DIY (design) Season
Five bucks says you’re knee deep in plans to renovate your half bath or finally deep organize that freaking garage right about now. It’s warm weather, school’s out, DIY project season, baby! Time for our best DIY design resources!
Here’s another bet: you’re a pretty self-aware person, right? You’ve got a decent grasp on what you can DIY around your house (leaky faucet), and what things you need to call in a pro for (racoon stuck in air duct, for example).
The same is true for design! Every business owner should know some basic design principles, the same way that homeowners should know how to fix a leaky faucet, while also knowing when it’s time to get some professional help.
That’s why here at The Design Lab we are actually such big fans of DIY design! Surprised? We LOVE providing design education and resources, and can’t wait to share our round up with you!
Big fans of DIY
We get it. Sometimes hiring a professional designer and branding expert just isn’t in the cards. And we actually think that DIY branding can be done super successfully.
Here’s the secret to it: don’t start with the visuals. Tempting to, we know. But the most important things about your brand are what’s going on behind the scenes, the stuff that clients won’t “see,” but can definitely feel.
In other words, you’ve got to get the ideas right first. Make sure you know your brand’s position, vision, values, and offers down pat. Really dig into these – it’s the secret sauce of success!
Then move onto the visual language. Following?
Youtube Tutorials
First up, hop on over to Youtube to find our library of video tutorials! Learn about design principles, our best tips and tricks, and how to de-code design lingo (THANK YOU, Nicole!!). Basically, this is your ticket to “how does a designer think?!”
How-to Guides (and goodies in the Shop)
So now that you’ve got the tools to start thinking like a designer, you’ve got to start doing like a designer.
Enter, The Design Lab Shop, your one-stop-shop for all things DIY design.
One thing that we see all the time stumping small biz owners is the amount of time it takes to DIY. Staring at a blank Canva and putting things together from scratch for every single offer just isn’t going to cut it anymore. #unsustainable
As one of our besties puts it, “hate that for you.” The entire focus of our shop is to help small businesses buy back their precious time, cut out the guesswork, and be equipped to do things their way.
DIY Course Design Kits
These plug-and-play templates are designed to be completely customizable and endlessly reusable, keeping you on brand and leveled up!
(Plus they come in some pretty cute styles if we do say so ourselves).
Guides and worksheets
Guys, this one is HUGE.
Let’s talk Brand Style Guides.
Ever heard us throw around this term?
A Brand Style Guide is your ticket to brand consistency. It tells you what your visual brand should look like, and how to use design elements together. It’s your best friend document that houses your logo, fonts, colors, patterns, graphics, icons, and photography (phew!) and – get this – codifies how you use design principles to visually translate your brand.
EVERY business owner needs one. It’s essential. Here’s some good news. We’ve put the exact Brand Style Guide Worksheet we use with all our clients into our resource shop!! Like, the exact one. Now available. Cheers cheers, claps claps.
Icon Library
Ever been hyped about your idea, loving the socials you created, and then realized it just needs that one last little touch? Stopping the workflow and creating a la cart icons every time the whim hits can be just plain annoying!
So we’ve done it for you. Search our stock graphics library for your bestie bundles on anything from holidays to marketing, wellness to podcasts.
And our best (free) course ever
You heard us. Last up for today, our FAVORITE resource we’ve ever made that’s totally free. Our Balanced Brand Lab Kit takes all our best tips, tricks, practices, and resources and rolls it into one. We seriously love that we get to send this to you guys for free.
Picture this: it’s a late spring day, you’re sipping an iced tea, and your phone pings – your daily design dose just hit your inbox.
In the Lab Kit, we deliver a daily email that unpacks and walks you through how to create a balanced brand. We’ll work on that all important Brand Style Guide, talk about colors and fonts, create a moodboard, and more. Plus, you’ll get downloadable worksheets, questionnaires, and canva templates. All for free.
Yep, it really is the best.
Our hope is that you feel inspired and empowered to keep up the amazing work you’re doing in your biz. We need more people like you, and we’re here to shout it from the rooftops that you CAN DIY the heck out of your brand.
We’d LOVE to see what you create! Leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram with all your creations!
More than a leaky faucet? If it’s time to talk to a pro, we’d love to chat!
