There’s nothing that gets our creative juices flowing more than the challenge of creating a new brand identity – whether starting from scratch or evolving an existing brand. But whilst you may think of a branding as a logo, it covers so much more.
Brand guidelines are a handy guide of of how to work with the nuts and bolts of your brand – the words, the pictures, the tone of voice and the values – to ensure they are used correctly and consistently.
As your brand grows and evolves, you’ll likely have more hands on deck trying to get the word out – from designers to copywriters to marketeers. Without brand guidelines, they’ll each have their own take on what they think your brand means.
Sometimes they’ll hit the mark, but more often there will be loads more toing and froing than necessary, costing you time and money. Even worse, results can be inconsistent and make your brand look weak.
So what do brand guidelines include? There is no set formula, as no two brand have identical needs. But typically they might consist of:
- Mission statement or brand promise
- Tone of voice
- Logo usage
- Typography
- Colour palette
- Image style
- Examples in practice
You may think your business is too small to require brand guidelines, but what happens as you grow? Don’t necessarily look at where you are now, but at where you want to be in a year’s time or three or five.
Convinced? Give us a bell if you’d like to chat about how to make your brand shine.
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