Systems VS Assets
Reinventing your visuals every week (or even every post) can feel like you’re keeping things fresh. But the hidden cost is that every post becomes a tiny design project: new layout, new font pairing, new photo vibe, new button style, new caption rhythm… That’s not freshness. That’s unpaid labour wearing a not so fun hat.
And when your brain has to keep making micro-decisions, it starts bargaining. “Maybe I’ll just… pick something and move on.” That’s the moment brands drift. Not because you’re inconsistent on purpose, but mostly just because you’re tired.
There’s a well-studied idea called decision fatigue: when repeated decision-making drains mental resources and can lead to avoidance, impulsive choices, or lower-quality decisions. I talk about it frequently on my social media accounts and it’s why late-in-the-day choices often feel harder. It’s also why cognitive fatigue can affect judgement and performance in general.
Systems VS Assets
Let’s define the two things people frequently mix up.
A design system is a set of shared building blocks and standards that keep experiences consistent. Almost like a blueprint or common language that prevents teams (or even solo business owners) from reinventing the wheel every time.
Google’s Material Design frames this as an adaptable system of guidelines, components, and tools. Basically they’re a set of rules you can reliably design with.
Meanwhile, assets are the individual outputs:
An Instagram carousel
A landing page
A pricing PDF or brochure
A newsletter header
A blog feature image
Assets are the “what.” Systems are the “how.”
If you want a really simple metaphor to help: assets are the bricks; the system is the scaffold and measurements that keep you from being a cracked house by accident.
Building Rules, Not Moods
Consistency is often marketed like a personality trait. You know how it is. People say “Just be consistent” as if you can just decide to become an organised person and then… voila. In reality, consistency usually comes from a result of constraints.
When you have clear rules (strategy), you reduce the number of decisions required to publish something whether that be a post or an email. Those rules matter, because too many options increases effort and can create analysis paralysis.
Good design systems do three practical things for you and your business:
They narrow your choices (deliberately)
Instead of infinite layout possibilities, you pick from a limited number.They speed up production
You’re assembling proven parts, not inventing from scratch.They protect recognisability
Your audience doesn’t have to decode a brand-new visual language every time you show up. Familiarity then becomes a form of ease.
This is the same reason design principles exist. They frame decisions and support consistency in decision-making. When you consistently use principles and patterns, your work becomes more coherent across time and people.
The “Mini” Design System
You don’t need a giant corporate library to reap the benefits. For most service providers, consistency becomes dramatically easier with a compact system made of:
Reusable layouts
CTA language rules
Photo style rules
Spacing standards (yes, really)
A small set of font and colour decisions/choices
Example 1: Reusable layouts that stop you from staring at a blank canvas
Pick 3-5 layouts that cover 90% of what you post. Build them once (in Canva, Figma, Adobe – whatever you use), then reuse them.
Here are a few layout “families” that work especially well for wellness and other service-based brands:
Layout A: Education Carousel
Slide 1: Hook (one sentence)
Slide 2-4: 3 key points
Slide 5: “Try this” step
Slide 6: CTA (book/enquire/read more)
Layout B: Process Peak
3 steps with icons or numbers
One proof point (testimonial snippet, metric, credential
CTA
Layout C: Offer Spotlight
Problem (to) solution (to) what’s included (to) next step
Same structure every time, so you’re audience learns how to read you
The goal here isn’t to be repetitive in a boring way. It’s meant to be repeatable in a trustworthy way.
Example 2: CTA language rules that make selling feel less awkward
Most CTAs fail because they’re invented on the spot… and usually when you’re already tired. As a result, they come out vague (eg. “Let me know!”) or overcooked (eg. “Limited spots! Hurry!”).
Set 2-4 CTA phrases as defaults, matched to intent:
For booking (high intent):
“Book a discovery call.”
“Enquire about availability.”
For browsing (medium intent):
“Explore services.”
“View packages and pricing.”
For low-pressure entry:
“Start here: read the guide.”
“Browse the shop.”
These lines save you from accidentally writing like a late-night infomercial when you’re just trying to post on a random Tuesday.
