Why your brand needs adjectives

It’s probably not why you think.

One of the most useful tools when defining your brand is adjectives. If your brand positioning is your North Star (more about that in another post), your adjectives are your Guardrails.

Let’s talk about Guardrails for a second.

Have you ever noticed that Guardrails don’t just help you stay on the road? They help you see the edges. They show you how to steer when the way might be unclear. Guardrails allow you to keep moving, even when you can’t see around the bend.

By defining your brand’s shortlist of adjectives, you create the Guardrails for a genuine brand. It helps you to avoid the trap of continually reacting what your competitors are doing, whether that’s a similar design aesthetic, new product, a marketing trend, or some other (equally costly) rabbit hole.

Ideally, each brand has a list of 3 to 5 clear adjectives.

This shortlist sums up your brand’s personality and character in a nutshell. Not what you do, but how you show up as you do it. You’ll use this list a lot! Does that new product check all the boxes on the list? Would you describe your brand identity with all your adjectives?

As your design partner, your brand adjectives are valuable to me too. I’ll use them as a filter to ensure your visual touchpoints are compelling and consistent.

One of the results of effective branding is: your customers will use these words to describe your brand. And hopefully, use them when they tell their like-minded friends about your brand.

Do you have Guardrails for your brand?