Brand Design for Caryn Gillen
This week’s brand reveal is a fun one because sometimes I work with business owners for years through various projects and pivots, and all of a sudden they message me at 7:30am with a quick, "I don’t fit in my brand anymore. What do we do next?” Well, we jump in and have fun, that’s what!
Caryn Gillen is a life and business coach, and we’ve been working together since 2018. I’ve benefitted from so much of her wise coaching and was supposed to be at her in-person retreat exactly one year ago, until Covid hit and canceled everything.
I’ve also designed many of the collateral materials for her programs and memberships as her business has changed and expanded. We even did a minor tweaking of her visual brand in 2019. So Caryn and I know each other well, but I never expected that early morning message. This is what I love about my clients: when they know it’s time—it’s time. (If you’re wondering if it’s time, read this again.)
Caryn’s rebrand is a perfect example of why language matters and why knowing who you are and how you want to show up matters. Your visual brand is how you communicate what’s important to you. Keep reading and I’ll share our conversation.
1 | Brand Strategy
Two things are important to Caryn—she’s here to love people (which she does brilliantly), and she views business is a healing modality. And it was the absence of these two keywords—love and heal—that woke her up early that morning. Missing these key themes in her brand meant it was missing the core of who SHE was. And that’s no bueno.
We also realized that some of the previous language we used to describe her wasn’t accurate. One of those keywords was “intense,” but a little digging revealed this wasn’t exactly the right way to describe her. Having an “intense” brand meant it was more masculine, bold, and heavy. As we chatted, it became clear that Caryn isn’t intense in the sense of harsh, bold, or in your face. She’s direct and no-drama, but she does it with calm and compassion, all things I love about her. This disconnect made it apparent that we needed to go back to square one and really create a brand that aligned with how she coaches and why her clients love her.
She also mentioned in passing that a specific color kept coming to mind as she was envisioning her future brand. With a bit of gentle nudging, she admitted this new color was pink. I’m not sure which one of us was more surprised! We didn’t know how or if this would become part of the final reveal, but it’s easy to see now how important it has become.
After working through the Brand Strategy process, our keywords for Caryn are fun, grounded, and high-touch. The color psychology of blush pink is feminine, soft, and playful and brick red is stable, warm and supportive. The camel and grey blue round out the color palette to keep it light and fun but also grounded and sophisticated.
2 | Logo Design
Caryn’s logo was so fun to design. I wanted it to feel clean and grounded but also have a sense of play and interest. The overall shape is contained until we push outside the boundaries with the “C” and the extensions on the “Y.” Turning the “E” into steps increases the fun factor, visually represents how she helps her clients move forward and step up in their business, and allows us to pull in more color.
Bonus: when I combined the final logo elements in her circle icon, it created an unexpected “CEO” which is exactly how Caryn helps coaches and entrepreneurs show up—as the CEO of their business. She even has the option to drop her last name from the logo for a simplified version.
After a Fiverr logo she never used and a stylized signature I created a couple of years ago, it was time for Caryn to look like the CEO pro she is. Her new logo totally feels like her and where she’s headed next, and she loves it!
3 | Brand Board
The logo and additional pieces come together in the Brand Board with a variety of logo marks for flexible consistency, on-brand fonts that work easily on her website and in Canva, specific colors, a custom pattern and background, and an updated signature.
4 | Collateral & Social Media
Caryn’s main marketing tools are her amazing Facebook group and the launch of her new podcast. We created a simple wordmark for both platforms, and templates for her podcast episodes and IG stories where she shares lots of her coaching wisdom. As always, I created a set of social media templates and banners in Canva for her team to easily update and publish.
Her rebrand is a perfect example of my Signature Brand Package which includes all the elements you need to take your brand to the next level and Let Her Fly, just like Caryn did.
"So much of what I create for myself is where I am NOW, but you captured my aspirations and where I want to go in a way I never could have done on my own.
I thought working with a designer would be difficult and I'd have to know all the exact words to tell you. I'm so relieved this really is your zone of genius—taking all my random thoughts, applying the right strategy, and making it into something beautiful. It feels so good to have this cleaner, clearer style everywhere!
I love it; it finally fits—with lots of room to grow!"
– Caryn Gillen, Life + Business Coach
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