Establish Your Brand Identity Using The 5 Elements of Feng Shui

Just like the foundation or of your house, your brand is the cornerstone of your business and sets the tone for everything that happens thereafter. And just as our homes communicate an energy inside and out, so do all aspects of your brand messaging and design.

Ultimately, the same vibrational energy of what your business puts out will be what comes back to you. Being intentional and mindful in your choices will ensure that your brand, and energy, is unified, cohesive and balanced to attract success and good fortune.

Why is brand design important? Optimized design and data visualization helps make complex information accessible to a diverse audience, and is especially beneficial for energy-sensitive individuals or the nearly 20 percent of the global population diagnosed as Neurodiverse.

So how do you create a harmonious, engaging and universally-friendly brand identity? It's all about the details and getting back to our roots: Nature.

The Components of A Brand

There will be many "experts" who claim to be able to build your brand:

Marketers

Ghostwriters

Business Coaches

Copywriters

Designers

But before you hand over your brand identity and strategy to someone else, make sure YOU know the following key information:

• Your differentiation

• Your ideal customers

• Your personality

• Your position in the market

• Your values, vision, and mission

• Your key guarantees and benefits

• Your sales touchpoints

Style vs Substance

STYLE = Your Brand Identity (How you show up externally)

Style refers to the visual and sensory expression of your brand. It’s the outer layer — the aesthetic that signals your brand’s vibe, tone, and personality.

• Purpose: To attract attention, evoke emotion, and create consistency across all touchpoints.

This includes:

Element	Examples
Logo	Sleek and modern vs. hand-drawn and organic
Color palette	Bold primaries vs. muted earth tones
Typography	Serif for tradition, sans-serif for minimalism
Voice and tone	Quirky and playful vs. formal and authoritative
Photography style	Airy lifestyle shots vs. dark, moody portraits
Web/design layout	Clean grid-based design vs. asymmetrical flow

SUBSTANCE = Brand Attributes (What you stand for internally)

Substance refers to the core qualities, values, and promises that define your brand at a deeper level. These are the characteristics and commitments that guide how your brand behaves, communicates, and delivers.

• Purpose: To build trust, deepen connection, and ensure long-term relevance.

Attribute Type	Examples
Core values	Integrity, innovation, sustainability
Brand personality	Confident, compassionate, rebellious
Mission/purpose	To empower women entrepreneurs / end food insecurity
Tone of promise	Trusted expert, creative guide, fierce advocate
Customer experience	Empathetic, efficient, community-focused

Think of it this way: Style is the outfit your brand wears to a party. Substance is what your brand says, believes, and how it treats others once it gets there. A brand with only style risks being shallow. A brand with only substance might be overlooked. A great brand has both — style that reflects its substance, and substance that gives style meaning.

Your Business Sector

What earth elements does your business niche falls in? Every business and entrepreneur will be reflected in one of the five earth elements, which are connected to the physical/sensory world and most will likely overlap into multiple elements.

Fire

• Material: Light, Heat

• Sense: Touch

• Examples: Creative Studios, Artists & Performers, Fast Food, Retail Stores, Sports, Massage Therapists, Electronics.

Earth

• Material: Dirt, Stone

• Sense: Taste.

• Examples: Mining, Masonry, Construction, Fine Dining, Grocery Stores, Hospitality, Real Estate, Agriculture, Ceramic Arts, Waste Management, Law Enforcement, Health Care

Metal

• Material: Metals

• Sense: Smell

• Examples: Banking, Accounting, Technology, Government Offices, Manufacturing, Security, Engineering

Water

• Material: Water

• Sense: Hearing

• Examples: Cleaning Services, Tourism, Transportation, Spas, Recruitment Agencies, Marine Studies, Outdoor Recreation, Marketing & Communications.

Wood

• Material: Plants, Trees

• Sense: Sight

• Examples: Education, Child Care, Floral Business, Clothing, Publishing, Carpentry, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Lumber.

"Man must go back to nature for information."

Thomas Paine

Brand Story

Tell your brand story as you would the dynamic cycle of the elements on the earth - grounded in history, full of anticipation and on-going transformation.

• Water: beginning, founding

• Wood: character development

• Fire: challenges, failures, gaps

• Earth: history, mission

• Metal: vision, strategy

Brand Imagery

Feng shui is all about metaphors and symbolism. There are countless subliminal messages you are communicating with the visuals in your marketing. Choose graphics, photography, vidoe or illustrations based on what represents the highest meaning of success in your niche - what are it's innate strengths?

• Fire: active and social people or animals.

• Earth: stabile and nurtured people or animals.

• Wood: landscapes, nature, growth.

• Water: mobility, movement, transitions, leadership.

• Metal: structures, systems.

