What is a brand book and how to design it correctly. Guideline and brand book: creation and examples Brand book of a cosmetic company

In this article we will tell you how to develop and properly use a company’s brand book. But first, let's figure out what this document is and why your company needs it.

What is a brand book?

A brand book is an official document that contains standards for your company's visual style. There are no two identical brand books. While some companies focus on design aspects, others create more detailed document with an overview of the company and rules for interacting with clients and business partners.

At the first stage of work, you must decide how relevant such a document is for your project, and also determine the range of issues that will be described in the manual.

Why does a company need a brand book?

If you don't have a single set of rules, then every designer and marketer you bring in to solve certain problems will implement their ideas in accordance with their vision. There is nothing wrong with diversity, but in some situations a lack of unity can have disastrous consequences. If you use different design styles and communication methods, you will not be able to build a strong brand and convince potential customers that your company is the best in its segment.

Instructions for use corporate identity will be especially useful for new employees. By familiarizing yourself with the rules in advance, newcomers will quickly navigate the brand system. It's better than learning by making annoying mistakes, right? This way, you won't have to interview new employees and explain to them that they broke a rule they didn't even know existed. Thus, a well-written brand book saves your time and reduces the number of awkward situations.

Also watch this short video on why a good brand book is important for your business:

What do you need to know before developing a brand book?

First of all, adhere to the principle of the golden mean. The rules you develop should not be too rigid, because this will limit the creativity of employees, forcing them to stick to boring, proven solutions. But at the same time, the rules must be clear and not allow for double interpretation.

There is a common misconception that corporate identity guidelines should be developed by the head of the organization. We hasten to reassure you: this is not so. The manual is the result of the joint work of managers, designers and copywriters. And if your organization has a branding department, then developing guidelines is the direct responsibility of such a team.

Work on the document should be coordinated by a person who participated in the development of the corporate identity and has sufficient authority to make and implement important decisions. If employees do not know about the existence of a brand book or do not take into account its rules, then all the work done will go down the drain. When hiring a new employee, you must provide them with a manual for review. We'll talk more about this at the end of the article.

What does a brand book include?

As we have already written, no two manuals are exactly alike. Each company includes rules in its document that correspond to its values, goals, business model and other characteristics. However, in a standard brand book there are 3 main sections.

Brand

• This section deals with mission, values ​​and target audience companies.
• The size of this section depends on the level of detail in the document and your goals. Many companies skip this chapter altogether because they don't see the point in rewriting boring clerical text from one document (such as a business plan) to another.

Corporate identity

• Logo: colors, placement, variations, size and proportions, examples of effective and ineffective use of the logo.
• Trademark: usage options, colors.
• Slogan: where to place the slogan. Read how to create a slogan.
• Colors: what colors (color combinations) should be used in marketing products.
• Fonts: a list of fonts to be used in the text (for heading, regular text, list, etc.). The best logo fonts you can find
• Photos: Tips for creating photo sets, requirements for images.
• Other graphic objects: icons, patterns, textures.

Rules of interaction

• Language: In what languages ​​does your brand communicate with the outside world?
• Grammar and Formatting: abbreviations, capital letters, numbers, acronyms, dates and names.
• Readability: light sentences or succinct formulations.
• Style: technical or official or slang, etc.
• Communication manner:(formal/ friendly/ reserved/ humorous, etc.).
• Emails: basic letter design, example of an electronic signature.
• Blog: requirements for blog posts, their formatting, topics and structure.
• Social platforms: purpose, posting time and types of posts for each social network.

Brand book design

To develop a brand book design, you will need a professional. Before committing to a project, talk to the designer and make sure you share his vision. Ask the designer to show him his favorite examples of brand books and tell him what he likes about each of them. If there are no such examples, show the specialist the brand book options listed below and ask them to make a list of favorites. This will give you an idea of ​​how your designer sees your future management. For example, does he plan to use large fonts and short paragraphs on each page, or does he prefer a more compact structure?

Pay attention to one important point. The manual itself must comply with the rules it contains, i.e. be visually appealing and easy to understand. When the first version of the manual is ready, it would be a good idea to show it to other specialists to get their opinion. Remember that the brand book should be a reflection of the brand, not your personal preferences.

