Ep. 23 | Branding Challenge for Not Legal Advice: Abby's Informational Legal Brand

Listen on:

Apple | Spotify | Google | Amazon

If you’ve been following our journey on Aesthetically Speaking, you know we're passionate about helping businesses discover their unique brand identity. In this episode, we're doing something a little different. We're unveiling Abby's brand, "Not Legal Advice" to her LIVE. We'll walk you through the creative process and the visual elements that were considered. But first, let's clarify what "Not Legal Advice" is all about.

Objectives of the Brand

Before diving into the visual aspects, it's crucial to understand the objectives of the brand. "Not Legal Advice" aspires to achieve three main goals:

• Provide General Awareness: This brand aims to shed light on how the law affects everyday lives, making legal matters accessible and comprehensible.
• Enhance Accessibility and Transparency: It's all about simplifying legal information without providing personal legal advice. 
• Elevate Perceptions: "Not Legal Advice" also seeks to elevate the public's perception of lawyers and legal professionals by presenting legal matters in a clear and engaging way.

What Not Legal Advice IS

To create a brand that embodies these objectives, we've identified key characteristics that "Not Legal Advice" should represent:

• Knowledgeable: This brand exudes expertise in the legal field.
• Creative: It's not just about laws and regulations; it's about artful and innovative representation.
• Professional: Maintaining a high level of professionalism while making legal matters approachable.
• Regulated: Acknowledging the presence of rules and regulations in the legal sphere.
• Transparent: Transparency is at the core, ensuring clarity in legal communications.
• Interesting: Legal information can be captivating; this brand aims to make it so.
• Artful: Infusing creativity into the legal world to make it more engaging and relatable.
• Compassionate: The brand understands the challenges people face with legal matters and responds with empathy.
• Respectful: Respecting the audience's intelligence and striving to empower them with knowledge.

What Not Legal Advice Is NOT

To further clarify our brand's identity, we've outlined characteristics that "Not Legal Advice" will NOT represent:

• Skeezy: Maintaining integrity and steering clear of anything shady or unethical.
• Sarcastic: Keeping away from sarcasm or mockery of legal topics.
• Snobby: Being approachable and avoiding any form of snobbery.
• Cutesy: While we embrace creativity, we won't veer into overly cute or juvenile territory.
• Silly: There's a balance between creativity and silliness, and we'll stay on the right side of that line.
• Juvenile: The brand won't adopt a juvenile tone or presentation.
• Self-deprecating: We won't undermine our professionalism or expertise in any way.
• Overly Academic: Ensuring that our brand remains accessible and doesn't become overly academic.

Creative Application

With a clear understanding of what "Not Legal Advice" is and isn't, we move on to the creative application. Here's a glimpse into how we've considered translating these qualities into visual elements. From these two lists, I do an exercise called the Creative Application.

Basically what I do is group these things into categories based on what is similar, and then what visual element could be used to convey those feelings or words.

• Rules/Structure/Protection/Education: To convey these aspects, we're looking at elements like straight lines, solid blocks, underlines, and highlights.
• Legal/Attorney/Government: Red, white, and blue color schemes, eagle motifs, stamps, seals, and serif fonts are all on the table.
• Creativity/Artisan/Unusual/Novel: Expect a mix of colors, from purple to pink, as well as a variety of fonts. Handwriting or cursive styles may also come into play.
• Everyman/Regular/Easy/Transparent: Visual representations of crosswalks, street signs, and the act of walking/pedestrians capture the essence of accessibility and simplicity we're aiming for.

Abby’s Initial Reactions

Normally I do not present the branding boards to my clients live due to the high pressure for both myself and the client, but since I usually present these branding challenges to Abby live, I wanted to do the same for her brand. I also take her behind the scenes, to justify my decisions throughout my creative process to help give an understanding for the reasoning for specific design choices. 

One of the first things that struck Abby was the vibrant and whimsical nature of the Pinterest board. The color palette and overall aesthetic felt colorful and editorial without leaning towards a childish appearance. The use of contrasting, complementary colors created a visually appealing experience, akin to what one might find in a high-quality magazine. She even said that her ideal aesthetic would be "Art Museum Gift Shop" which I didn't know before it was the inspiration for my design!

Overall, Abby was very happy with the design and is excited to use it!

Feedback and Design Collaboration

One of the key takeaways from this branding journey was the importance of effective feedback and collaboration between us. Abby shared her initial reactions and thoughts on the design, providing valuable insights into how the brand made her feel and which elements resonated the most. This feedback helped guide the design process and led to the creation of a brand that not only met Abby's objectives but resonated with her personal values, completely exceeding her expectations.

Crafting a brand that seamlessly combines creativity and authority is a delicate art. The "Not Legal Advice" brand journey is a testament to the collaborative efforts of a skilled designer and a visionary client. Through continuous refinement, thoughtful design choices, and effective feedback, the brand successfully strikes the perfect balance between seriousness and whimsy. It's a brand that beckons you to explore the world of law in a novel and engaging way, inviting you to look beyond the ordinary.

Take a look at the branding from this episode:

Work with Rebecca:

• Brand + Website Design
• Personal Brand Mastery
• Brand in a Day
• Creative Partnership | Done-for-you Strategy + Design
• Client Case Studies

Previous Episodes/Blog Posts:

Welcome to Aesthetically Speaking: The podcast for all things branding, design, and aesthetics for women in business.

On this show we’ll discuss the strategies that make brands of all sizes massively successful. I’m Rebecca, a brand strategist and designer and my sister, Abby is a lawyer with no design experience, here as my co-host! 

Have you ever wondered how to create a brand so cohesive people can recognize it a mile away, no matter where they see it? Do you ever struggle to capture the attention of your ideal client and KEEP it with a compelling brand and message? Are you ready to stand out as a unique and valuable service provider regardless of how “saturated” the market is? Aesthetically Speaking is for you!

We believe that your brand is the most valuable asset in your business and should be your greatest investment. As moms and entrepreneurs, we know how to use branding to put your business in front of the RIGHT people, get them EXCITED about your offer, and help your brand BLOW UP online, so you can make more impact *and* more money.

Every TUESDAY, we’ll discuss a unique branding challenge and analyze different aspects of creating a unique and high-value brand for YOUR business.