In this episode, Amy is joined by her friend and longtime collaborator, Lindsay Williams, a visual brand designer and founder of Lindsay Williams Design. Together, they talk about what a brand really is, why strategy always comes before design, and how even the smallest museums can use their visual brand more intentionally (without a big budget).

Links from the Episode:

1. Lindsay Williams Design
2. Free “Design Flow in Canva Pro” Course
3. Canva
4. Blog Post
5. Pergamonmuseum

Free Resources for Museums:

1. Getting Visitors Through Your Museum’s Doors: Building Connection in a Noisy World ebook
2. Museum Planning Calendar
3. Museum Metrics Template

About the host:

Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums. She has owned Kehs Communications since 2000 and has worked for the most renowned and well-loved museums in Washington, D.C. Her goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century and she hopes people will come to love museums as much as she does. Her proven process sets up proactive communication habits for museums, cultivating relationships with visitors who will want to return and bring a friend. Want to talk more? Click this link to book a call.

In today's episode, I'm joined by my friend Lindsey

2

Williams, a visual brand designer.

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We're talking about how brands are

built, the psychology behind trust, and

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why educating your team is essential.

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Let's get started.

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. .

hello and welcome to the Love My Museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Keys

and I love museums.

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I am also a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums,

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and I am so excited today because

I have my really good friend.

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My business bestie Lindsay Williams

from Lindsay Williams Designs

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Welcome to the show, Lindsay.

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Lindsay: Hey Amy.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I'm so excited to be here.

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Amy: I'm so excited too.

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Lindsay is the founder of

Lindsay Williams Design.

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She works with organizations to craft

authentic, strategic, and beautiful

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brands to help them connect with

customers who need them and also make

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a meaningful impact in the world.

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I.

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First one to say and sort of tell the

story of how we met, which I can't believe

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it has been, I guess six years now.

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Lindsay: Yeah,

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Amy: We were working for the same

client and one of my jobs was to

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write blog posts, write articles,

introducing the team members.

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so I got to interview Lindsey

and since then we have been each

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other's accountability partners.

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We've worked on other projects

together, and Lindsay has taught

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me pretty much everything I know

about building a successful brand.

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And so I'm so excited to

have her on the show today.

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So I thought we'd start Lindsay by first

talking about What a brand really is.

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Lindsay: So a brand, and I do the

visual component of the brands, but

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a brand is more than just your logo.

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And so we like to talk about, your brand

as kind of the visual touch points,

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and customer experience that you have.

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Along the way.

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So it can encompass a customer

experience, it can encompass your

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visuals, it can encompass your messaging.

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it's all of those things.

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It's all of those individual

touchpoints that clients have with

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you that create trust, that create

recognition, and that create a love

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or, a connection with the brand.

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so it's more than just a logo,

but I do the visual parts.

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So I'm heavily invested in logos

along with your fonts, your colors,

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your images, and everything else.

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Amy: a lot of times when you and I

are working together, you will take

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the lead on the project, do the

research, all of the stuff that I

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think a lot of times people skip over.

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So we'll definitely talk about that.

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Yeah.

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And then you create the visual

brand and then I come in and then

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help with that brand messaging.

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When we're thinking about using

your whole brand in general.

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And thinking about museums,

how can they be more strategic?

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With their brand.

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And it could be that they're

listening right now and thinking,

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oh my gosh, I really did just

think that my brand was my logo.

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Lindsay: It could, and that's totally

fine, but we're here to help, and educate.

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And one of the ways that I think you can

be more strategic, the deep dive that I do

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before I ever start designing anything is

I really look into what customers are you

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trying to attract and also what customers

are you currently attracting because that.

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There could be a mismatch there, or you

could at least just see what's working.

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and after we figure out who your customers

should be, we can start speaking to them.

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And we can do that with visual clues,

with fonts, with colors, with imagery.

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We can do that with messaging

cues like you help with.

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but I think some people, especially when

they're first starting out, if they're

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building something new, they can get.

