I rebranded because of the ❤️ emoji

If I told you I rebranded because of the “heart” emoji (yes, this one ❤️) would you believe me?

Okay, yeah this is a little clickbait-y. But… It’s also slightly true?

When I originally launched my brand on Instagram, I emulated what other designers were doing. I saw clean palettes, sparing use of scripted fonts, and elegant lock-ups. Every designer also had a dedicated heart emoji to match their brand palette.

To follow in their footsteps, I finessed my branding to feel more elevated, more luxury, high-quality, and well-curated. I even changed the heart emoji I was using, from this ❤️ to this 🤍.

😱

Okay, yeah, it might sound silly. It might sound extremely silly. But it was sort of a big deal for me. As someone who expresses emotions through emojis (very) often, it was weird for me to make that shift. And no, it wasn’t an insanely difficult shift, but it was a noticeable one.

On Instagram, I made sure to always pull the white heart whenever I needed to respond appropriately. I even updated my “like” on Instagram DMs to be the white heart so it’d fit my brand aesthetic. It looked lovely and I really enjoyed how well it aligned with my brand.

The noticeable change was that when I would text friends and family, I got hung up on which emoji to use. The white heart didn’t feel right. It felt too cold, distant and manicured, like I was portraying something other than myself. So I would revert back to the standard red heart, because that’s what I had always used and it felt way more natural to me.

As I continued to implement by brand throughout instagram, I noticed how disconnected I became from my brand and my message. How misaligned the visuals felt from who I truly was.

So I decided to make a change. I decided to readjust my branding to be me. And—I’m not even kidding here—the first change I made was to switch my heart emoji back to red. ❤️

What do you think?

Does this sound silly? Does it resonate? Have you had a similar situation? Lemme know 😊