Mapping out your brand’s personality is the first step to creating a solid brand identity. But it can often feel overwhelming. That’s where a Brand Personality Slider comes in handy. It helps you define and express your brand’s unique traits, making sure that every aspect of your brand communicates and feels just as you intend it to.
In this article, I’ll explain what a Brand Personality Slider is, why it’s such a valuable tool, and how to use it. I’ll also give you access to a handy Brand Personality Slider template on Google Slides to help you define your own brand’s character.
What is a Brand Personality Slider?
A Brand Personality Slider is a great tool for defining and visually expressing your brand’s personality traits. It helps by placing your brand’s characteristics on a spectrum of opposing attributes, like serious ↔ playful, traditional ↔ modern, or formal ↔ casual.
This makes it easy to capture your brand’s essence and keep its representation consistent across all brand touchpoints.
Why Use a Brand Personality Slider?
A Brand Personality Slider is helpful for several reasons:
Simplified Decision-Making
Choosing your brand’s personality traits can be complex. A Brand Personality Slider gives you a clear structure, making it easier to select attributes that create a well-rounded brand personality.
Shared Vision
Your brand should reflect the vision of everyone involved in the company—from interns to upper management. By involving your team in the process, you can gather different perspectives.
Disagreements during this stage can highlight areas where your brand’s values need to be reviewed or clarified.
Alignment and Consistency
This tool ensures that every aspect of your brand—from visuals to brand messaging—aligns with your goals and feels genuine.
It also helps keep the look and feel of all touchpoints uniform by providing a reference that everyone working on the brand can access and follow.
How to Use a Brand Personality Slider
1. Identify Key Brand Attributes
Start by identifying the key personality traits that are relevant to your market, audience, and business.
This step is best done after a brand strategy workshop and some research—once you have a clear understanding of your competitors, audience, and internal goals.
2. Set Up the Sliders
Create a series of sliders, each representing a pair of opposing traits (e.g., playful ↔ serious). These sliders will help you visualise where your brand falls on the spectrum. You can use tools like Canva, Adobe, Miro, or even just a piece of paper.
3. (Collaborative) Brainstorming
If you have a team, gather it for a brainstorming session.
Have everyone mark their positions on the sliders, either digitally or with different-coloured markers on paper. Based on the collective feedback, adjust the sliders to reach a consensus.
4. Align with Brand Strategy
Make sure the sliders’ final positions align with your overall brand strategy. These positions will guide your brand’s tone of voice, visual style, and marketing communications.
5. Apply
You can also use the sliders as a reference for all brand-related decisions. Whether you’re defining your brand identity, launching a new campaign, or engaging on social media, these sliders can help maintain a consistent and exciting brand personality.
Brand Attribute Pair Examples
Here are some examples of brand attribute pairs for your inspiration. Make sure you don’t have too many sliders, as this could water down your brand’s personality. Too few, on the other hand, might make it dull and monotone.
- Adventurous ↔ Safe
- Approachable ↔ Exclusive
- Bold ↔ Subtle
- Casual ↔ Elegant
- Detailed ↔ Minimalist
- Emotional ↔ Analytical
- Exclusive ↔ Inclusive
- Experimental ↔ Reliable
- Fun ↔ Serious
- Friendly ↔ Professional
- High-Tech ↔ Low-Tech
- Innovative ↔ Traditional
- Luxury ↔ Affordable
- Mainstream ↔ Quirky
- Natural ↔ Polished
- Youthful ↔ Mature
Brand Personality Slider Template
I’ve created a simple, easy-to-use Brand Personality Slider template for you in Google Slides.
You can use it alone or with your team. To do so, simply add your own brand attributes and move the dots in the position that feels right.
Get the template here.
Conclusion
A Brand Personality Slider is a great tool for defining your brand’s unique personality. This exercise is fantastic for summarising and finishing off your initial brand strategy work.
Remember, though, that these words can be a little generic. After using the slider, you should specify in your brand guidelines how these traits look specifically for your brand. This helps you ensure that every piece of content, design, and communication looks and feels related.
These sliders aren’t set in stone. As your brand evolves, you can adjust them to reflect shifts in strategy. It keeps your brand relevant and exciting as the market evolves.
You may also find my branding resources helpful, where you’ll find anything, from the best books to useful tools.
Title image: Mockp by SédShop.Co, also available through Mockup Cloud (affiliate links)
