Brand boost: How to harness AI for quick and easy design elements

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Finding the right look for your personal brand can help consumers easily identify you as a professional they might want to work with. Navigating the hoops of graphic design on an already strained budget leaves many agents feeling like they have to spend big bucks for a sleek and professional look, and they immediately throw in the towel.

In this article, I’m going to show you some simple tricks to pull your brand look together using ChatGPT (Plus), Canva and other AI tools that will give you the fresh update you crave on a budget that will leave plenty of dollars left over to upgrade other elements of your tech gear wishlist.

What should be in your brand kit?

Here are a few simple elements that I recommend developing using AI tools to help your brand feel pulled together.

1. Professional headshot: I wrote an article last summer in which I tried some great AI tools for this.

2. Personal logo

3. Brand color pallet (at least four colors)

4. Social media/digital collateral

• Facebook cover art
• LinkedIn cover art
• Instagram Highlight covers
• Instagram branded frames for posts and reels
• Blog header for blogging on website/announcements
• Email signature for mobile and desktop

5. Printed collateral

• Notecards
• Stationery
• Envelopes

What AI tools will I need?

Using a combo of Chat GPT4o Plus and Canva Pro you should be able to create all of the items above. For affordable and reliable print needs, I recommend VistaPrint.

1. ChatGPT Plus: $20 per month.
2. Canva Pro: $12.99 per month when billed monthly, or $119.99 per year when billed annually (which averages to $9.99 per month).
3. VistaPrint: Stationery store

What colors should I choose?

There are many theories about which colors are the best, but my best advice is to pick colors that work with your franchise/brokerage logos and add creativity with your favorites. Now that ChatGPT can “see,” simply take a video or a picture of the colors you need to work around, and it will promptly help you create any palette you like.

Download the mobile app, snap a picture or video, and try this prompt.

Prompt: Please create a four-color pallet from this photo with hex and Pantone codes, and a mood board to reference. 

Save this information to a Google Document for easy reference and a place to copy and paste from for future projects quickly. You will be surprised how much you can use this in your daily marketing activities and how much efficiency it will create for you.

Once you have your pallet and color codes, you can upload everything into Canva Pro to start generating all the templates you need to create your brand guide.

Making your logo

Now of all the things I am recommending, this may be the item that requires the most work on your part. You may want to go ahead and hire a professional to help you if you cannot get the right look. Logos are very subjective, and even AI struggles to understand what your brain is looking for to get that dopamine hit.

Using ChatGPT’s Logo Creator and your newly minted color pallet, give short prompts to get the logo that you are looking for. Canva also has one, so have fun playing in both spaces.

Once you have your logo created, again add that to your Google Drive and Google Document for easy reference.

Start creating your collateral

Begin with a blank canvas, or choose a template that aligns with your brand’s aesthetic. Customize the template by uploading your brand’s logo, choosing your brand colors, and selecting fonts that reflect your brand’s style.

Canva Pro allows you to save these customizations as brand templates, which can be reused and easily modified for future projects. Additionally, you can organize your templates into folders for quick access and collaborate with team members by sharing the templates directly within Canva.

What I have found in Canva is that Magic Resize/Switch is a great tool, but still needs some finesse to make sure things are lined up.

You can also share these templates with team members and assistants who are helping you with your marketing and self-promotion.

Magic Edit and Magic Write: These AI tools assist in enhancing and editing images and text. For example, Magic Write can generate text suggestions based on the content and style of the design, while Magic Edit can apply filters and adjustments to improve image quality.

Please remember that these tools can sometimes hallucinate or make grammar errors. I recommend checking your work with Grammarly to keep things on track. Grammarly works beautifully with Canva and will help improve your writing and your quality of work.

AI Media Generator: Canva’s tool to generate images is very fun, but again takes a little work. The cover art for this story was designed with AI prompts in Canva’s media generation tool.

Book a slot on your calendar to update your look

Once you are finished creating all your templates, book a date with yourself on your calendar to upload and “makeover” your brand in all your digital areas. This will take some time, so put on your favorite podcast, and take your time to make sure everything lines up and looks the way you want it to look.

Make sure to check out both mobile and desktop to make sure there are no errors or adjustments that need to be made.

Hint: Less text is more. It’s easier for the brain to read and recognize.

Design takes practice and careful thought. This will not replace a professional, and believe me, when you work with a professional, he or she is worth every penny. Some folks can just see color and design on a whole other level. It’s an incredible talent.

These tips are to help you feel a little more pulled together with your brand look while not breaking the bank in an already tight economy.

Remember, less is more with design. Adding color to your business is a wonderful way to boost your mindset and keep you motivated to build better and more engaging marketing relationships with your prospects. Have fun, and please send me what you come up with. I would love to see it.

Rachael Hite is a former agent, a business development specialist, fair housing advocate, copy editor, and is currently perfecting her long game selling homes in a retirement community in Northern Virginia. You can connect with her about life, marketing, and business on Instagram.