“Personal Branding is the combination of one’s skills and talents to produce value for people that creates an impression, a perception and reputation in the mind of others”

  
― Bernard Kelvin Clive,

   

A study of Brand Guidelines   

 

Brand guideline, Brand manual, Brand bible. It’s known under many names but the motivation for having one is always the same - consistency. First things first: Having a logo does not necessarily mean you have a brand! It’s important to distinguish between the two. A brand is the culture that unifies the people using it. These people can be employees of the company or users of the product. For example, a couple enjoying a bottle of Coca-Cola is as much part of the Coca-Cola brand as its CEO, perhaps more. Because a brand is what the public says it is, not its employees. A logo is a part of a brand. It’s the symbol or word-mark that visually represents the company’s values.

When talking about brand guidelines we’re talking about guidelines for the brand as a whole. Some guidelines go in to great detail and describe everything; from the colour and typefaces to the company core values, vision and mission. For most companies this is not necessary. When developing the guidelines for a brand, one of the first things to consider is usability. Will this be useful for people working with this specific brand and how relevant is it? In most cases, brand guides tend to include:

 

• Logo and/or wordmark and the uses for each.
• Typeface – different weights and how they should be used in various types of communication.
• Colour – which are associated with the brand?
• Imagery – does the brand have its own image library or will photos be purchased from a stock photography company?

By covering these topics, guidelines can anticipate most scenarios that it might be presented with. It’s important to know that a brand guideline is never exhaustive. It does not include every single scenario conceivable. The guide is just that – a guide. Its main purpose is to anticipate applications/usage that the brand might be faced with and give the user enough information to adapt to these scenarios.

Whilst it’s good for the company’s management to be aware of their own guidelines – these are not the people guidelines are developed for. They are developed to help the people that will most likely read, and understand them – designers. They depend on the guidelines not for strict rules but rather to hint at the correct usage of the brand in order to maintain consistency. All brand guidelines are open to interpretation and it’s up to the designer to apply sound design practice.

Finally, a brand is a living thing. It’s always changing and so its brand guideline must change with it. For most companies, guidelines should be reviewed once every six months by an agency or designer that understands the brand, its users and its requirements. At this stage, new applications can be included and old ones that might not be relevant anymore can be removed. This way, the guidelines are kept fresh and contemporary and your brand will thank you for it.

Michel Jonas Nilsson

Nilsson Wepa Advertising Ltd.