1.
brand standards

2.
CONTENTS
This brand standards document
explores the message, visuals, and
expression of the Hey There, Home
brand.
1. Brand Message
2. Design & Visuals
3. Words & Content
4. Live Your Brand
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME

3.
MOODBOARD
The brand is an
extension of your style
and personality so I
used images that you
personally love as the
inspiration. Note there
are lots of blues, strong
uses of pattern, and
clean (but not too
perfect lines.) You’ll see
these same themes
throughout the brand
visuals.
Photo sources:
Living room: Madeleine and Jeremy
Grummet and Family
Pillows: Refinery 29
Door: AirBNB

4.
brand message

5.
POSITION
CORE IDEA
Hey There, Home shares easy-to-follow and beautiful
home decor and entertaining articles for real homes.
WHO WE ARE
Hey There, Home is the product of the talents of its
founder, Corey Willis.
OUR GOAL
We want to make home decor accessible to every one.
We also want people to decorate their homes in a way
that they can actually be lived in - not just looked at.
HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT
Our brand’s (and founder’s) talent for teaching is
evident in our tutorial and ‘how-to’ content that our
readers love. We also put a huge emphasis on designing
for REAL life, not magazine pages.
WHAT WE DELIVER
Hey There, Home offers a metric-ton of free content in
their blog articles, tutorials, and content. We also offer
paid products in our most popular home decor topics.
01
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand message

6.
PERSONALITY
GIRL NEXT DOOR BRAND
PERSONALITY
We want to create a friendly, helpful, and
honest place online where homeowners (and
especially parents) can find home decor advice
and tips.
We are our reader’s practical and
knowledgeable friend. We are the person you
turn to when you want real-life and down-to-
earth advice about decorating your home or
entertaining guests.
When they encounter our brand, our audience
FEELS: Understood, seen, included, warm,
connected.
We are:
• Real & authentic
• Relatable
• Witty
• Smart
• Friendly
• Honest
• Occasionally self-deprecating
• Direct
Channel your inner ‘witty best friend’ when you
communicate with your audience.
01
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand message

7.
POINT OF
VIEW
YOUR HOME SHOULD BE BEAUTIFUL AND
FUNCTIONAL
Yes, we all secretly wish our home was a bit more
‘Pinterest-worthy” but we actually live in our homes.
Design spaces that make you happy but also that WORK
for your family.
QUALITY FAMILY TIME MATTERS
We quit dream jobs to move back to be closer to family.
We believe in eating dinner with your family. And no
screens at the dinner table. Be mindful of the quality
time you spend with your family. It really is the most
valuable time you’ll spend all day.
YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS LIKE YOUR WORK,
BUT YOU SHOULD LOVE IT
These two sentences explain the headline above. Keep it
short, simple, and succinct.
YOUR “IDEAL” HOME AND ACTUAL HOME
PROBABLY AREN’T EXACTLY THE SAME
(AND THAT’S OK.)
We all have that junk room that frustrates us. That, and
the garage is too full to actually fit both cars in. We
work to make all of our spaces inspiring, but if they
aren’t there yet - don’t stress about it. That’s real life.
GET RID OF THE JUNK
When your decor, toys, stuff, or whatever aren’t serving
you any more, it’s time to let it go. (Please help me
convince my 5-year-old to stop collecting rocks.)
01
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand message

8.
“Homes are meant to be lived in.”
manifesto

9.
UNFAIR
ADVANTAGE
TEACHER AT HEART
Our best work is when we’re explaining
concepts and step-by-step tutorials to our
readers.
DESIGN & DECORATING COME EASY
Picking a paint color doesn’t come easy to
everyone (just ask my sister.) I’m here to help
make it easy for you!
PLANNING? PIECE OF CAKE.
I’ve been blessed with an organized mind for
big, overwhelming projects. I can help you get it
done from start to finish.
01
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand message

10.
design & visuals

11.
LOGO
We have two versions of the
logo that we can use - one
for square spaces and the
other for skinny horizontal
spaces. The chair icon can
also be used on its own as
your trademark image.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
visual identity
02

12.
PRIMARY
COLORS
These colors show up
throughout your own
design choices and fit your
brand personality. They are
the perfect way to
represent your down-to-
earth yet fun brand
message.
#307186
20% 40% 60% 80%
#8ee1d7 #d0d0d0
20% 60% 20% 60%
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
visual identity
02

13.
SECONDARY
COLORS
Pops of color are fun to
incorporate into your
home decor, and also in
your website and brand
designs. The dark grey and
white can be used as font
and background colors.
#f5cd51 #fffff#53585f
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
visual identity
02

14.
PATTERNS
For the love of triangles!
I chose two patterns to
show here that have a
strong visual impact and
imperfect lines - much
like the brand message
you are communicating.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
visual identity
02

