Welcome back friend,

I hope the first module has left you inspired and more ideas are starting to form. Let’s take a look at our work for this module.

You're going to dive into the world of Pinterest.
I’m going to share my Visual Style Guide for inspiration.
... and you are going to create a Visual Style Guide of your own.

“But unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.”

— Madeleine L'Engle, Walking On Water

The wonderful world of Pinterest.

Pinterest, like other social media channels, can help create brand awareness and that's what we are looking for. You can also join Pinterest as a business which gives you metrics to see which content from your website is most popular on Pinterest. But this week we are going to use this platform purely to vision cast. Whenever I am in need for new ideas, motivation or inspiration - both in my personal life as well as for my business - you can find me here.

I’m not going to go share all about how Pinterest works because that’s not what this course is about. We are going to use Pinterest to get inspired! All the visual content that is available there will surely bring to mind ideas for what you want your brand to look and feel like. So sign up or log in, browse around, and let Pinterest inspire you in creating a visual for your website.

My Visual Style Guide.

Before I created my website I made a Visual Style Guide. By searching topics, and keywords that were important to me and pinning them to my board, I created the vibe for my brand. When you take a look at my website and my Style Guide you can see the similar overall style.

Creating your visual style guide

I hope you feel inspired and excited for this practice, because it's time to create your own Visual Style Guide. This is a very important step in the process because your going to use this board as a mood board for the website you are envisioning. If you are not familiar with how to create and share a board on Pinterest, this is what you do:

Log into you Pinterest account (or register if you don't have one).
Go to your profile page and click the little + sign to create a new board.
Here you can name your board "Visual Style Guide + your name."
Now you can start pinning images that resonate with the colors and overall vibe you want your website to have.
When you are done make sure to refer back to this board once you start working with colors, photos and content.

Module Two Homework.

Visual style guide. Create a Pinterest inspiration board that will serve as a reference point for your branding.
What’s your style? Now that you have created your style guide, how would you describe your personal style?
Brand awareness. Now, take a look at your social media platforms and explore ways to infuse the colors and vibe from your visual style guide into your accounts.

Congratulations on achieving an official visual for your website! Take a moment to celebrate your accomplishment and feel proud of the progress you've made so far. In the upcoming module, you'll dive into crafting your Website Manifest.