120+ brand adjectives to develop your visual identity

I know that branding your business can feel really overwhelming. You may even be wondering… what is a business brand, anyway?

I want you to know that your business brand is not JUST about colors, fonts, and logos. It’s actually so much more!

Before we can dive into the really fun stuff… ie. choosing the best colors, selecting the perfect fonts, and making a logo that is timeless and professional for your business… We have to first think about the identity of your business… no, not the visual identity… the perception.

(Wait! Grab this free gift that will make this so much easier! Download our brand discovery guide and we’ll walk you through the steps you need to take in order to develop an amazing brand all on your own! This guide makes the process streamlined and easy.)

Now, I know this might sound boring or overwhelming… but don’t check out on me!

We know this part of the branding process isn’t sexy or fun, but trust us, it will result in a brand that looks better, serves you better, and lasts way longer.

Here’s the thing…

When you think about putting your business into the world, YOU get to determine how it shows up and how it is perceived. That perception is what determines WHO engages with your business, WHO buys from you, HOW they engage and buy. Pretty important, huh?

We have to strategically think about what we want people to think about our business when they see us online.

This means that the way we talk, our mission, our vision, and our visual identity (colors, fonts, and logos) all must be in line with this perception. This is why it’s important to start with your perception.

One of our favorite exercises when it comes to developing your perception is to come up with 3-5 brand adjectives.

These brand adjectives help remind us how we want to show up in the world and it keeps us in check while we create and develop everything in our business.

For example, if our brand words are SIMPLE, ELEGANT, and PROFESSIONAL… then we can stop and think about if the way we are going about marketing and growing our business is in line with these words.

Take a moment to look at the following examples… which designs feel more SIMPLE, ELEGANT, and PROFESSIONAL to you?

or this one…

The second set of designs definitely feels more SIMPLE, ELEGANT, and PROFESSIONAL than the first set! Alternately, the first set of designs could reflect brand adjectives like fun, vibrant, modern, edgy.

You see, if we don’t have brand adjectives to remind us how we want our business to feel to those who view it, it could be easy to get caught up in design trends or fads… or even our emotions of the day.

The result of this would be patchwork branding that lacks clarity, consistency, and confidence.

When we know exactly how we want our business to be perceived and who our ideal client is, we’re able to market our business more effectively.

Knowing our 3-5 brand adjectives allows us to…

• Show up CLEARLY. We know what our brand is, we know the feeling we want people to have when they see us online, we know our colors, fonts, and visual identity.

• Show up CONSISTENTLY. When we know our brand perception, our strategic brand colors, and our selected brand fonts, we’re able to show up the same way over and over. This consistency develops brand recognition which creates an instant connection between our visuals and our business.

• Show up CONFIDENTLY. When we know things like our brand adjectives, colors, fonts, ideal client, our mission, vision, etc., we’re able to confidently step into the online space knowing who we are. There’s no identity crisis happening in our business. There’s no confusion. We can own our perception and show up BOLDLY as the amazing business owner we’ve been created to be.

So, now that we’ve covered why it’s important to develop 3-5 brand words, let’s talk about how to go about choosing the best words for your business.

First, we have to know the foundation of our business.

We have to strategically map out the following things
(download our brand discovery guide to walk you through each of these following points step by step)…

• What is the mission (present goal) of your business?

• What is the vision (future goals) of your business?

• Who is your most ideal client? (you can’t say everyone… you have to get specific and choose the BEST, most ideal client for you)

• How do you want your business to feel to your ideal client when they find you online?

• How do you want people to feel about you when they find you online?

• What characteristics would your friends say that you possess? What makes you, YOU?

You see, we need to think about your ideal client, mission, and vision… that’s all really important. BUT, we also need to make sure that our brand is genuine and authentic to who YOU are.

Does this sound familiar?

You may see a competitor in the online space doing amazing things and their brand may be fun, energetic, bright, vibrant, and SUPER happy… You may start to think “man, I love how they show up! They look so happy and fun. I want to look that way too!”. You may even begin to think about how your business would look with bright yellows, teals, and oranges as your brand colors.