Don't rush. Allow as much time as necessary to make changes. Once your team is happy with the end result, all that's left to do is add the finishing touches.

Examples of brand books

What is a ready-made guide to using a corporate identity? We have collected several examples that you will want to scroll through forever! Get inspired and create!

Microsoft Brand Book (PDF)

Who uses brand books
Many large companies provide a brand book to their distributors and other partners. This is how they ensure that their brand is presented in the same style throughout the world. However, the vast majority of brand books are intended for use within a company.

How to use a brand book

So, you have developed rules for using your corporate identity. But that's only half the job. Now you need to enforce these rules. Otherwise, what's the point of creating a document that no one looks at?

First of all, inform your employees about the existence of the brand book. Send the document to newsletter and ask your colleagues (all colleagues, not just designers and copywriters) to familiarize themselves with the rules and standards it contains. Any employee can become a brand representative (ambassador). Let's take developers for example. Although they are not directly involved in branding, they can quickly spot and correct mistakes made in the design.

The next step is to appoint a compliance officer. Ideally, this should be the same person who coordinated the process of creating the brand book.
About a month after the release of the manual, it would be a good idea to hold a meeting to monitor compliance with the rules for using corporate identity. Also ask your colleagues about the difficulties they have encountered in complying with the rules.

In conclusion, brands - just like people - are constantly changing. In this regard, get into the habit of regularly reviewing and updating your brand book (at least once a year). Remember that the rules for using corporate identity should be in line with the current goals and values ​​of your company.

Brand book. Small and most medium-sized companies do not need a brand book: the company maintains its small business: produces goods or provides services. Employees create the reputation of their company with daily work; the brand of such a company lives “at the fingertips” of the owner, changes all the time, and does not need a complete description and replication.

A brand book becomes necessary at a certain stage of business development, at a time when the reputation and image of the brand must be entrusted to new people:

when a branch network appears;

when transferring the production of goods under a license;

replicating a business through franchising or transferring management of the business founder to hired managers.

You can create this book yourself, but usually companies engage branding agencies, with the help of which it is easier and faster to create a brand book. Typically, a brand book consists of three main sections:

1. Brand. The mission, values ​​and audience of the brand are written here. That is, why the brand exists, why it is good, useful and to whom exactly, what idea it serves, what values ​​it carries. Here you can write about positioning, uniqueness, roots - about everything that concerns the ideology of the business and product.
2. Visual style. This chapter is often referred to as the “Brand Identity Guide” or GuideLines. Logo, fonts, colors, trademark, slogan, corporate graphics, photography style, packaging idea, modular grid, special grades of paper. This section also describes the rules for working with corporate identity. A lot is given technical information for designers, printing technologists and programmers.
3. Rules of interaction. This section describes the brand's interaction policy with environment: with the target audience, the media, authorities, and all significant surrounding entities. Editorial guidelines: language, grammar, style and communication style different groups Target audience, design of letters, articles, comments, interviews, requirements for blogs, and so on. Branding of everything (from pens to airplanes and ships), layouts of POS materials, design rules for offices, shopping areas, ideas are also located here. promotions, promotion mechanics and so on. The content of this section is quite arbitrary and more than others depends on the specifics of the company’s business. This section contains all the brand tools necessary for daily work. It is clear that over time this section is gradually growing.

In Western companies, the brand book is usually posted on the website, available for download. Open business and all that - companies are proud of their mission, values, and consider the brand book as an important tool for promoting the company. In Russia, they usually keep the first part of the brand book secret, the second part is not hidden, and the third part is again tried not to be advertised: so that competitors do not spy on anything unnecessary. The main thing is that the brand book fulfills its main mission - it allows you to understand what the essence of the brand is and how to work with it.

The episode with which I decided to start talking about the brand book took place in a company with a very rich design history. As part of the brand book, in-house designers who remember the style by heart have already developed so many corporate materials that previously developed materials become a model for later ones. Some of the functions of the brand book were taken over by branded products.

