You know that moment when you walk into a café and everything just feels right?The colours, the menu design, even the music. All of it tells you you’re in good hands before you’ve taken a sip. That’s brand design at work.
Whether you realise it or not, your business is doing the same thing. The fonts you use, the colours, even the way your logo sits on a page are all communicating something to your audience. Given that your brand doesn’t need sleep, can you be confident that it is saying what you want it to say?
Your brand is always speaking.
The question is: what’s it saying?
What Makes Up a Brand
A brand is more than a logo. It’s the full ecosystem of design and communication choices that work together to create a feeling. That feeling is what builds trust, loyalty and connection.
Your Logo:
Your Visual Signature
Your logo is what people will start to associate with you, not just visually but emotionally. A simple, balanced logo suggests clarity and confidence. A hand-drawn or organic mark feels personal and approachable.
The original logo designed for Maya (left) compared with the current logo.
Your Brand Typography:
Personality in Letters
Fonts shape how people feel about your business.
Serif
Serif fonts, like Luxury Elegance use in the Maya branding, are often viewed as traditional and trustworthy.
Sans
serif
The clean lines of a sans serif font gives the perception of modern and accessible.
Script
Script fonts lend your brand an aura of friendliness or expressive.
Your Brand Colours:
The Emotional Anchor
Colour sets the emotional tone of your brand.
Warm neutrals and golds project a feeling of being grounded and calm, while bright hues feel fun, energetic and full of life.
Cool blues and greys, especially together, read as corporate and dependable.
Your Imagery and Photography Style
Consistency builds trust. Real, local or candid imagery tells a story of authenticity and connection. Generic stock photos, however, can often feel disconnected, especially in Australia where it can be difficult to source Aussie stock images.
Use real faces, local locations or behind-the-scenes shots where possible.
Your Graphics and Icons
Small details make a big impact. Icons and accents create polish and cohesion.
Keep them consistent across your website, socials and documents.
Your Brand Voice and Tone
Even though this post focuses on visuals, your written tone matters. The way you speak to your audience should complement what they see.
Friendly and conversational says approachable. Structured and polished says expert and assured.
Your Layout and Spacing
White space creates calm and clarity. Clutter creates confusion. Good layout design signals confidence and helps your audience absorb your message.
Your Consistency:
The Trust Builder
It helps your audience recognise and remember you across all of your touchpoints: website, socials, email signatures, print materials, and more. Consistency builds trust, which is closely followed by recognition and loyalty.
Consistency ties everything together.
What Your Design Choices Communicate
Every design choice sends a subconscious message.
Logo
Whether it’s a wordmark, lettermark, pictorial, abstract, a mascot, or a badge, your logo is saying something. Is it what you want it to say?
Colours
Colours are used in marketing to differentiate from competitors, to evoke emotions, to shape brand perception, and to influence decisions. Are your colours working for your brand?
Fonts
Serif fonts project a sense of trust, while san serif fonts as modern, clean, and friendly.
What is the font you use saying that you haven’t put into words?
Imagery
Photos, whether real or stock, graphics, shapes and icons can help communicate your message, as well as build trust and credibility.
Layout
Your design layout says a lot about your brand. Clean and simple communicates clarity, user-friendliness, and trust. Too much information could cause overwhelm and scare people away.
Voice
Brand voice is made up of the tone, language, grammar and vocabulary used in your brand. Is your brand having a brawl in the front bar, when you would rather it be having a chat in the cocktail lounge?
Why It Matters
Even the best business can lose credibility if the design looks inconsistent or outdated. Your visuals quietly shape how people feel about working with you.
Small tweaks, like reducing the number of fonts you use, simplifying colours, or sometimes expanding them, and updating your imagery, can transform perception from uncertain to confident. At Maya, we believe design isn’t vanity. It’s communication.
Design isn’t decoration.
It’s how you visually express your values.
Your brand is always speaking, even when you’re not. Every colour, font and image tells a story about your business and the experience people can expect. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be you.
It is also important to realise that, just like us, brands evolve, and checking in from time to time is a sign of growth, not failure.
Ready to hear what your brand’s really saying?
- Let’s chat. Book a Free Call to unpack what your visuals are communicating and where small tweaks could make a big difference.
- Or, download the Brand Refresh Checklist. It’s a 5-minute review of your brand that you can do yourself, to make sure it’s working as hard as you do.