But, I want you to STOP and think… is this how I really show up in real life?

Here are some simple ways to check to see what is genuine and authentic to you...

• What colors fill your closet? Are you more of a neutrals gal? Or maybe you have a bright and vibrant closet full of colors that pop?

• What words do you use in your everyday life? How do you approach people in public? Do you find yourself always making conversation with strangers in the grocery store? Or are you a little more quiet and reserved? If you are vibrant in real life, then by all means, create a brand that matches! However, if you’re more quiet and reserved, make sure your brand matches this instead.

• What decor and colors fill your home? Do you have lots of boho eclectic furniture with jewel tones and accents of gold? Or maybe you’re farmhouse white with neutrals and lots of white space? Chances are that your home is filled with things you love (and if not, just head to Pinterest and pin all the dream home decor things you love ;) …

These starting points can give you a good indication of how your brand should be developed in order to be authentic and genuine for you.

So, how exactly should you use the brand adjectives below?

Just remember, we want the words you select to be genuine and authentic to who YOU really are.

It’s going to be hard to narrow it down to 3-5 in the beginning. We always do a ‘brain dumping’ exercise first.

Download our entire Brand Adjective workbook which includes guided, step-by-step exercises to help you choose the best adjectives for your business!

Here are 120+ example brand adjectives you can use to develop the brand identity for your business.

1. Academic

2. Accessible

3. Active

4. Adaptable

5. Adventurous

6. Ambitious

7. Approachable

8. Aspirational

9. Authoritative

10. Bohemian

11. Bold

12. Brave

13. Bright

14. Bubbly

15. Calm

16. Candid

17. Carefree

18. Casual

19. Charming

20. Cheerful

21. Classic

22. Collaborative

23. Colorful

24. Comprehensive

25. Cool

26. Cozy

27. Crafty

28. Cultured

29. Current

30. Cutting-Edge

31. Daring

32. Delicate

33. Direct

34. Distinctive

35. Down to Earth

36. Dynamic

37. Edgy

38. Efficient

39. Elegant

40. Elementary

41. Eloquent

42. Energetic

43. Energetic

44. Established

45. Faith-Driven

46. Familiar

47. Fearless

48. Formal

49. Free-Spirited

50. Fun

51. Generous

52. Gentle

53. Genuine

54. Happy

55. Harmonious

56. Heartfelt

57. Helpful

58. High-end

59. Honest

60. Hopeful

61. Humble

62. Imaginative

63. Inclusive

64. Industrial

65. Informal

66. Innovative

67. Inspirational

68. Intentional

69. Inviting

70. Joyful

71. Kind-hearted

72. Knowledgable

73. Lively

74. Logical

75. Loving

76. Loyal

77. Luxurious

78. Magical

79. Mature

80. Meaningful

81. Minimal

82. Modern

83. Motivated

84. Natural

85. Original

86. Peaceful

87. Playful

88. Pleasant

89. Positive

90. Practical

91. Premium

92. Professional

93. Quiet

94. Quirky

95. Reflective

96. Relaxed

97. Religious

98. Resourceful

99. Romantic

100. Sassy

101. Serene

102. Self-Assured

103. Serious

104. Simple

105. Sincere

106. Sophisticated

107. Spiritual

108. Strategic

109. Thoughtful

110. Thrifty

111. Timeless

112. Traditional

113. Transparent

114. Trendy

115. Trustworthy

116. Unique

117. Uplifting

118. Urban

119. Vibrant

120. Vivacious

121. Warm

122. Whimsical

123. Wild

124. Wise

125. Witty

126. Youthful

127. Zealous

Ready for a brand that feels genuine AND attracts your perfect clients?

Grab our Brand Discovery Guide here!

Well, how did this exercise on selecting your brand adjectives go? Did you find this post helpful in understanding your brand and business better? Leave a comment and let us know below.

If you want even more support + guided exercises to help you pick the best words for your brand and business, grab our free BRAND DISCOVERY GUIDE here!

We can’t wait to hear how this helped you below in the comments! Have any questions? Just ask below!

Always cheering you on,

Sandra

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