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distracted, if you will, like it is fun,

or at least I think it's fun to play

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with colors and fonts and imagery, and

you can get really down a rabbit hole.

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Forget that you have a client that you

need to speak to with it so it becomes

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your favorite color instead of maybe

something that works for your client.

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Just because Amy and I, have worked

with clients before, just because

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your favorite color is purple does not

mean that purple works for your brand.

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And so we need to be a little,

um, strategic about that.

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I also like to look at who you

might be collaborating with in your

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space or competing with in your

space because, you're trying to.

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Kind of be balanced, kind of trickily on.

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You want to look like you're of the space.

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You don't want someone to come to

your website and think that you're a

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car manufacturer instead of a museum.

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so you wanna look like you're of the

space, but you wanna look different

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enough that you peak someone's interest.

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And so there's a balance there.

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And then that's if you're starting a

brand, if you already have a brand,

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I would encourage you to use it.

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you've already invested in it and.

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I think some people want to look

innovative or want to look new or catch

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someone's attention, but the way that

you're gonna catch someone's attention is

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by weirdly enough just being super boring.

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Like stick to your fonts, stick to

your colors, stick to your imagery

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because you're building trust with that.

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Anytime you change it, you're

disrupting that trust and you're

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disrupting that visual touch

point for your clients because.

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Realistically, you're the only one that's

looking at your brand all the time.

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so you are probably getting bored

of it, but your client, your

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perspective, customer isn't, and also.

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just from a very pragmatic

standpoint, you're wasting time

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by creating everything new.

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Like your brand cuts

down on decision fatigue.

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It gives you a really good framework.

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It gives you a box to build in and you

can be really innovative in that box.

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but it gives you your left and

right limits of where you should be.

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and if you stick to that and continue to

do that over and over again, you're just

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going to build that trust and consistency.

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both from a visual perspective,

but also if you're thinking about

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it, that's proving that, your

brand delivers on your values.

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So you're being a consistent, valued

part of a community valued, resource.

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And so I think that it just,

from a really simple, pragmatic

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standpoint, it's also just.

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Really worth your time

to stick with your brand.

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You're not saving time, creating

something new from scratch.

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You're probably not saving

money, especially if you're

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paying someone to do that.

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so it's just from a very practical

standpoint, it's very good for

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you to stick to your brand.

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Amy: when I'm talking to museums about

the, their brand They will say, we're

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just a, we're just a small museum.

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we're not a big brand, and I

think that makes it even more

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important to stick with your brand.

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And two examples that

you and I always give.

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Of a brand doing an amazing job.

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the one I always talk about is gap.

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So I have a sweatshirt that says.

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Actually nap, NAP.

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but you can look at it and immediately

because of the font that's used

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And the spacing of the letters,

you know, it's from the gap.

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and I know your favorite example.

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Lindsay: I usually go back to

Tiffany's only because they have been.

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So consistent for so long and they've

really built brand trust and recognition

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around that Tiffany's blue box.

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And so it's, I joke, it's Tiffany Blue.

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It's not Tiffany Orange or

purple or sometimes polka dot.

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It is Tiffany Blue.

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And they are so consistent with that,

and I think that it's really proven.

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It's the test of time, with a simple

color, just Tiffany Blue, you know

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exactly what you're getting from

that scenario or from that box.

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I think that's really

powerful right there.

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you don't even need to see the logo, you

just need to see the colors, so, yeah.

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Yeah.

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Amy: Well, and I think too.

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Museum teams need to remember,

especially the visual part of your

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brand, like somebody's going to be

scrolling on Instagram or, looking at

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a brochure and your visual brand has

to create that know, like, and trust.

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They need to know that it's you.

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Before they even read the words

that I've written, that is what is

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really capturing their attention.

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Lindsay: I think something that

you and I have talked about,

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Nowadays, our attention span is dwindling.

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I mean, I joke with people, I'm a,

I'm a mom, and so I joke with people,

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you either catch me in the 10 minute

window, I'm in the school pickup

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line, or it's gonna be another three

weeks before we have a conversation.