Examples of developed company brand books in Russian

As I wrote above, it’s easy to find brand books of the world’s leading companies on the Internet. What about the Russians? We also have many examples of works in this genre. Let's look at some.

Sberbank

The Sberbank brand book, developed in 2009 together with the British agency Fitch, is a reference book for me personally, despite all the laughter of amateurs that accompanied the appearance of the new style. As a result of this work, the dingy and clumsy monstrously green “wallet” of Sberbank turned into a convenient, plastic, modern style, successfully used today on all media. Sberbank has recently been called differently: simply “Sber”. He became even closer to the people: “Sberbank. Now in every mobile phone." The brand book itself is designed in a new, freshly developed style and is an example of it. It contains 195 pages, on which all the necessary sections are located. The brand book also came with 2 DVDs (it was 2009!) with templates for all materials in Adobe. Despite the frightening volume of the brand book and a huge pile of templates, after spending a couple of days studying the book, one could quite confidently create materials in a corporate style. We started working with this brand book in 2010. Everything was great.

Aeroflot

Developed a little earlier, in 2008, five times thinner, with only 40 pages, Aeroflot’s brand book is closer to an ordinary good corporate product. This is roughly what a “Big Brand Book” should look like, as we call this genre in our Studio.

Often, the visual and emotional image of a brand attracts the buyer’s attention no less, and sometimes more, than the most outstanding consumer characteristics of the product itself. A set of rules and standards for using identity elements, which are clearly stated in reference book brand, which has obvious benefits for most companies.

What is a high-quality brand book, how to create it and how much will its development cost?

What is a brand book in simple words

A brand book is a kind of brand bible; it is an official document for internal corporate use that conveys the company’s mission, philosophy and core values brand.

It also contains a set of developed standards for the visual component of the organization’s corporate identity and an individual strategy marketing activities and brand promotion, principles of its positioning and the concept of interaction with consumers.

The company's brand book is unique in its own way - each company creates its own main brand book, guided by personal goals and needs. Thus, for some, the priority is standardization of design and its technical component, others cover a more detailed list of issues related to the brand and the company’s activities, right down to detailed rules for interaction with business partners.

Why do you need a brand book?

The brand book defines the strict stylistic framework of the visual component of the company. The brand is easy to read, memorable, its image is recognizable on the market, a single, clearly verified concept fully corresponds to the main idea and successfully forms loyalty of the target audience, positive image and brand reputation.

In the case of opening the company’s own branches or scaling through franchising, strict compliance with the stylistic uniformity of corporate branding is a conscious necessity, otherwise the original meaning is lost, namely belonging to a recognizable brand, along with all its advantages.

A set of rules for using corporate identity is especially useful for new employees of the company. A well-prepared brand book will allow a beginner to as soon as possible to navigate the basics of the brand system, which eliminates annoying mistakes due to ignorance and saves the time of other employees when introducing a newcomer to the business.

A high-quality brand book effectively reduces material and time costs for production promotional materials. Careful development of uniform standards for corporate style elements with a detailed description of their application will allow responsible company employees to transfer them to any advertising media without additional approval and processing.

What is included in the brand book

It is impossible to clearly define a list of all the tasks that can be identified when creating a brand book due to the fact that the content of this document directly related to the type and scale of activity of each individual company.

Nevertheless, 4 basic sections can be distinguished.

Brand ideology and consumer characteristics

The size of the section depends on how detailed the brand book is being developed and its goals. Many people often skip it because they do not consider it necessary to repeat word for word another company document, for example, a business plan.

This section may contain information of different types:

• mentions the type of activity of the company, its organizational structure, mission, philosophy, values ​​and key principles of the company;
• stands out target audience and its main characteristics, describes the desired consumer behavior, what impression the company can make on the buyer with practical point vision (what opportunities the company provides), psychological (emotions and feelings that the product evokes in the consumer) and social (what status the client gains by owning the product).

The first section usually sets the criteria by which all further interaction with the consumer is carried out.

Corporate identity

This section is a general set of rules for the visual component of the brand, otherwise known as guidelines. This is what many novice entrepreneurs often have in mind when they talk about a brand book.

