Simplicity is essential in small business branding. People are naturally drawn towards simplicity, whether it’s in the design of your logo or everyday life. Let me give you an example you’re probably familiar with: gardening.

If you’ve ever planted a garden, you know that your work is not done once the plants start to grow. You need to maintain your plants for them to flourish. Plants sometimes need to have some leaves and flowers removed to strengthen the plant and conserve nutrients. Weeds also creep in, siphoning off vital nutrition from your plants. To keep your garden thriving, you need to pull the weeds and prune all of the non-essential elements. This focuses all of the energy in your plants, encouraging your plants to produce large, beautiful flowers. This is the beauty of simplicity. Eliminating the non-essentials can produce powerful results.

Simplicity is my primary brand core value that I utilize for my small business branding and design services. There is so much noise in the digital world. Can you imagine how cluttered the digital world will be in the next 5 to 10 years? It will be much harder for small businesses to stand out from the crowd. 

As a small business owner myself, I know our limited time and tight budgets make it difficult to promote our businesses as we would like. We may offer great products and services but if our ideal audience doesn’t notice us, our business won’t survive. This is why simplicity is so important; it helps our brands to stand out, making it easier for your ideal audience to find you. 

That’s why today, I’m devoting an entire post to simplicity and how it can help your small business with branding. 

What is simplicity?

Simplicity is the state of being simple and uncomplicated. Many people think simplicity is plain or boring, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In my experience, simplicity gets people’s attention.

In Japan, where I was born and raised, I was influenced by Japanese aesthetics. Simplicity ( or “Kanso” in Japanese ) is a principle in Japanese aesthetics that means the “elimination of clutter”. Simplifying, therefore, is the elimination of non-essentials, which results in more clarity and understanding.

3 key benefits of simplicity in your small business branding

1. IT GIVES YOU CLARITY ON YOUR BRAND

Simplicity is more than just the elimination of things; it also helps to clarify your brand. It puts the focus on who you really are and what you stand for.

Why does your business exist?  

Who do you serve? 

What do you offer?

How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

By answering these questions, you will develop a simple and clear brand strategy, making the process of building a brand visual identity easier for you. 

I often hear that small business owners offer their products or services to anyone interested. I did the same thing when I started my design business. I offered my services to anyone interested. I have since learned that offering my services to everyone doesn’t work. 

Large companies with many employees and huge marketing budgets can get away with having several target audiences. However, I discovered that a narrow focus is a key success factor for small businesses.

When you choose one ideal client, you can put all your energy and effort into supporting that one group. You offer services specifically created for them, and you can be an expert for them. You can focus on reaching them through just one or two social media platforms rather than trying to be everywhere. When you learn which social media platforms your ideal clients prefer, you can eliminate the rest. This will increase your opportunities to connect with your ideal client, and it saves you time. As your business grows you can always expand it. 

2. IT’S EASY TO UNDERSTAND

Simplicity doesn’t mean plain. Rather it’s about clarity and making it easier for your audience to understand what you do. Some designers prefer complex designs, such as using many layers or gradations in design or sites filled with information and busy design elements without white space. However, I find that simple design makes it easier for your message to stand out and to be understood. The use of simple design uses white space, minimal colors, and fonts that are easy to read.

Simple design elements can even help guide your audience towards a particular destination. For example, a website with a simple layout may lead your viewer’s eyes towards a call to action button. That is hard to accomplish with a cluttered website. 

You are likely familiar with a big proponent of simplicity: Steve Jobs. 

Steve Jobs was influenced by Japanese Zen Buddhism which shaped his philosophy and aesthetic sensibility.  

Jobs believed that “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” 

Now Apple is one of the most prominent brands in the world. When you see the Apple logo, you know which brand it represents and what they do with no explanation required. 

While Apple is a huge corporation now, remember they too started small. A narrow focus with a simple approach helps people to understand your message and remember your brand.

3. IT’S A GREAT TIME-SAVER

Visual elements created with simplicity save time and are much easier to use. When a designer creates your visual brand identity, including a logo, color palette, typography, and brand guidelines, she tells you exactly how your brand is to be used. It is similar to using a recipe to prepare a meal. There are no decisions to make. You’re given exact quantities of the ingredients and specific steps to follow, yielding consistent results. The same is true for your brand. Your brand style guide tells you exactly how to use your visual elements. You won’t waste time trying to decide which font to use or what color. It’s all laid out for you.

In my experience, working with complicated logos or large color palettes is difficult. I find it takes more time to design while maintaining consistency. That’s why I offer a small business branding package that focuses on simplicity, ease of use, and understandability. When one of my clients uses brand visual elements that I created, I want her to find them easy to use. Small business owners are so busy they don’t need more to worry about. 

Conclusion

For your small business branding, simplicity can have an impact on your business.

Simplicity will help your business to:

• Stand out more with a narrow focus 

• Save time with simple brand visual elements

• Guide your audience to a destination with a simple message and design

I hope this article is helpful. If you have any thoughts on branding with simplicity, please leave a comment below. If you have any questions about small business branding, please feel free to contact me.