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And so who knows if I caught your event

or if I caught your ad, you know, in that

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10 minute window, maybe I did and maybe I

took action, or maybe I did and I forgot,

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and now I'm trying to scroll through.

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Instagram or something and figure

out what in the world was that thing

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I was trying to do, a week ago when

I was in the school pickup line.

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So I think it's almost even more

imperative now that we are being

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that consistent because people

are so distracted and it's, it's

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not anyone's fault, but it's

certainly part of the conversation.

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We're so distracted, we don't

have any attention span, and

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we're also being bombarded by more

than we ever have been before.

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Amy: Yeah, and we touched on this a

little bit, but there is science and

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psychology behind that brand recognition

and you put a lot of time, I don't

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think people understand, like when

you're working with a brand designer,

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how much time goes into that research

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It is important to work with a designer

who is an expert in visual branding.

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Lindsay: It is.

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We ask, or if you're working with

someone, they should be asking a lot

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of questions and it shouldn't be.

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Most of my questions are not

focused on what your visuals are.

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They're focused on who your client

is, what your customer experience

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is like, what are the end goals for

these designs, because a print piece

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is different than a social media piece

is different than a billboard ad.

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I need to know what your end goals are.

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That's not to say we can't.

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Change or create a system.

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And that's the best part

about a brand is it.

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It should be functioning like a system.

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So once you have a template or something

in place, for example, that social

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media template, you should be able to

change out an image and a color and

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maybe move around some text and it

should look on brand and yet different

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enough that it's working for you.

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So you're using these parts

and pieces as a system.

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We create that system so that

you can use it for anything.

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But it's best if I know what your

current end goals are because

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we can tailor it that way.

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And so I like to talk a lot

about how everything functions.

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I also like to know about your team.

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Maybe it's just you doing

it and that's totally fine.

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maybe you have a team

that you need to train.

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And so one of the pieces that I.

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Felt was missing in the brand design

world when I was seeing it and doing it

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for other companies is there was a huge

gap between the delivering of a brand and

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the education of how to use the brand.

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And so for me, I think it's important.

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If I'm gonna give it to you, I should

probably tell you how to use it.

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That's 'cause how else are

you gonna be successful?

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So not only do my clients walk away with

a brand they can use, they walk away

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with the education of how they can use

it and use it as that system that I'm

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talking about, so that yes, they know

how to make a social media post, but

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they know how to expand and use that

brand for other future projects as well.

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again, like it just, it makes sense to

put in the time upfront and work with

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someone who can ask those questions and

create a system for you instead of just.

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Almost throwing spaghetti at the wall.

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Like, yeah, this is my

logo, this is my color.

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We'll see if this works.

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so yeah, so I think that upfront

investment for some people can

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feel a little bit intimidating or

overwhelming or even time consuming.

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'cause it's asking you a lot about

your values, your mission, your vision,

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what are those end goals that you have?

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and that can feel intimidating sometimes.

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But I find that most clients on

the back end of it can see that

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it was well worth the time and

effort to spend that time upfront.

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Amy: Yes.

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And it's going to hopefully attract

your customers better because You have

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worked, With a brand designer, instead

of saying, Hey, just make me a logo.

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And I like the color purple.

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Yeah.

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Well, and I love that you talked about the

education piece because we, you and I have

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definitely seen where all of this work and

time and money goes into producing this.

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Beautiful brand identity and a brand

kit, but then there is a gap and no

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one wants to be the one who's the

brand police at their organization.

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And so taking the time to educate

your team and your staff on why it's

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important that we stay on brand.

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I think that's one of the things

that you do so well there's so

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much less friction, Working with

the people that you work with.

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Then also your brand is more consistent.

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everybody is on the same page,

which is always something that makes

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the communications person happy.

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Lindsay: Exactly.

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if you know why the brand was created,

for example, if you know why this

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aspect of the logo was included.

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Then you become invested in the

brand and your team starts to love

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the brand and they also become

invested in protecting the brand.