15.
TYPOGRAPHY
HEADLINES: MONSERRAT
BOLD ALL CAPS
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1234567890
!@#$%^&*()
Body: Quicksand Book
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
!@#$%^&*()
accent: amanda(lower case)
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
!@#$%^&*()
The fonts chosen are a
fun contrast of bold
with thin and clean
with script.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
visual identity
02

16.
FONTS IN
ACTION
HEADLINE
This is a description paragraph. It explains the purpose
of the page and describes the title to the left.
1. Example
2. Example
3. Example
4. Example
“This is a quote from a very impressive person.”
-IMPORTANT PERSON
HEADLINE LEVEL 2
This is a description paragraph. It explains the purpose
of the page and describes the title to the left. This is a
description paragraph. It explains the purpose of the
page and describes the title to the left.
• Example
• Example
• Example
HEADLINE LEVEL 3
visual identity
This page shows how
the fonts will work
together on your
website.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
02

17.
ICONS
02
visual identity
We’ll keep a clean &
colorful style for the icons
and titles used on your
website to contrast with
the grays/whites of the
overall page design and
photographs.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME

18.
image style

19.
words & content

20.
TAGLINE HOME DECOR FOR REAL LIFE
other options considered:
IMPERFECT YET BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL AND LIVABLE
BEAUTIFUL AND REAL
ANYONE CAN DECORATE THEIR HOME
ANYONE CAN MAKE THEIR HOME BEAUTIFUL
YOU CAN MAKE YOUR HOME BEAUTIFUL
DECOR & ENTERTAINING FOR REAL FAMILIES
BEAUTIFUL HOMES FOR REAL FAMILIES
MAKE HOME BEAUTIFUL + LIVABLE
MAKING HOME BEAUTIFUL FOR REAL LIFE
MAKING HOME BEAUTIFUL + FUNCTIONAL
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand communication
03

21.
TONE OF
VOICE
Your brand personality
needs to show up in the
tone you communicate
with.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand communication
03
Content and communication from Hey There,
Home should be friendly, accessibly, and clear.
You need to encourage your readers that they
can, in fact, decorate their own homes.
When possible, tell stories from your own life
that relates to the content. Also, provide the
“behind the scenes” frustrations and challenges
to each decor project you are featuring. Be
clear that the pretty pictures are a process to
get to.
You’ll sound:
• Encouraging
• Honest not perfect
• Down-to-earth not fancy
• Supportive
• Empathetic to their challenges
• Witty at times
• Personal

22.
CONTENT
HOME DECOR
Keep up the great work with the home decor posts and
especially tutorials. This needs to remain the ‘bread and
butter’ of your content.
ENTERTAINING
Add more entertaining articles to your site. It’ll create a
source for more content (without tearing out your
bathroom tile.)
PERSONAL STORIES
Add in more personal stories to your home decor and
entertaining posts. Focus on reaching the goal of one
every other month to help your readers get to know you
better.
HOW TO BLOG
Phase this out in the first quarter of 2016.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand communication
03

23.
STORIES LOW TO HIGH
Tell the story of how you quit your job to spend more
time with the kiddos, and how your blog came to be.
Relate to a moment when your blog only had 10 readers
and the journey to getting where you are now.
WHY STORY
Your “why” story is the story about your aunt not using
her bathroom for 10 years until you helped her remodel
it. Share that story so your readers understand why you
are so passionate about home decor.
HUMAN INTEREST
Throw in references for your love of wine, humor, etc.
into your blog posts on a regular basis. It’s a way to
create a personal connection without making an entire
post about you.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
brand communication
03

24.
live your brand

25.
ACTION
STEPS
LAUNCH YOUR FIRST WORKBOOK ASAP
This needs to be a first priority. Package up those
workbook/ebooks you have been thinking about and list
them for sale. Launch them with a similar plan as your
blog planner.
UPDATE THE WEBSITE BRANDING
Get with your tech girl to create the ‘development’ site
and update all of the visuals we create. Launch it with a
little pizzaz on social media when it’s ready!
NETWORK WITH OTHER BLOGGERS
Reach out to bloggers that are at the next level you
want to get to before your blog conference.
CREATE CONTENT IN ADVANCE
Get far enough ahead that you can spend time
incorporating your brand voice and personality into the
content you publish.
LEVERAGE YOUR LIST
Update your autoresponder with a new opt-in offer,
indoctrination story, top posts, and product offer.
04
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
live your brand

26.
BRANDEMIES IDEA ENEMIES
• Design at the expense of function.
• Growing the blog too large that you don’t
get to spend quality time with your family
anymore.
• Making others feel “less than.” Keep your
content relatable and friendly.
NOT TO DO LIST
• Stay away from design concepts or styles
that are too fancy, complicated, or un-
friendly for kiddos.
• Don’t post off-topic content (kids activities,
more blogging tips past the planner launch,
etc.)
WE ARE NOT
• A blog about blogging
• A purely personal blog
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
live your brand
04

27.
GRAPHICS
live your brand
This mockup shows how
you can update the
website homepage and
sidebar with your new
brand visuals.
BRAND GUIDELINES HEY THERE, HOME
04