“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”
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.
