We often hear from clients that when they are creating a social media post or a PowerPoint presentation they are unsure of where to begin with the visuals and they feel overwhelmed. Deciding on the visuals takes them a long time because they don’t know where to start. They’re afraid of making the wrong choice and sending the wrong message about their business brand. It can be time consuming to decide which colours, fonts and images to use again and again. Our job is to help clients feel less overwhelmed and make those decisions easier for them by designing a consistent brand for them to use. We spoke to Cyberpsychologist, Jing Reilly, about how brand consistency can help save time in the long run. As well as understanding the psychology behind branding, Jing has more than 10 years of experience in marketing.
{In conversation with Jing Reilly, Cyperpychologist}
Why is it that we feel overwhelmed by decision making?
It can be quite hard to make decisions and we don’t always know what we want, so we need guidance. There are psychological reasons why decision making is difficult and it’s to do with how our brains work. There’s a book by Daniel Kahneman called “Thinking fast and slow”. It’s worth reading but there’s a lot of information in it. Basically, we have two systems for thinking and decision-making. System 1 is a fast, automated system. That’s the system we use for 98% of our thinking. And because we use it for so much of our thinking it’s where we make the most mistakes. System 2 is a slow thinking system where we do the other 2% of our decision-making and we make fewer mistakes.
Can we switch from one system to the other? Or can we slow our thinking so we don’t make as many mistakes?
It’s not easy! You can’t simply switch from one system to another but you can use different techniques to slow down. One way to do it is to take the time initially, before making a decision, to talk to an expert or seek advice from someone with more experience. For example, using System 2 in relation to branding would mean working with a brand designer. That way you take time and advice when making those decisions about colour, style and font. Taking that initial time means that it prevents making mistakes later on and means that those decisions are strategic. When you have made those branding decisions early on with an expert, you save time making decisions every time you’re creating a social media post or presentation. Anything that helps us to save time while still making good decisions should be our top goal.
So thinking slowly (and more considered) about branding decisions early on will save time in the long run?
Yes, absolutely. If you put that time in to make those decisions at the start it means that each time you create a post, your decisions are already easier. Your brand colours, tone of voice, fonts, colour scheme and audience values are figured out. So you’re not looking at the entire spectrum of colours, you’re working with a limited palette and using your time to create great content – rather than getting too carried away on the visual each time. Having more time means that you can use that saved time to bring more value to your business. Or you can spend the time doing the things that you love with the people you love. Who wouldn’t want that?
Our top tip is to spend time making those branding decisions with an expert early on. That way you’ll save yourself time and stress each time you create any visuals for your business – from an Instagram post to an invoice and everything in between!
To find out more about how to elevate your business into a brand, learn more about MAKER Elevate.
Watch the full conversation here in this episode of the MAKER Elevate chat series:
MAKER Elevate is a programme designed for small businesses that would like a more cohesive and consistent brand that builds trust & loyalty with their customers, delivering a better experience an overall. The programme looks at your brand as a whole to see how you are communicating what your brand does and what it stands for – getting those all important brand foundations defined. (Coming soon in 2022)
Contact us: sayhello@makerdesign.ie