Danielle Joseph is a brand stylist, coach, and designer at her company Function Creative Company. What she really does though is helps her clients create crazy effective communications that connect them more deeply with their audience. Danielle is also a Hatha and yin yoga instructor and is in her glory when she can blend her two worlds by working with yoga and wellness business owners. She’s focused on serving these heart centered entrepreneurs by helping them work towards sustainability in their businesses.

The importance of good design to your brand @hellofunction #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet 

In this episode you’ll learn:

• • How to find your ideal clients
  • Strategies to use in Facebook groups to help you find clients
  • how important good design is to your brand
  • help with coming up with a great logo

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Tell us a little bit about you, Danielle Joseph, and what you do.

The idea behind Function and my design company is really to help my clients work through the process of, yes, getting things looking really great and bringing their brand to life and bringing their website to life, but I really try and balance that with a better approach towards functionality and of being effective. I really work deeply with my clients to get the idea about their foundation, audience, and market. We work together to make sure that it looks good, but also that it functions. I took my teacher training almost a year and a half for yoga and since I started getting in the yoga world, I noticed a lot of people coming to me after we finished our program together, asking, “Where do I go from here? What’s next?” They knew that I had a design company, so they knew I had a business idea or an idea about being an entrepreneur. They felt a little bit lost. Those questions stemmed growth around a yoga teacher community where I support teachers growing their brand and building up their business.

What action items would you recommend for entrepreneurs starting out to help them move forward with figuring out their brand and  purpose?

The best piece of advice that I can give is to just start super simple. If you do not have a solid idea or foundation yet, investing in a brand stylist or a designer can be a little bit off, maybe out of reach right away. I definitely think that there are ways that you can start to figure out who your audience is. Start listening to the conversations that are happening around you. Be mindful about what people are talking about, what they are struggling with, or what you can offer to help them. Figuring out your audience is a really good place to start. For visuals, start really simple. Start with a simple wordmark.

How do you suggest listeners make the switch to finding out where their clients are instead of just people who are supporting them?

I think it is a big personal journey. Tune in and see what is going to make you happy. Find a brand or business that offers something to people and  seek out who is going to benefit. The people we surround ourselves with are often not our ideal clients. Figure out what the purpose of your messaging is for you and your brand. Think about the kind of person that needs that help or that needs the guidance that you can offer. It comes back to listening to people and seeing people.

One of the biggest ways that I found my ideal audience is through Facebook groups. Seek out a couple solid Facebook groups and observe. See what people are struggling with. It can be a really good place to start noticing certain patterns in your ideal audience.

Why do you think it is important to have great design and design that aligns with your brand?

We are in this world that is bombarded by simulation everywhere. Visually we’ve got so much to look at. We’ve got so much to take in and digest. We have so many avenues of content. It can be overwhelming if you are tuning to it all the time. When it comes to design, having something to communicate your brand in a more effective way that moment that captures or captivates an audience is so important. Design is the face that you put out in front of your business and up to your audience. It is what intrigues people to go further, go deeper, click the next page, like something, or comment. Those actions we want our audience to be taking starts with good design. Good design starts with really nice looking things, but also functionality.

How do you suggest people get started with functional visuals?

Start with simple word marking. Use a typeface logo, just letters. Pinterest is an awesome place for this. You can browse great fonts that have personality.  Find a combination of fonts. There are tons of resources available online like Creative Market. Canva has great inherent design setup templates. I use all of the Adobe creative suite programs. They have free trials. You just need something that is going to be able to communicate and reference to your brand.

If the listeners can get advice how to develop their brand visuals, what do you think they should go start right now?

Get a good idea. Create a board with pieces that are inspirational and what resonates with you for your brand. A dream board or mood board is really good place to start. Sit down and ask yourself key questions. What is your why for your brand? Why are you doing this? Why is it important to you. Start free flowing writing. The more consistency your audience sees, the easier it will be for them to remember you, think about you, and digest that in a deeper way.

Danielle Joseph is a brand stylist, coach, and designer at her company Function Creative Company. She helps her clients create effective communications that connect them more deeply with their audience. She is focused on serving these heart centered entrepreneurs by helping them work towards sustainability in their businesses.

Find Danielle!
Website: Function Creative Design Co
Instagram: @hellofunction
Twitter: @hellofunction
Facebook: Function Creative Co.

This podcast was sponsored by Kit Life!

You Foodies in particular will love the meal planning features and nutrition and fitness add-ons .  Kitlife has these unique daily tracker stickers you can use to customize your day. There’s even a social media sticker that can help you manage your efforts to build your brand. For photos, reviews and more information check out
 kitlife.net and become a #kitgirl today!

And as a special promo for Blissful Bites Podcast listeners if you enter my name – Nicole Culver in the comments section at check-out Team KIT will add in a set of adorable snail –mail postcards just for fun. This variety pack of 10 postcards are so cute – and they are themed for the holidays too – so you can send some love to friends and family near or far!