality, adventure, creativity, fun, exciting, friendly, warmth,

Orange
cheerful, confidence, enthusiasm, determination, success, encouragement

Passion, energy, action, excitement, love, adventure, strength, power,

Red
desire, bold, daring, loud

Sweet, delicate, feminine, romantic, love, sweet, nurturing, childhood,

Pink
passive

Calm, luxury, imagination, wisdom, creativity, magic, spirituality, wealth,

Purple
power, ambition, extravagant

Trust, security, reliability, strength, authority, business, calm, dependable,

Blue
fidelity, truth, wisdom, tranquility, sincerity

Growth, health, natural, relaxation, regeneration, luck, wealth, fertility,

Green
organic, freshness, harmony, safety, hope

Brown Organic, natural, stability, comfort, fertility, practicality, the Earth

Gray Neutral, balance, calm

Prestige, wealth, glamorous, elegant, sophisticated, prosperity, luxury,

Silver
spirituality, illumination, reflection, the Moon, feminine

Success, achievement, triumph, luxury, wealth, prosperity, abundance,

Gold
quality, extravagance, the Sun, masculine

List the colors that match up with your qualities and core values:

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23 Which colors have you been repeatedly mentioning in the answers to questions 19, 20
and 22?

Now we’ll pick your color palette.

24 Open the website ColourLovers (colourlovers.com/palettes/add) to create your color palette

from scratch.

Choose one color from your list (in question 23) to be your main brand color. Your main
brand color will be used on elements such as your logo, headings, blog & social media
images etc. Drag the circle and the sliders on the left until you find the shade that you feel
represents the qualities and the atmosphere you want. When you’re happy with your main
color, write down the value from the tiny box labeled “HEX”:

Main brand color:

Now click on the empty square on the palette and choose a second color, your
supplemental brand color. This color can be used in your logo along with the main color,
on the body text, backgrounds, subheadings, etc. (It’s usually a shade of gray, black, brown
or dark blue – suitable for large amounts of text.) When you’ve found the exact shade that
looks good next to your main brand color, copy the HEX code into the field below.

Supplemental brand color:

Next, we’ll pick your accent color. This color can be another one from your list, if you have
one that is suitable. Accent color is used on important actionable elements such as buttons,
links and menus. You’ll use this color sparingly, so it can be intense. This is the color that will
signal to your website visitors “Click here!” – only use it on things that are clickable.

Accent color:

Now we’ll pick several additional colors, depending on how many you have on your list. You
can have as many or as little as you like. Think of colors you may need for your backgrounds,
secondary buttons, icons, illustrations, patterns and other graphics. I would suggest at least
one neutral color (like gray, light blue or beige).

If you run out of spaces on the palette generator, just make sure you copy the HEX code
below, and replace one of the colors with a new one.

Additional color 1: Additional color 4:

Additional color 2: Additional color 5:

Additional color 3: Additional color 6:

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25 Now that your color palette is done, let’s move onto typography. Usually selecting the right
font takes a lot of time and research, but I’ve made this super simple and quick for you.
Follow these steps to find the fonts that match your brand:

• Open the website fontsquirrel.com

• On the right side of the page on FontSquirrel is a list of tags – click on the link “Show
more tags” at the bottom of the list to see the whole list.

• Look back to the brand qualities you’ve listed under question 21 (page 14). Examine the
list on FontSquirrel to see if some of the qualities show up on the tags list. If you find
one, click on it to filter the fonts. (If there’s no exact term on the list, pick the closest
synonym.)

• Look over the fonts that show up and see which ones remind you of the visuals you’ve
collected in your moodboard. Make sure this font is also clear and legible. When you
find such a font, write down its name below.

• If you want to use another font, first click the button “Clear tags” on the top of the left
column to reset filtering, and then try another tag that also reflects your brand qualities.
Make sure this font is compatible with the other one you picked, ie. that they look good
together. Write down the name of this font below.

List the fonts you’ve selected here:

Go for 2 fonts at most, and make sure that at least one of them is suitable for larger blocks
of text (like long headings and paragraphs). Cursive and decorative fonts are not good for
that and may only be used in large headlines.

Download these fonts to your computer and install them so you can use them in your work.
If you want to use one or both of these fonts on your website, check if there is a webfont
option available. You can find webfonts on Google Fonts and Adobe Edge Web Fonts.

