When you’re working without a designer to DIY your brand, it can feel overwhelming to figure out where to start, let alone how to stand out. One of the easiest ways to define your brand’s personality is by using Brand Archetypes.
You can think of archetypes like a shortcut: timeless personalities rooted in storytelling and psychology that can help you quickly define how your brand should look, feel, and communicate.
Here’s a breakdown of the 12 archetypes, with examples and tips for design and content:
1. The Innocent
This archetype is all about honesty, optimism, and simplicity. These are the businesses that make us feel safe and cared for. A classic “Innocent” brand is Johnson & Johnson. They sell gentle baby shampoo and emphasize the purity of the product. (An important note: a business and a brand are two separate things, and sometimes that difference is very dark. J&J projects innocence, but the reality is that their business is linked to asbestos-laced baby powder, bribing doctors overseas, and contributing to the opioid crisis. But that’s the power of branding.)
Design Tips:
Keep your visuals light and airy, with plenty of white space
Try and stick with soft color palettes
Use a simple logo with rounded, approachable typography
Content Tips:
Avoid technical or industry jargon
Pepper in words that feel organic and natural, like “whole” “simple” and “family”
Use messaging that reinforces safety and trust
2. The Explorer
This archetype is all about freedom, independence, and discovery. Explorer brands make us feel adventurous, like there’s always something new to try. Example explorer brands include The North Face, National Geographic, or even Blue Apron (which lets you explore different cuisines and cultures). If your business feels like an Explorer brand, then your job is to help your customers feel like with you, there’s always more to discover and uncover.
Design Tips:
Use bold, earthy color palettes
Use photography heavily, featuring natural and/or global elements
Avoid cliche graphics like maps and compasses (or cliche fonts like Papyrus or Lithos)
3. The Sage
This archetype is all about wisdom, knowledge, and truth. These are the brands that thrive on teaching, guiding, and helping their audience make sense of the world. A classic Sage brand is Google, but you’ll also find that many coaches and consultants fit into this archetype nicely. If you’re a Sage brand, your job is to share knowledge freely. To move someone from free learner to paying customer, show them the limit of what they can do alone. Give away clarity, but make it obvious that deeper transformation or personalized help comes from working with you.
Design Tips:
Use typography that feels professional and clean. Skip hard to read cursive fonts
Keep your visuals and templates super consistent to signal confidence
Use colors associated with trust and clarity, like blues or muted greens
Content Tips:
Focus on teaching and explaining, not sounding like a know it all
Build authority with blogs, guides, FAQs, or educational campaigns
Cite research when you can to build authority
4. The Hero
These businesses are all about courage, resilience, and achievement. Hero brands inspire their audience to rise up and be their best selves. This is a popular archetype for coaches and those in the sports industry. If your business is about empowering people to achieve more — whether that’s in health, fitness, education, or social impact — consider aligning yourself with this archetype.
Design Tips:
Use bold, high contrast colors for high impact
In your photography, try to capture movement and action
Avoid soft curves and opt for sharp angles
Content Tips:
Highlight transformational before and after stories
Use motivational and direct language, especially in your calls to action: “Join” “Rise” “Conquer”
Position your customer as the hero and your product or service as the tool that helps them succeed
5. The Outlaw
This archetype is all about rebellion, disruption, and breaking the rules. They’re rebellious and unapologetic, but they’re not contrarian just for the sake of it. Instead, they just have absolute confidence in their vision. Liquid Death water is a classic example of an Outlaw brand. They disrupted a well saturated industry with dark humor and anti-establishment messaging. If this feels like your business, then your job is to lean into what makes you different.
Design Tips:
Use dark colors and pops of contrast
Handwritten or custom fonts work best
Avoid cliche illustrations like skulls or graffiti textures unless you have a professional visual designer in your corner to help
Content Tips:
Don’t shy away from humor, sarcasm, or edgy language
Use bold language without qualifiers like “sort of” or “might
Master the art of writing a scroll-stopping heading or email subject line
6. The Magician
The Magician archetype is about transformation and creating experiences that feel almost otherworldly. Magician brands don’t just sell a product or service; they promise a transformation. Magician brands make us believe the impossible is possible — and not through grit or hard work, but just by the beautiful serendipity of life… plus their product. Imagine brands like Disney or Dyson for this archetype. If this feels like your business, then your job is to get people excited about new possibilities and the idea that change is within reach.
