(Note: This article was originally published to JamieMcSloy.co.uk on April 5th, 2019. I’m going through an old backup of the site, which has hundreds of posts that aren’t currently uploaded. As I’m working hard on updating the site – and releasing The Vault, letting these old posts be the daily posts for a while. We’re getting very close now, so bear with me. Soon I’ll resume regular posting and then just upload these archives in one go.)
Style Guidelines and Aesthetics
Recently, I’ve been subject to projects lining up in the weirdest of ways. Let’s frame today’s topic, which is on style guidelines and aesthetics for your projects and life, by looking at some of these unconnected spaghetti strings;
- I decided to go through my old blog posts – the first among them were the importance of visual art
- I wrote about my younger self and cognitive development
- We’ve launched the new Niche Site Project
- I’ve tried to get my sites and business interests a bit more professional-looking
Now, all of these strands were initially unconnected in my mind. I was trying to scrub up the blog as SEO traffic has dwindled recently, and so I looked through the old posts. I realised I’ve written a lot about media, pictures, videos and the like and never done anything with it; and so I compiled all the information from blog posts present.
Then I realised I could do this with a lot of subjects, make them prettier, actually answer the questions I’ve posed and otherwise get better. Maybe release some books on the subjects once I’ve gotten some professional knowledge.
Meanwhile, I’ve thought about how I’ve changed over the years; I used to put a lot of effort into appearance. As you can tell from the site, aesthetics fell by the wayside in favour of brute information and execution.
This is something we need to revisit as my sites looking scruffy is one of the 80/20 things that add up to getting big results from small aesthetic changes. (In a way, this is why aesthetics is important. Shining your shoes or getting a haircut can make you seem like a totally different person, whether anyone will admit it or not.)
Throw in the plan to build twenty+ new sites over the next year, and you have the need for design acumen which I simply don’t have.
So I decided to get on this…
Style Guidelines
Most big companies will have style guidelines. These can range from everything to do with your fonts through to the filters you use on photos and the language you use in a project.
And this is something that doesn’t really make a huge difference to a business until it does.
Take my little blog for example; it’s pretty erratic in subject choice and little attention is paid to the detail. Stuff like fonts and colour choices are totally down to my whim.
This is OK when I’m going for the market of internet pirate types who want the information at the expense of attention to detail. It’s not optimal though.
It’s also definitely optimal for interfacing with my more lucrative freelance operations; “What, you mean the guy with the ropey-looking website who talks about being a pirate is also a £250 an hour consultant on internet business strategy and direct response marketing?”
This then, is why you have a guideline that says, “Jamie… be professional. Jamie, stop using the most unrelated stock photos you can find. Also Jamie, try and keep things randomly uniform and do a better job of telling folks what we’re about.”
Aesthetic Decisions Shouldn’t Limit, They Should Make It Easier
Here’s the issue that a lot of folks will have; they don’t want to be hemmed in. “You have to use X font and Y colour combination!”
Well who wants that?
Except it’s not limiting on account of the fact you probably set and forget fonts and don’t care. But having a style combination that’s uniform across your various properties is something that adds to your brand on an automatic basis, and it makes you look professional.
Differentiate Multiple Projects
Thinking about style guidelines and aesthetics are crucial elements when you have multiple projects on the go.
I have written for three projects today, as well as emails for various bits and bobs.
Now, when you have one website and it’s just your personal thoughts, then your tone of voice can kind of fall by the wayside, as it’s you and you’ll be relatively consistent throughout.
When you’re writing for a specific project with a specific goal in mind, it’s a bit different. You need a different voice if you’re appealing to people looking to fix their health than you will if you’re looking to talk to people who want to make money.
And your language needs to reflect that. It’s best if you think about this beforehand.
And the same goes obviously for imagery, design and the like.
Not much more to add at this point, but it’s worth thinking about these things if you haven’t already. Don’t let it tempt you into procrastinate looking for the best fonts or whatever, but keep it somewhere tucked in your mind for those times where you’re looking for 80/20 gains in results.