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Brand Implementation
TAGLINE
Remember our unique value proposition from chapter 2? Take the sentence you wrote in
question 6 (page 7) and, taking your brand voice qualities and your ideal client (question
14, page 10) into consideration, craft your tagline. Use a thesaurus to find words that sound
powerful and are aligned with your brand voice. Write many different variations (10, 20 or
more) until you find the one you like best.

Here’s an easy tagline formula you can use:

unique value proposition for ideal clients

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ABOUT PAGE
The purpose of the About page is to increase your ideal clients’ trust in your business, and
to demonstrate that you’re the best choice for them. Answer these questions to add more
interest and relevance to your About page:

• What is your unique value proposition?

• How do your core values affect the work you do?
Example: “Because of our dedication to creativity and excellence, our jewelry pushes the
boundaries of trends and fashion, and the quality of the craftsmanship insures it becomes a
family heirloom.”

• What common ground do your share with your ideal client?

• What life experiences drove you to become an expert in your field?
• What challenges have you overcome that your ideal client might still be struggling with?

Now that you have some raw text to work with, check the qualities of your brand voice and
rewrite the text to make it more aligned with your brand.

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PRODUCTS OR SERVICES PAGES

Each product or service has its own unique value proposition, which may or may not be the
same as your company UVP. Refer back the the chapter on unique value proposition (page 6)
and use the questions to identify UVPs for each product or service you sell. List the name of
the product/service and the corresponding UVP below:

These unique value propositions are great to use in page titles, because they immediately
display what the client is going to get out of it.

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Now answer the following questions for each product or service:

• What problems does this product/service address? (The “before” state.)

• What benefits does this product/service offer? (The “after” state.)
• Who is the product/service intended for? (Describe your ideal client in general terms.)

Apart from answering these positioning questions, you should also list the specifics like
what’s included, price, timeframe, guarantees, testimonials etc.

Now that you have some raw text to work with, check the qualities of your brand voice and
rewrite the text to make it more aligned with your brand.

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WEBSITE CHECKUP
Go through each page of your website and examine the text and visuals. Answer the
questions below for each page to check whether the elements align with the brand you’ve
defined in this guidebook or not. List every glitch you find in the box below.

• Is there any statement on this page that goes contrary to your core values?
• Are any actions on this page that are going against your core values? (Asking for too
much user information, pop-ups, auto-playing video etc.)

• Is there any text on this page that doesn’t sound aligned with your brand voice?
• Is this page an appropriate place to reiterate your unique value proposition?
• Could this page address your ideal client more clearly?
• Are there any colors, fonts, photos or illustrations on this page that don’t match your
visual brand?

When you’re done, copy the list of these off-brand oversights to your to-do app and
schedule when you’ll work on it.

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CONTENT TOPICS
Copy your answer to the question 8 (page 8) – what do you want to be known for?

For each question below, list as many potential content ideas you can think of.

• What personal experiences and stories about this topic can you share?
• What client success stories relating to this topic can you share? How did your unique
approach to your topic of choice result in your client’s transformation?

• What are other people in your field doing wrong, that you want to do right?
• What potential solutions are your ideal clients considering & what are their limitations?
• Can you use an analogy from an interest that you share with your ideal client to explain
how your service/product works?

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WOOT, YOUR BRAND REVAMP IS DONE!

Congratulations! That was a lot of work, and you should feel very proud of yourself.

Keep this guidebook handy, so that you can check every new piece of content to see how it
aligns with your core values, unique value proposition, brand voice, ideal clients and visual
brand. Re-read your answers each time you start planning a new marketing campaign – that
alone should spark many ideas on what you can do to promote your work in front of your
ideal audience!

I have another free resource called the Authentic Promotion Guidebook that helps you
create a custom content marketing plan based on your unique strengths.

For more in-depth branding advice & tips, check out all the branding articles on my blog.

About Nela Dunato

I’m a brand designer and digital
strategist with over a decade of
professional experience. My superpower
is creating expressive brands for small
businesses.
I help creative, tech & wellness service professionals
connect with their dream clients, by crafting delightful
and meaningful experiences for your clients at every
step of their journey with you. Check out my services
for more information on how we can do that.

I also teach graphic design as a course instructor, lead

in-person workshops, and publish branding, marketing
and business advice every week on my blog.

I’m a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd, lover of Victorian

and Art Nouveau aesthetics, believer in magic, cat
person and a dedicated shadow worker.

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