Design Tips:
Use sleek visuals and polished imagery
Lean on gradients and light effects to add to the magic
Typography should feel modern and clean (avoid hard to read decorative fonts)
Content Tips:
Use storytelling to build a sense of wonder
Highlight transformation and possibility with words like “imagine” “reinvent” and “transform”
Make your product or service feel like the gateway to a better, more elevated reality
7. The Everyman
These brands are all about being reliable and approachable. These brands make us feel comfortable and included, like we’re part of the group. They project the safe and steady idea that we’re all in this together. Everyman brands include Target, Levi’s, and Ikea. It’s not about luxury, it’s about being for everyone.
Design Tips:
Avoid visuals that communicate luxury, like metallics or soft leather
Use a clean, legible sans serif font
In your photography, keep edits to a minimum
Content Tips:
Keep messaging straightforward and conversational (contractions are your friend)
Share stories that highlight behind the scenes moments
Focus on inclusivity and trustworthiness
8. The Lover
Lover brands build deep, emotional connections by emphasizing passion. They invite customers to indulge in experiences and rituals. They create loyalty through love rather than logic. This is a broad category and can include everything from luxury brands like Chanel to desserts like Godiva or self care brands like Lush. If this feels like your business, then you want to invite your customers to slow down, take care of themselves, and indulge.
Design Tips:
Communicate luxury with plenty of white space
Use close up photography that highlights textures
Emphasize curves and flowing lines in your typography, layouts, and graphics
Content Tips:
Use language that evokes taste, tough, sight, smell, and sound
Lean into emotional persuasion over utilitarianism
Highlight unboxing videos, new rituals, or other routines that encourage people to slow down and romanticize life
9. The Jester
This archetype is all about humor and fun. Their goal is to keep you hooked by keeping you entertained. Old Spice, The Onion, M&Ms, and Go Daddy are all at least partly Jester businesses. In a word that can feel very heavy, Jester brands remind us that not everything needs to be taken so seriously. If your business feels like a Jester brand, then your content should feel like a playground. Every post or email needs an element of levity.
Design Tips:
Use bright, bold colors and illustrations
Opt for unconventional typography that doesn’t feel rigid
Content Tips:
Lean into wit, puns, and playful language
Avoid teasing or making fun of people unless you’re really skilled at marketing
Show that your brand isn’t afraid to make fun of itself
10. The Caregiver
Caregiver brands prove on a regular basis that you are safe in their hands. Their primary goal is to be all about others. These businesses feel very similar to Innocent brands, but the difference is that Innocent brands focus on purity of their product or service, but Caregiver brands are all about relationships. Example brands include UNICEF, Tom’s Shoes, or anyone in healthcare. If this feels like your business, your marketing should focus on service, reliability, and impact. Share stories that highlight how you’ve helped others.
Design Tips:
Use soft color palettes with pastels and neutrals
In your photography, focus on images of families or community
Consider iconography like hearts, hands, or homes
Content Tips:
Use gentle language full of empathy and reassurance
Weave in words that speak to protection, like “safe” “support” and “care”
Create calls to action that feel like an invitation rather than a push
11. The Creator
This archetype is all about imagination, innovation, and originality. Creator brands inspire us to express ourselves and see the world differently. These businesses help their customers to bring new ideas to life. Well known Creator brands include Canva, Adobe, and LEGO. If you’re a Creator brand, then your job is to inspire expression. Before you create any content, ask yourself: Does this inspire people to create, imagine, or innovate?
Design Tips:
Don’t shy away from asymmetry or experimental layouts
Use heavily saturated color palettes
Incorporate dynamic visuals that show in progress creation, like sketches, prototypes, or behind the scenes moments
Content Tips:
Encourage your audience to make and share their own creations through user generated content
Lean on storytelling that emphasizes possibility, not perfection
Frame your product or service as a tool for creativity, not the final solution
12. The Ruler
If your business aspires to not just compete, but to really set the standard, then you’re probably the Ruler archetype. Ruler brands create structure and inspire confidence. They make people secure that they are an authority figure that can be trusted. Businesses that fall under this archetype include American Express, Mercedes-Benz, and financial advisors who really want to project absolute credibility. If you’re a Ruler, you want to lean into consistency, since your customers want order and stability.
Design Tips:
Use structured layouts with symmetrical balance and minimal clutter
Opt for conservative typography options
Showcase hierarchy visually with tiers of service, bulleted lists, and bolding
Content Tips:
Your brand voice should sound professional, commanding, and like it’s sure of itself
Share data and frameworks that reinforce your authority
Highlight testimonials or case studies
Most businesses don’t fit neatly into just one archetype.
In fact, the strongest brands usually lean on two or, at most, three. Your primary archetype is your foundation: the dominant style and personality that your audience should feel most clearly. But layering in a secondary archetype adds nuance and differentiation. It’s that unique intersection that gives you the ability to stand out amongst your competitors.