Brand Voice & Tone

Begin to craft your taglines, key phrases and other communication styles of your brand based on that element's "personality"- their innate qualities and characteristics. For the best energy (and customer appeal), aim to be explicitly clear, concise and consistent in what you say and how say it and strive to communicate in a way customers will perceive as uplifting and cheerful.

• Fire: friendly, passionate & enthusiastic

• Earth: nurturing, practical, grounding

• Metal: organized, efficient, disciplined

• Water: contemplative, dreaming, creative

• Wood: inspirational, progressive, productive

Brand Colors

Color psychology is a crucial element in branding, shaping consumers' perceptions and interactions with a brand. Each color carries distinct emotions and associations, influencing purchasing choices and fostering brand loyalty. Brands should purposefully select hues that resonate with their values, target demographic, and intended brand identity, thereby strengthening brand visibility and fostering deeper connections with customers.

Each element has a corresponding color scheme which evokes certain moods and emotions. Choose your colors strategically to mirror your brand personality.

• Fire: reds, oranges, purples, pinks, or bright yellows.

  • romance, strength, intensity, passion, urgency

• Earth: dark yellows, tans, browns

  • optimism, warmth, creativity, youthfulness, confidence, joy

• Metal: grays or whites.

• Water: blues or greys.

  • trust, dependability, professionalism, security, loyalty

• Wood: browns or greens. 

  • sustainability, growth, health, wealth, environment, freshness

ND Notes:

• Single-hue color scales, especially in muted, neutral or pastel hues can be a better solution for many projects. Using drastically different colors to differentiate data points can be overstimulating and overwhelming to some.

Logo Shape

Incorporate shapes in your logo, including the overall shape or the shapes of symbols within the logo. These shapes are associated with each element:

• Fire: Triangular

• Earth: Square

• Metal: Round

• Water: Wavy

• Wood: Rectangular

Brand Typography

Having a primary font that aligns with your element is important, but also it's best to choose two other distinct typefaces which complement the primary. A triad is considered lucky in feng shui, and the interaction will create a dynamic visual interest on your website and marketing materials as they are strategically dispersed through key words, headings and subheadings.

• Fire: edgy and angular

• Earth: square lettering

• Wood: thin narrow , serifs

• Water: cursive, scripts, italics

• Metal: rounded, modern san-serifs

ND Notes: Serif fonts, like Times New Roman, may be less readable for neurodiverse audiences, so it's advisable to use sans-serif fonts. Sans-serif fonts offer better readability and flexibility through different weights and sizes.

Other Considerations

Destructive Elements

The most important thing to remember when designing your feng shui brand is to avoid elements that are connected through an overpowering Yin cycle. To understand this concept, simply refer back to nature and visualize the interaction between two opposing elements:

• Wood consumes Water

• Fire burns Wood

• Earth smothers Fire

• Metal blocks Earth

• Water erodes Metal

Clutter

Avoid clutter when crafting copy or visuals. Give lots of space between sentences, paragraphs, photos and more. White space is extremely valued in feng shui because it allows Chi to circulate freely, so make sure this is incorporated into your brand's style guidelines. This helps significantly with readability, and from a digital/SEO perspective it's a win because it invites the reader to linger on your page longer.

• Create a clear visual hierarchy to help readers to easily find the title, description, primary graphic, and key.

• Break up large bodies of text with visual elements to enhance comprehension.

• Balance symmetry and asymmetry for visual stability.

Flow

Patterns, both organic and geometric, appeal to the human need for predictability and repetition and is particularly important for neurodivergent audiences. Structure can improve understanding and navigation of large amounts of information.

How To Use Your Feng Shui Brand

Display your energy whenever and wherever possible. Take all opportunities, small and large, to market yourself. Using your consistent visual across a variety of platforms and mediums creates the strongest vibrational frequency and a memorable, effective brand. The most common examples

• Website

• Print promotional materials

• Business cards

• Letterhead

• Email signature

• Digital assets

• Employee uniforms

• Customer freebies

• Billboards and other signage

• Events

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Feng Shui principles intersect with marketing by emphasizing simplicity and energetic alignment. Both disciplines aim to create environments—be it physical or digital—by focusing on harmony, balance, and personal resonance.

Feng Shui's emphasis on energy flow parallels marketing's need for cohesive brand messages and visually captivating designs and consistent, clear messaging. Implementing Feng Shui concepts in marketing strategies helps you craft your brand, resonate with your target audiences and foster a positive and engaging brand experience.

Need assistance crafting YOUR one-of-a-kind feng shui brand? Let's chat!

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Erin Ratliff is a certified feng shui consultant, holistic business coach, and organic growth marketer for earth-friendly and energy-based businesses.

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