Example 3: Photo style rules that make your brand look cohesive even when life is messy
You don’t need every image to match exactly. You just need every image to belong together.
Pick 4-6 photo rules such as these:
Lighting
Natural light preferred
Avoid harsh overhead fluorescents (unless you’re intentionally going clinical/minimal)
Colour Temperature
Warm and earthy, or cool and airy (choose one as the default)
Backgrounds
Simple, uncluttered
Soft texture; or
Consistent solid colour
Composition
Lots of negative space
Subject centred or rule-of-thirds, consistently
Filters/Editing
One preset; or
One consistent editing approach (contrast + warmth + grain levels)
Subject Matter Boundaries
Show hands/tools/workspaces more than random stock photos
Choose 1-2 “signature” motifs (eg. Linen textures, sketchbook moments, ocean tones)
These rules are just some suggestions, and you should always customise the rules to suit you and your business needs. Rules reduce the “scroll-stall” moment where you think: “None of my photos look like together.” They will (now) because you told them how.
Example 4: Spacing Standards (the quiet hero of looking professional)
Spacing is the difference between “designed” and “assembled.”
Many design systems use consistent spacing increments to create rhythm and alignment. Material Design, for example, uses spacing guidance like maintaining at least 8dp between touch targets, and aligning measurements to consistent units for balance and usability.
Closer to home, Queensland Health’s design system explicitly references 8px increments as part of a widely adopted spacing approach, pointing to how consistent spacing supports alignment and clarity.
A practical spacing scale for content templates:
8px (tiny)
16px (small)
24px (medium)
32px (large)
48px (x-large)
Then set rules like:
Headline to body 16px
Section to section 32px
Inside cards/buttons 16px with padding
Between icons and text 8px padding
I also like to recommend for social media posts over 40px for headings and between 20-30px for body text to ensure readability and accessibility. When spacing becomes consistent, your designs instantly look calmer because the viewer’s brain doesn’t have to keep re-measuring the world.
How a Style Guide Helps
A style guide turns all of this information into something you can actually use. It isn’t just another pretty PDF you forget in a folder. It’s your decision-making outsourced into one comprehensive document.
Done well, a style guide becomes your “single source of truth” (even if the “team” is just you and Future You who will absolutely forget what hex code you used for your backgrounds). It also connects the system to the assets: every post, page, and promo becomes easier because the rules are already set.
In my style guide offerings, the goal is to build a brand system that’s usable day-to-day, a style guide can include things like:
Clear typography hierarchy (so you stop resizing text 68 times)
Colour usage rules (what’s primary, accent, contrast, background etc.)
Spacing and layout guidance for templates
Photo styling rules and do/don’t examples
Messaging language bank aligned with your tone
It really is the difference between hoping your assets look like your brand and knowing exactly what to do next.
A Simple 60-Minute System Reset
If you want to start today, here’s a simple hour long system reset.
Open a document or note and answer these questions, quickly and imperfectly:
What are my 3 main content types? (Education/Proof/Offer/etc.)
What are my 3 reusable layouts for those types?
What are my 4 default CTAs?
What are my 5 photo rules?
What spacing scale will I use in templates?
Then build 3 templates that follow those answers. That’s basically it. That’s the lever.
You’re not trying to eliminate creativity. You’re trying to stop spending creativity on reinventing buttons (and the likes).
Assets are the individual pieces of content you publish. Systems are the rules that make those pieces easier to create and easier to recognise. Design systems and design principles exist to support consistent decision-making and reduce wasted effort, and the same logic applies to brand content: fewer choices, clearer standards, faster production.
When you standardise reusable layouts, CTA language, photo styling, and spacing, you reduce decision fatigue and make consistency feel less like discipline.
If your brand has been living in “reinvent mode,” it doesn’t mean you’re flaky. It usually means you’ve been trying to build recognisability using willpower instead of a framework. And willpower is a limited resource, especially when you’re running a business and making decisions all day, every day.
If you want support turning your visuals into an actual system (so your content gets faster, calmer, and more consistent), book a discovery call to chat through how I may be able to help you get a clearer brand system. Otherwise, if you’re in DIY mode, check out my other services or my store for more support.
