6 Steps to Create your Company’s Brand Guideline

6 Steps to Create your Company’s Brand Guideline

what is brand guide

What is Brand Guide?

Brand guidelines are criteria that a company establishes for the elements of its public communication, such as colours, fonts, voice, and design. Focusing on consistency in your brand’s features and identity ensures that every impression you make on clients is consistent.

 

choosing a logo

Choosing a Logo

Choosing a logo is one of the simplest and most important elements in developing brand standards. The face of your brand is your logo. Numerous well-known brands’ logos alone can be used to identify them; the brand name is not always necessary. A logo must be that appealing, straightforward, and distinctive.
Logo composition involves the following:

  • Format
  • Color hues used
  • The symmetry of the logo/ typographic brand name
  • Size/proportion of the logo/ typographic brand name
  • Special effects

Your brand’s personality should be reflected in your logo, and the ideal design will enhance the positive aspects of your brand’s identification.

pick a colour palette

Pick a Colour Palette

What kind of business you are is indicated by the colour scheme used for elements of your brand like your name, logo, and tagline. Your colour scheme’s usage of the precise tones and colours should be documented.

Consider the colour scheme of Google. The brand is immediately conveyed as energetic and enjoyable through the logo. Ice cream company Baskin Robbins has a sweet pink, blue, and white colour scheme. You feel at home because the text and colour are appealing.

Your brand colours exist in a variety of forms.
1. Primary brand colours
2. Secondary brand colours
3. RGB (web) colours
4. CMYK (print) colours

The primary colours are frequently those that appear in your logo design plus one or more variations of black that are used for your major text. The purpose of secondary colours is to give your brand’s colour scheme depth. These might be applied to various advertising mediums like brochures, trade show booths, or your website.

It’s crucial to be adaptable while generating marketing materials while staying “on brand.” Because the brand rules take this into consideration, we have been creating brand identities that are completely versatile across print and web. Make your own CMYK palette instead of just changing RGB values to CMYK ones. Frequently, you’ll see better outcomes!

brand imagery

Brand Imagery

Your brand is defined by its imagery. In this context, visuals can take many different forms, including artwork, print materials, banner, social media content, and more. However, brand pictures serve much more than just as empty spaces. They also establish the tone for how you interact with your audience and mirror the style of your product. You can always utilise carefully chosen photos to engage your audience in a meaningful and emotional way, regardless of whether your brand is contemporary and minimalistic or classic and upscale.’

Successful photos improve the appeal of your visual communication and help people develop an emotional bond with your brand’s goods. The next time a consumer chooses you over the competition, that may play a significant role. The best thing you can do for your brand is to stay true to your beliefs and express them effectively, particularly when face-to-face contacts are few.

 

brand typography

Brand Typography

The typography used across your brand should be documented in full. This should include, the font used within the logo, as well as;

  • Headlines
  • Sub-headlines
  • Paragraphs

Your brand standards paper should describe the typefaces used, where you can find them, what sizes to use them at, and how they relate to one another. Using typography, you can have a certain personality and establish a particular context. It can be contemporary, vintage, romantic, shy, or stiff with the right typeface and design. To more effectively convey the personality of your brand, improve your typography.

On top of that, typography represents the tone and values of your brand just like colour represents a feeling or visually represents a message for your customers. Each typeface category has a distinct meaning, which will result in a varied portrayal of your company’s values and brand.

visual guidelines

Visual Guidelines

The most prominent place in our clients’ minds is taken up by your brand’s visual components. You should give information on the following to make sure that your brand identity is consistent:

  • Logo placement;
  • Color palettes;
  • Typography placement;
  • Image guidelines.

Make sure to incorporate appropriate logo modifications, such as adjustments to the locations of the element and suitable colour schemes. Make sure it is understood that you do not want your logo altered in any way.

The dimensions and positioning guidelines for all connected branding and visuals for your brand must also be included. Otherwise, you’ll discover that others are using your imagery and logo in ways you didn’t intend.

update your brand guide

Update Your Brand Guide Regularly

Release a new brand guideline every year, even if nothing changed throughout the year, to make sure your brand image stays the same. You don’t want anyone using outdated information.

Make sure to mention any changes if they occur. The tutorials can be lengthy at times, so you don’t want to miss any important details. Businesses of all ages, sizes, and sectors must have brand guidelines. Whatever stage you are at in creating or sustaining your brand, you need to have solid brand rules in place.

Conclusion

The management of the composition, design, and overall feel and look is done with the help of brand guidelines. Making brand standards cannot be done at random. Before making a final decision regarding the contents of the guide, careful consideration and debate are required.

Making a brand memorable for the audience requires consistency. Therefore, businesses must not undervalue the significance of developing brand guidelines.