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So if they know why those pieces exist,

if they know that it wasn't arbitrary,

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so again, you're working with someone

who's building a brand from strategy.

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if you know why those pieces were

included, if you know what that

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meaning is, even if it's kind of

like a secret, Hey, I know this

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part of the logo was taken from

this one brick in the building and.

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If you look outside, maybe that'll make

sense to you, but it doesn't have to.

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Like I know that this particular

part of my logo is from a

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brick in our physical building.

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How cool is that?

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They wanna start using

it and repeating it.

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And so you're kind of generating

brand love instead of brand policing.

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Yes.

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That way.

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And that's always helpful

too, if you know that.

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maybe there's a specific flower in your

flower bed out in front of your building

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and it makes the specific color, and

that's where we pulled, you know, a

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piece of our color for the brand kit.

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It just, it makes so much more

sense and it's kind of a lovely

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experience instead of feeling a.

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Constrained and constricted.

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You can just feel like you love it

because it makes sense for the building

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that you're in or for the museum that

you are, for your parts and pieces.

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Amy: everyone becomes invested

and that's, that's huge.

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Mm-hmm.

259

That's huge.

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So Lindsay, what are some things

that small museums who maybe don't

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have a huge budget, what are some

things that they can do to stay on

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brand and to use their brand wisely?

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Lindsay: I work with a lot of small

businesses, a lot of solopreneurs, a lot

264

of very small or single person teams,

and I think one of the quickest, easiest

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ways to do that is to actually keep

all your brand materials in one place.

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So if you have just a quick.

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Brand guide that should include

your logos, your colors, your fonts.

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you can have that printed out.

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You can have that in a place where

team members are accessible to it.

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A really simple, easy way to do it, I

believe, especially if you're generating

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a lot of content, is to be in Canva.

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You can set up a brand kit and you can

add all of your logos, all of your colors,

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all of your fonts, all of your images.

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If you have, branded images, you

can create folders of branded

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images from their free resources.

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that one's a really simple no brainer for

me, that if, even if you have a minimal

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budget, I think it's worth investing in.

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And they also have free nonprofit

accounts, so if you're a nonprofit,

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you should be able to apply and

get a free account that way.

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and they have it set up so you can use

it as part of a larger team as well.

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I think that's a really simple way to make

sure that everybody has access to what

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they need to if they're creating something

and they have access to the correct.

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fonts, colors, all of that.

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I think it's really hard.

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People have great intentions

and they'll go rogue.

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and so while the intention is

great, the rogue maybe not so much.

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so I know we've seen places where,

there was access to branded materials,

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but then people were taking them.

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And piecemealing them onto business

cards that didn't actually match the

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brand or creating new websites that

were somehow affiliated with the

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brand, but actually never recognized

the brand or included the logo.

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And so it wasn't a.

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Helping the brand at all is taking

away from brand authority that

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way it was undermining the brand.

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so I think if you can have that education

piece for your team and have access to

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all the things that they need to do it

correctly, and then have someone take a

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look before it goes out, 'cause I know

that we joke about the brand police,

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but also I think if you realize how

important it is to protect your brand,

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maybe it won't feel like policing.

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It will feel like protecting, but you

do wanna maintain those standards.

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Amy: Do you have any other, quick

tips for getting started with Canva?

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Lindsay: Yeah, I do actually.

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And it's a few years old

now, so not all of it.

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the interface might not look

exactly the same, but I have

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a design flow in Canva Pro.

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Playlist on my YouTube channel

that you can go through.

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It's step by step.

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It's really short.

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I think the longest tutorial

is maybe 15 minutes.

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And yes, it's about using Canva

and setting up a brand kit in

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Canva just to get you started.

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But really it's about

how to use your brand.

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So I talk through sourcing images

that are appropriate to your brand, if

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you wanna do that through the images

on Canva, or other free resources.

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In my opinion, it's always best

if you have the budget or even

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if you're good with your iPhone.

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if you can take some specific

images of your museum instead of

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red lying so heavily on, stock

images, that's always best.

