The Business Owner's Guide to Design
Created for business owners who care about how their brand shows up, but don’t want to become designers to get it right.
The series breaks design down into clear, usable principles – covering colour, typography, layout, communication, visual influence, accessibility and systems.
Each book focuses on one core area, explaining why it matters, how it shapes perception, and how to apply it confidently in a real business context.
You care about your brand... so why does it still feel harder than it should?
You already understand that design plays a role in how your business is perceived. What tends to feel more difficult is being certain about the decisions you’re making. You can usually sense when something isn’t quite right: a colour combination feels uneasy, a layout lacks flow, or a piece of content doesn’t land as intended, but you don’t always have the language or framework to pinpoint why.
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You want your brand to reflect the quality of your work, and when it doesn’t quite do that, friction creeps in. Posting feels less straightforward. Small changes take more time than they should. Things stay open longer than you’d like because you’re never fully confident they’re finished.
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When you understand how design principles work, decisions become more grounded, adjustments more purposeful, and your brand starts to feel steadier and more intentional, without demanding more of your time or energy.
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The Business Owner’s Guide to Design will give you that missing understanding.
Rather than telling you what to choose or how things should look, the series focuses on how design actually works in a real business context. Each book breaks one area of design down into clear, usable principles, helping you understand what’s influencing your decisions and why certain choices feel right or wrong.
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As you work through the guides, you start to build a clearer internal framework. You’re no longer relying on instinct alone, or endlessly comparing your brand to others. You can look at your own work with more objectivity, recognise what’s working, and make changes with purpose rather than guessing.
Overview of the series
Take a browse through each of the books in the series and if you like the sound of the book, click on the image and it'll take you through to learn more and buy it.
Colour influences how your brand is perceived long before anything is read. This book explains how colour actually works, how it shapes emotion and meaning, and how to use it with intention across your business.
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You’ll gain a clearer understanding of how to choose and apply colour consistently, make informed adjustments when something feels off, and stop second-guessing decisions that don’t need to be complicated.
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Mastering
Typography
Typography affects how your message is read, processed and trusted. This guide breaks down fonts, hierarchy and readability in a practical, accessible way, helping you create clearer and more professional communication.
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You’ll learn how to use type with purpose, improve the flow of your content, and make typography decisions that support your message rather than distract from it.
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Layout &Hierarchy
in Practice
Layout is what creates structure and flow in your content. When it’s working well, information feels easy to follow. When it isn’t, even good content can feel overwhelming or unclear.
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This book explores spacing, alignment and hierarchy, showing how they guide attention. You’ll develop a stronger sense of how to organise information so your designs feel calm, intentional and easier to navigate.
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Communicating
With Purpose
Clear communication starts with understanding what you’re trying to say and who you’re speaking to. This book looks at brand voice, messaging and audience awareness, helping you communicate with more intention and consistency.
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You’ll learn how to shape your words so they reflect the care behind your work, feel aligned with your brand, and land more clearly with the people you want to reach.
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The Art of
Visual Influence
Every visual choice influences how your brand is interpreted, often without conscious awareness. This book explores how elements like contrast, balance, repetition and emphasis shape attention and perception.
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You’ll develop a stronger understanding of why certain designs feel compelling or trustworthy, and how to use visual influence intentionally rather than accidentally, across your branding and content.
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Principles of
Accessibility
in Design
Good design should be usable, inclusive and considerate. This book introduces the core principles of accessibility, helping you understand how design choices affect different people’s ability to engage with your content.
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You’ll learn how to make clearer, more accessible decisions around colour, typography, layout and communication, creating a brand that works well for more people.
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Design Systems
That Support You
As your business grows, consistency becomes harder to maintain. This book focuses on design systems: the tools, rules, programmes and structures that help your brand stay coherent over time.
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You’ll learn how to create simple, flexible systems that make future decisions easier, reduce repeated work, what programmes to use and support consistency across platforms, content and collaborators.
You don’t have to tackle everything at once.
Each book in The Business Owner’s Guide to Design can be read on its own, depending on where you’re feeling stuck right now. Or, if you want a fuller understanding of how your brand works as a whole, the complete series offers a clear, cohesive foundation you can return to as your business evolves.
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Whether you start with one book or work through the entire collection, the aim is the same: clearer thinking, more confident decisions, and a brand that feels considered rather than constantly in progress.
Coming Soon!
The Business Owner’s Guide to Design: The Mastermind
For those who want to go deeper, a guided experience is coming.​ The Business Owner’s Guide to Design Mastermind is a 7-week online programme that expands on each book in the series, pairing design education with practical, hands-on workshops to help you apply what you’re learning to your own brand in real time.
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Each week focuses on one core area of design, giving you space to understand it properly, work through real examples, and embed what you’re learning into your business in a way that feels manageable and relevant.
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The mastermind is designed for business owners who want support as they refine their brand, deepen their understanding of design, and build confidence in the decisions they’re making day to day.
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Further details coming soon.