As we get closer and closer to the festive holiday season, it is a great time to prepare visuals and graphics for your business or blog. Just because you don't have a physical shop or street presence, doesn't mean you can't dress your creative enterprise for the season.I have compiled a list of fun ideas and things you may want to consider creating to spruce things up for the holidays. It will create a buzz and celebratory mood around your business or blog, helping your audience get in the mood in a way that infuses your own style and personality.It also adds an element of community, with an air of 'let's celebrate together'.

ADD CHRISTMAS ELEMENTS TO YOUR WEBSITE

Your website doesn't have to stay static and looking the same all year round. Just like retail stores dress their windows and create beautiful window displays, you can dress up your site, which in many ways is your shop window (especially the homepage), for the season. If you have slideshows or banners, add a Christmas theme to them. This could be with metallic colours, glitter, stars, string lights, holly or pine leaves. It doesn't have to be overdone or cheesy, just adding some sparkle and celebratory feel in a way that aligns with your brand style. It is important to keep it in line with the feel of your brand, or it will feel off or cheesy.I thought the Woolworths supermarket website, was a good example of this. Green is their usual brand colour, so they stuck with green and gold, and added some stars and metallic textures and a little discreet cleverly placed holly on their logo, to add a seasonal feel, and encourage shoppers to get in the spirit, without over doing it.

Add A Festive Touch to your Logo

Similar to the Woolworths example above, how they added some holly to their logo. You could add a simple little Christmas or holiday season touch to your logo, on your website and in any promos, or even to add a festive touch to your invoices or thank you notes. Like the examples I found below, it can be (and usually works best) if it is simple. Like a Santa hat, baubles, stars, lights, glitter, a colour change, some holly, reindeer antlers, a bow or snow.

Create Christmas Themed Social Media Templates

Things can get pretty crazy very quickly this time of year, so you don't want to find yourself scrambling to whip up a promo graphic for social media the night before a sale or deciding last minute that you are going to create a 12 days to Christmas promo and are creating all the pieces the day before each one goes out. Take the time to make some holiday season themed templates, all ready in the correct sizes for social media, so all you have to do is drop your text in or swap a photo.Create a theme that fits with your current templates but has a seasonal twist, so people still recognise the graphic as coming from you, but with a fun festive feel.

Holiday Season Brand Photography.

If you regularly use photography in your branding and promotions, think about how you can add a seasonal touch to them over the holiday season. If you have physical products, think about product shots with a seasonal, holiday feel. If you use photos in your social media and promotional material, get some holiday-themed images that fit your brand style.If you don't take your own photos (or have someone who helps you that) look into buying some stock photography packs with a Christmas and New Year feel that you can use. You can always edit them in photoshop to add branded elements or change some colours.Some lovely examples below from Creative Market, click the images for links.

Seasonal Wrapping and Packaging

If you are selling any physical products, you can really have some fun wrapping the parcels up for Christmas. Think about the wrapping paper or tissue paper you use, adding fun stickers or seasonal tags or cards. Pretty ribbons or twine. You could even add some gold star sparkles or pressed leaves. Make your wrapping extra special over Christmas, as it will really add to the customer experience and leave a great impression. Sales go up this time of year as people shop for gifts, so use it as a chance to create an impression and go the extra mile.

From Mulberry Muse

Special Coupons, Thank yous, Flyers and Postcards

If you are part of any special events or have opportunities to hand things out to promote your business over the holiday season, it is a great time of year to make the extra effort design fun seasonal promo collateral. You could create fun little coupons for anyone who buys from you to encourage more future sales. You can make seasonal thank you notes to include in every order to add a special touch. You can also promote any events, sales or special offers you have coming up with Christmas inspired flyers or postcards.  Even if everything you do is online, you could still create fun digital graphics or digital coupons, to really highlight offers that are just for this time of year and to encourage sales.If you want to get super creative you could even create interactive things like an advent calendar, a scratchie or flaps where you pick one to get your special offer or discount.

Seasonal Freebies and Christmas Cards.

Being a time of giving, it is also a lovely idea to create free things or gifts. Free stuff could be things like free seasonal desktop wallpapers, free Christmas gift tag printables, free printable planners or downloadable Christmas recipe card or small ebook.For your loyal customers or best clients, you may want to design special Christmas cards to thank them for working with you this year. If you prefer to keep things digital you could look at e-cards.I hope this has given you some great ideas for adding a festive seasonal spirit to your brand visuals. If you have any other fun ideas or clever things you have seen other people do, feel free to share it in the comments.

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