Free Guide · Brand

Brand Identity for Dance Schools

Logo, palette, voice, photography. The brand cheat sheet your studio needs.

22 pages30 min readPDF

Vector Web Design

About this guide

Most studio brands are accidental. The logo was made by a friend in 2014, the colour palette grew one social post at a time, and the website, the Instagram and the foyer all feel like different schools. This guide helps you build the feeling on purpose, with a one-page brand cheat sheet you can hand to a designer, photographer or new starter.

A one-page brand cheat sheet template you can fill in and pin up
Colour, type and tone-of-voice rules written for dance studios
How to brief a designer well (and the questions a good one asks back)
Applying brand consistently to website, social, uniform and signage
A ninety-minute annual brand audit you can run every September
Worksheets for moodboard prompts and reference brands

Inside this guide

Every chapter, summarised.

01
Brand is more than your logo
The six things that actually make a brand, and the mindset shift behind them.
02
The brand cheat sheet
What lives on the one page that keeps your brand consistent.
03
Choosing colours that work everywhere
Building a simple palette that survives phones, prints and signage.
04
Typography for legibility and personality
Picking two fonts, and making them earn their keep.
05
Tone of voice: pick three words
The three-word exercise and the fridge test for keeping voice consistent.
06
Your brand story
The origin, belief, audience and difference your competitors cannot copy.
07
Photography style
Light, framing, what's in shot, and a consistent edit across every image.
08
How to brief a designer well
What to put in the brief, and the questions a good designer asks.
09
Applying brand to your website
Buttons, forms, microcopy and empty states that all feel like you.
10
Brand on social, uniform and signage
Where your brand has to behave outside the website.
11
The annual brand audit
A ninety-minute review of ten touchpoints, scored against the cheat sheet.
12
Logo basics
Files you actually need, plus the rules to write down.
13
Microcopy and small words
Buttons, labels, errors and confirmations that hold the tone.
14
Brand cheat sheet template (worksheet)
One page to fill in, print, and pin above the reception desk.
15
Moodboard and references (worksheet)
Prompts to brief your next shoot, redesign or rebrand.