We all know that keeping your brand identity is essential for your business out in the world. From your website, to your campaigns, to the flyers and billboards on the street. Your striking colors, recognizable mascot, and unique logo make you really stand out.
But what about your building? What about the interior? Does it even matter?
One essential, and often overlooked, principle of branding is your actual physical business. Keeping up your brand image inside your doors allows for customers and employees alike to unite under the banner that is your brand.
Here are three steps to develop and maintain the interior design that best represents your brand.
1) Find Your Vibe
Something important to remember, before any other aspect of your brand, is that your messaging matters. Make plans for whom you serve, why you serve them, and what you want them to experience with your company.
Do you want people to walk into your location and feel calm? Excited? Do you want their eyes to travel across walls, bouncing from item to item, or do you want their eyes to go straight to one central area? This applies to employees as well–– know what feeling you want them to get walking into their space. Give yourself some words that encapsulate your goals. Focused, creative, efficient, organized, colorful… etc.
Knowing what you want the experience to be when someone walks in will change the way you design your interior. It will strengthen others’ experience of your brand itself, rather than just the building!
2) Follow the Rules of Interior Design
Keep in mind that some “rules” of interior design are universal, regardless of your brand style. Some basic rules still can apply to help strengthen your interior designs. Physical uses of space and color coordination can be great strengths, but also weaken your work if done incorrectly. You will likely find that these space-decorating tips are similar to accepted graphic design “rules”. A few essential, basic tips to keep in mind are:
- Use mirrors to make small spaces look larger
- Small spaces feel more open if walls are light colored, while large spaces feel more close if walls are dark colored
- Accent colors should be just that–– accentual
- Mood boards can help you maintain colors and style before actual design
- Symmetrical items look formal, asymmetrical looks slightly less formal. Research and decide what best represents your brand
- Balance objects–– if you have a large shelf on one side, it may help to have a large plant on the other side
- If you want something to stand out, you can use lighting, color, size differences, or placement to strengthen its presence
These essential tips in interior design are widely accepted among professional space decorators. As someone who has designed your brand, you’re the professional in applying these tips. What things coordinate best with your vision? All is for you to decide.
3) Utilize Your Unique Brand
This is where the fun of designing your space really kicks in. Your unique brand has its own logo, colors, and style. These things can be implemented into your space to make it really stand out. Whether you can customize your space and make the building highlight exactly what you want, or you need to mold your brand into an existing space, you can make it uniquely yours.
Some businesses implement their brand subtly. Restaurants are a good example of this, utilizing colors of tables or booths. Often they’ll have signage with logos or slogans on them as well. Apple maintains its sleek, clean, modern design indoors, with less logos and more visual encapsulation of its style and message.
This is where designs of furniture, imagery, and colors will really matter. Homey, more crowded places like Cracker Barrel integrate furniture that feels worn, with warm colors and wooden tables. Modern spaces might have chairs with more unique designs. In a small corner store, you might have some simple bookshelves to maximize your space, and use accent colors to draw customers’ attention to specific areas.
Continual Elevation
The most important thing to remember as you let your brand flow through your physical space is this: your brand is always growing, so your space can, too. Rebranding? Implement it in your space. Want a bigger logo? Find a new sign that fits better. The beauty of creating a brand (and, therefore, the space of the business) is that it is yours to mold and sculpt as needed. Growth is important for a brand identity because it is a reflection of your company’s growth as well. You can always update your space to make it more of what you want.
As you keep these tips in mind for your space, remember that the experience of your brand is what makes a physical space so special. Someone doesn’t just look at your logo or read your message now–– they are walking through it, seeing and feeling it firsthand.
Big Red Jelly
Want more branding tips for your space, messaging, and representation? Check out our team of experts and schedule with Big Red Jelly to exceed brand expectations today!
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