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it's a more personal, real experience

for the, potential customer, Do

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what you need to do to get started.

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I think if you can set yourself up

in Canva, I also think it'll help,

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get you over the initial hump of

feeling afraid to create content.

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So if it's already there for you,

it's a lot easier to get started.

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'cause you know, you have

all the parts and pieces.

325

I think about it.

326

You go to make a recipe

and some people do.

327

I am the worst at this.

328

Usually I start and halfway through

I realize I'm missing the milk.

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But usually normal people pull

together all their ingredients for

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us to make sure they have everything

before they get started cooking.

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so it's kind of like that, your brand

kit, like your colors, your fonts,

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your logos, or all those recipe

pieces that you're gonna use to create

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Amy: I will leave your Canva

course linked in the show notes.

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Again, it's free.

335

I'll also leave linked in the show notes.

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Lindsay's website for listeners.

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Lindsay, I think I just

have one last question.

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Lindsay: Yes.

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Amy: And I know that you listen, so I

know you are probably anticipating this.

340

Lindsay: I'm,

341

Amy: but what is your favorite museum?

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Lindsay: My gosh.

343

Um, I can't tell you how much brain

power has gotten towards this question

344

over the past week, so I'm gonna answer,

but I'm gonna, can I do two answers?

345

Yes.

346

Yes.

347

Amy: Oh yeah.

348

Lindsay: So I think one of my

favorite museums to experience

349

is the Perga MA Museum in Berlin.

350

I remember my husband was deployed at

the time, I've been in art classes, I've

351

done art history like art is my life.

352

And so I was standing in the middle

of the gates of Ishtar and my husband

353

happened to call, he was deployed and

I was like, I'm at the gates of Ishtar.

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And he was like, I don't.

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Know what that means,

but I was very excited.

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My other favorite one was, I

don't remember what museum this

357

was, but I was in high school.

358

I was visiting a friend in DC and

I felt so adult because she and I

359

got to pick what museum we went to,

360

And so we went to this exhibit

and someone had curated a whole

361

bunch of different genres and a

bunch of different artists from.

362

Pass to present a huge depth of

range and each piece had to do with

363

beauty, specifically feminine beauty.

364

So it's the first time I saw Frida

Kahlo, in a museum in person.

365

I remember one sculpture, it was a

beautiful Greek statue, and she was

366

just in a heaping pile of laundry.

367

I feel like it was the first time I could

see someone's brain working and they

368

were putting all the parts and pieces and

threads together to create this statement.

369

this was the first time I felt like I

went to a museum and I was getting this.

370

Full experience and I got to interact

with each piece in a different way, but

371

also see how they all interacted with each

other and it was just, it was really cool.

372

It was a, yeah, it was a really

cool experience and I wish I

373

could remember what museum it was

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Amy: If, if you are listening and

you know the exhibit that Lindsay's

375

talking about, please send us an email

376

Lindsay: late nineties, early two

thousands, somewhere in there.

377

Yeah.

378

Amy: Thank you so much,

Lindsay, for joining us.

379

if there's just one thing that you want

museums to remember from our chat today?

380

Lindsay: Gosh,

381

Amy: what, what would it be?

382

Lindsay: I feel like we've said

this a lot, but I don't think it can

383

be said less like, be consistent.

384

Amy: Yes.

385

Lindsay: Just be consistent.

386

I think you'll find.

387

There is more benefit to consistency

than there is to being the newest

388

or fanciest or anything else.

389

Like just be consistent.

390

Amy: Yeah.

391

Lindsay: Yeah,

392

Amy: I agree.

393

Be consistent with your visual brand

and be consistent with your messaging.

394

Yeah.

395

It'll do wonders for how

you connect with people.

396

Lindsay: Yeah.

397

I'll thank you so much for having Me too.

398

This was.

399

Amy: This was so fun.

400

This was so fun, and again, I'll leave

all of the links and everything we

401

talked about down in the show notes.

402

Thanks for listening.