How to Create a Brand Guide in 5 Steps
A Brand Guide is a collection of specifications that helps you to communicate and present a consistent visual brand to the world.
Just test how fast you can recognize a few of the most famous brands. You see the initial ‘for over a blue tile and you call it Facebook. A glance at the swoosh and you know it’s Nike. You listen to a “ta-dum” and you know it’s Netflix.
These companies are virtually glued to your brain, and strong brand guidelines are what makes them stick. Branding Guidelines are necessary for your brand’s quality control, comprehension, identity and recognition.
In this article, we will look at 5 simple steps to create a Brand Guide.
Let’s dive in.
1. A Compelling Brand Story
Your brand story should clearly state your brand’s Purpose, Visions, Mission, Principles that guide your brand and the emotions you want to convey to your customers. You can make your story all about your brand personality, cool, exciting and unapologetically expressive like Nike or you can keep it plain and simple like Facebook. In addition to this, you can also include your brand history, background, milestones and other relevant information (awards and patents). Whichever way you choose to tell your brand’s story, it will be the base for the brand experience and will clue in the rest of the style guide.
2. Unique Brand Visuals and Designs
Once you’re done with your brand story, you must show what your brand looks like. Here you state your Logo (primary, secondary and icons), Color Palette (primary and secondary colors), Typography (Fonts, sizes and spacing) and Other Imagery (Photos and Illustrations).
Logo
Your logo is the one thing you want everyone to recognize in a flash. But before you jump to decide on any logo, colors, fonts, or graphics, it’s better to have a look at what your competitors are doing. Discover a middle ground between stand out among the niche competitors and expected visual language in the industry. You must include your Logo Variations (primary, secondary and icons). By including a secondary logo, people won’t have to modify your primary logo in situations where it doesn’t fit. Your secondary logo could be minimalistic, a short wordmark, or even something as simple as a single letter. Read More