This article is lesson 3 of a 3-part mini-series on the music branding. If you want the cheat sheet, lessons and action steps in sequential order, you can sign up for free right here.
In this article, you’re going to get a top to bottom example of how the 3 step MusicBrand process works. You’ll get the added benefit of seeing a real-life musician transform their brand.
Let’s get started.
Introducing the case study…
Bree Noble, in addition to being the founder and CEO of femusician.com and host of the Woman of Substance Podcast, is an independent musician. And the guinea pig in our 3-step MusicBrand process case study.
Remember: “sensation translation” in part one of the music branding min-series—you want to convey the abstractness of your music through visual representations. Here’s how Bree did that with her music brand transformation.
Identify Message, Identity, And Mission
Bree and I started with a 30-minute chat.
She shared that she has glaucoma and how she’s had to cope with this without it limiting her. And through that, she finds meaning in helping others do the same. She said helping people “overcoming personal roadblocks” is why she does what she does.
Now that she was clear on how her music impacts others, the next task was to find a way to connect that with a visual brand.
Connect Purpose And Music
I asked her to use three words to describe her music.
She said “classical, refined, sophisticated”.
Then, I asked her to identify a picture that best represented her music.
She chose this one (below), the cover from her album entitled “Healing Waters”.
MusicBrand Transformation (Before)
Then I asked her to describe this picture in three words.
She said: ”deepness, calming, peaceful”.
We’re 75% done with the branding process.
And you’re probably thinking, “What?? Where are the designs?”
Once you have these questions answered, the rest is easy. To start designing, we need one tiny thing cleared up: to decide which of the four brand archetypes to follow.
If you want to know which archetype is best for your music, my 3 Ways To Brand Your Music cheatsheet will show you. It’s free.
Maximum Impact Via Brand, Design, And Strategy
I asked her several simple questions to decide which archetype to brand her music with. Like you, Bree knows her music better than anybody else. She’s a “live performer/singer/songwriter”.
On stage, it’s just her singing and playing the keys. She covers Classic Broadway songs in addition to her originals and identified that the people who relate most to her live performances are folks who saw classic Broadway plays in their youth.
We settled on the “Theme” Archetype. And decided to reference Classic Broadway to brand her live performance. All her graphics would be consistent with that.
If you want to know which archetype is best for your music, my 3 Ways To Brand Your Music cheatsheet will help you (yes, it’s free).
Here’s how we did it.
Looking for anything that evoked the words she used earlier to describe her music: “classical, refined, sophisticated; deepness, calmness, peacefulness.”
For inspiration, we did a Google search for “classic Broadway poster”.
Scrolling through the feed, we stopped on the image below, a picture of a poster for the classic Broadway play “American in Paris”.
Deepness, calmness, peacefulness; classical, refined, sophisticated: doesn’t this image convey that?
How about the colors in this image? Yellow and blue. Do they fit with her music?
We googled “the psychology of yellow” and “the psychology of blue” and found that…
- The color “Yellow” evokes happiness and optimism.
- And “Blue” conveys calmness or serenity.
In other words, a perfect fit.
With our Archetype theme picked (classic Broadway) and the image above as the guide, we’re ready to design. I’m going to show you why this is easier than you think. And anybody can do it.
All we did was go to Canva.com and used their templates to plug in in the information that Bree gave us.
Logo
To design her logo, we first found a free template in Canva.
(Watch the video at top of the page for demonstration).
Second, we replaced the template’s text with “Bree Noble” and removed the dark blue background by a single click in Canva.
Next, we replaced the template icon on the left (again, watch the video at top of the page for demonstration).
Remember, when Bree’s on stage, she sings and plays the piano. So we stuck to that Archetype, theme, and found a girl sitting at a piano (we typed in “girl at piano” in Canva image search).
After a simple copy and paste, this is what it looked like:
Business Cards
To design her business cards, we found a business card template.
We swapped out the text—copy, and paste. To remain consistent, we popped in the girl at the piano graphic. (Again, copy and paste.) And here’s what it looks like in Canva:
Flyer
At a Broadway play, they hand out a “playbill” to every audience member. It’s a pamphlet that contains information about the play. Sticking with our Archetype theme, we found a playbill template in Canva and replaced the images.
Again this was all done for free in Canva with copy and paste. And here’s everything together:
Music Brand Transformation (After)
Notice how everything retains Bree’s classical, sophisticated description of her music.
How did we do that? By using a classical piano instead of a keyboard; she’s wearing a gown so it feels sophisticated; the colors blue and yellow reflect her music.
It’s branded for her live performance and in line with how she wants to impact other people and her purpose.
Everything comes together when you start right, follow a proven process, and remain consistent!
See how following this simple process gave Bree’s audience clarity on who she was and what they could expect? Even with a simple ‘plug and play’ approach from a design point of view?
Now, imagine if this was you!
Could that make the real difference between doing what you love for a living and music remaining forever as your hobby?
Summary
Remember, branding your music requires breaking free from traditional branding advice.
Only then can you can hit the ground running with a consistent and authentic message on all platforms. And feel confident knowing the visual designs of your brand matched the sound of your music.
You can have a brand that stands out and speaks to real fans. Look like a professional and get the respect and attention you deserve. Or imagine even performing live to a room full of people all wearing your gear and repping your music brand.
It is possible. All you need to do is start intentionally then follow the 3 Step MusicBrand process.
This article is lesson 3 of a 3-part mini-series on the music branding. If you want the cheat sheet, lessons and action steps in sequential order, you can sign up for free right here.
