Branding Guidelines

One of the key things that Steve Jobs brought to Apple was a strong brand position with clear character.

For companies to maintain consistent branding it is good practice to create and establish branding guidelines early on. Branding guidelines will make clear how and when to apply aspects of the branding and multiple designers will be able to work on projects under the same brand umbrella and the integral brand style will remain consistent.

Essentially branding guidelines set out the key visual elements of a brand which must be controlled. They illustrate how logos, signatures, layouts, fonts and typography work together to present the visual identity or 'the face' of a brand.

Branding allows the formation of a style and a vehicle on which to convey personality and identity values; a common link over a variety of communication methods. Branding offers cohesion and consistency in order to maintain a strong individuality specific to a company or product.

Visual elements can be chosen carefully and employed logically to portray specific emotions or to elicit emotions from the target audience. Particular imagery will appeal to a particular demographic; seeking to promote companies and products directly with the people and situations for which they have been created.

Some aspects of a brand will be almost set in stone and others may have some or complete flexibility. Usually the logo/signature will be a fixed element but flexible elements will vary from brand to brand.

Branding guidelines can always be reviewed at any time. Reviewing the brand guidelines every year or two will give you the chance to check no elements have become dated or have naturally fallen from use. New elements can be added to refresh the brand or reflect changes that have naturally evolved within the brand's visual language.

What to consider for inclusion in branding guidelines:

BRAND OVERVIEW
Many companies choose to start their brand guidelines with a statement of their design vision. This is a bit like a mission statement but for the design elements. Try to keep this short, maybe just a paragraph but be sure to include any keywords a designer should have in mind when creating work to fit the later stipulated criteria. For example; saying a brand has a fresh, organic outlook will instantly create a feeling in the designer's mind and they are more likely to be brand sympathetic in their design choices.

LOGO
Show the main logo in full colour followed by a breakdown of signatures (sub logos), alternative logos and elements which can be used alone. These can be addressed individually later in the guidelines if strict criteria applies to elements when used alone.

SIZE
Stipulate at which sizes the logo maybe used and in which situations. For example you may want a large logo with extra detail to be used in large format communications and a smaller simplified logo to be used on all stationery and print collateral. If you want control over the exact size state measurements and always include a minimum size for your logo(s) what ever their use. Any illegible logo is unforgivable and does nothing but devalue the brand.

Do mention that logos should be scaled proportionally. There will be sad times if you see that someone has stretched or squashed your carefully designed logo!

EXCLUSION ZONE
A designer or two, or maybe you, will have spent hours creating a great logo. The last thing you want is for it to be half hidden by other elements in an advert or cut off by the edge of a document.

Establishing an exclusion zone is setting out some personal space for your logo. You could specify a fixed minimum distance around your logo however this may offer little in the way of adapting across various communications. Instead decide on the amount of space you would like around the logo and then look to the logo itself to ground this measurement. Find a letter or brand element that is of this width and this will be a scalable component, giving a proportional distance in all situations.

FILE FORMATS
Include information on which file formats the logos, signatures and other visuals elements are available in. This may seem like a small details but it will prevent designers requesting logos in formats that you don't have available.

COLOURS
List all permissible colour palettes for the brand and contexts in which they should be used. For example; full colour logo to be used on all stationery and monochrome logo in one of four colours when used on other forms of communication or all advertisements should be based on a set group of colours.

Clearly state pantone values, CMYK, RGB and hex values where possible. Just one of these is fine but if you can include them all you will have tighter control of your brand colour scheme.

LOCK UP
Any information that must appear in a fixed position in relation to the logo or other brand elements is classed as locked or fixed information. Show examples how it lock up should behave over different formats and orientations. Often this information will be an address or contact details where you want to control how the type flows over a set number of lines. Giving this kind of information prevents type being separated in inappropriate places. Locking information keeps control of legibility and setting out how space is shared retains order of precedence.

LAYOUT / COLUMN GRID
Show your working. Reveal the underlying grid divided into columns and/or rows that every element is placed within. Most grids consist of a fixed number of columns spaced evenly over the available space. This makes scaling simple while proportions are maintained; whether the item is the front of a gatefold leaflet or an A1 poster its 'look' will be consistent.

Flexibility for text and image placement should be addressed. With good guidelines, marketing collateral will show a strong brand identity.

FONTS
List all fonts permitted and and criteria for their use. Include character maps for all faces and weights used as a handy quick reference guide. Often a brand will have a headline font and a main body text font. If you wish to have more fonts available than this consider whether a different weight/face of the same font family would suit the purpose as this will maintain a more cohesive visual impact.

Stipulate sizes which may be used and the appropriate use for different sizes.

TYPOGRAPHY
Consider typographic features that will impact the arrangement and aesthetics of any text representing the brand. You can look at kerning (letter spacing), leading (line spacing), tracking (text spacing) to control blocks of text. Include examples of text blocking at different sizes and state the tracking/leading information which may be pertinent to the different sizes and purposes. Ensure methods of hierarchy, hyphenation and emphasis follow a clear pattern throughout.

COPYWRITING
You may like to include this information if the brand is to have a strong voice through its copy. If you want to restrict all headings to 4 words and all straplines to fewer than 10 words then say so here. Would be good to mention tone of voice or keywords pertinent to the brand personality. For example if the brand is supposed to sound like its written by your nan using up to date slang is not going to sit well and vice versa.

IMAGERY
If imagery will play a strong role in marketing the brand, you should include any criteria that could impact this. For example, all images should include a person of a specified demographic or no images are permitted to show violence of any kind however mild.

Images sizing can be mentioned to control text/image balance. For example; only images of 100 mm x 100 mm should be used in annual reports or all adverts should include a full bleed image.

WEB GUIDELINES
Any brand around today intending to survive must consider their web presence.

Make sure any of the guideline criteria already covered which cannot be matched to an acceptable standard on the web are readdressed. If you use a particular font in your body copy which would be illegible or tiring to read on a screen select a more appropriate web font. Sizing of logos and elements can be adjusted to suit the medium.

Look at the buttons. Establish their usage, hierarchy and different visual states (native, hover, disabled and visited). Do the same for any icons to be used and explain the criteria for their use.

If there will be a logged in state, point out any differences that will occur.

For larger companies, or companies planning to scale, you may like to consider coding guidelines. Areas to cover are: CSS naming conventions, integration of Javascript, form styling, DocType and validation requirements, directory structures, accessibility standards (alt tags), testing methods and version control.

____
Final things to remember.

Include a cover and contact details for those who have the authority to answer brand guideline queries.

Make it accessible, the best format would be an online pdf for ease of distribution and efficiency of updating.

Create a stripped down mini guide the includes the fundamentals for use as a refresher guide for existing designers or a quick reference for those doing small ad tweaks who may not need to read the full details.

Make available any templates in current use like standard advertisements or corporate stationery. Reducing the amount of times a document is set up from scratch reduces the scope for error.

Happy guideline creating!