The guideline describes development standards such as a logo, trademark, fonts and corporate color/colors, slogan and other graphic objects, as well as the rules for their use and placement on various advertising media, - in outdoor advertising, on letterheads and business cards, various documentation and souvenirs.

Marketing strategy

This section, in essence, describes the marketing strategy and selected promotion methods, defines advertising tools and images, as well as ways to convey the message to the consumer.

Internal style of the company

The final basic section contains the main elements of the company’s corporate style: it describes the role of the organization or its brand for employees, the company’s ideology, which must be adhered to and relayed to the external environment.

Creating a brand book is always a creative approach to its development, so it is not necessary to limit yourself to basic information. The content of each section of the brand book can be trimmed or expanded in accordance with the goals and objectives set.

So, one will be able to succinctly describe the brand philosophy and the principles of the main stylistic decisions. Others will prepare a "three-volume essay" giving a detailed understanding marketing promotion brand with a thorough description of each advertising tool used.

Differences between a brand book and a guideline

Description of a corporate style or guideline is one of the basic tasks when creating a brand book, therefore, without focusing on the company’s development strategy and its ideology, these two concepts are often identified. However, upon closer examination, there are still significant differences.

Firstly, a brand book contains much more information than a guideline: the philosophy of the brand and its core values, business principles, as well as the marketing and promotion strategy of the company and the characteristics of consumer behavior of the target audience, while the corporate identity is a set of brand standards , describing the stylistic solutions of branding elements and the principles of their technical execution.

Secondly, despite the fact that in small companies a guideline is often part of a brand book; it is, in fact, a separate document and can be used separately. This is regulated by the fact that a brand book is usually developed for internal corporate use, and a guideline is a technical guide for maintaining a corporate style when contacting various contractors to carry out work (printing advertising materials, designing a new office, creating a website).

Types of brand books

As a rule, a team of professionals, designers and marketing specialists is brought in to work on the development and creation of a set of brand rules, whose services can cost a lot of money. Considering the fact that not every company needs to draw up the most detailed brand book, there are several basic types of this document, which differ in the amount of information written down, and, accordingly, in a noticeable difference in the cost of execution.

Logobook

Small companies are recommended to have a minimum package - a logo book, which, if desired, can even be developed independently using an online designer, for example Logaster, Logo Maker. Such a document covers the basic rules for using corporate colors and logos, permitted and prohibited placement variations, etc.

Standard

A standard brand book contains all the main sections of rules and standards, adapted to the specific goals of the customer and the type of his activity. So, if the company does not intend to use branded corporate clothing, the development of its design can be excluded.

Complex

Development of a comprehensive brand book is advisable for major brands and large corporations. In addition to the basic set of rules, it may contain additional requirements for the development and design of packaging, corporate events and trainings, and other information, including the nuances of advertising photography.

Requirements for brand books

• The design is regulated by the standards set by the brand.
• The information presented should be easy to read, meaningful and straightforward.
• Possibility of use by company employees on different levels business.
• Mandatory integrity of the brand book structure.

Stages of creating a brand book

The first step is to soberly assess the need to create a brand book for a specific organization: after all, in the case of small companies that do not plan to expand, allocating a large budget for the development of an inappropriate and extensive document looks, at least, eccentricity.

Having confirmed your decision, you can begin the painstaking and rather lengthy process of preparing, developing and creating a brand book, consisting of five main stages.

Preparatory stage

It involves filling out a brief provided by the developer or a self-created brief. The customer needs to identify all brand elements that need standardization and detailed description. You are also required to provide information about the company and its target audience.

Discussion of wishes

The performers clarify the basic wishes of the customer, systematize the received data and form the structure of the future document. The key points are agreed upon: the cost and work plan, the timing of the phased implementation of the project, and the contractual relationship between the contractor and the customer is drawn up. When working with a contractor at this stage, an advance payment usually occurs (no more than 50% of the order cost).

Concept development

Having studied the customer’s target audience, the contractors conduct research on competitors and their market activity, and then provide the customer with several variations of the brand book design. As soon as the latter decides on a concept that suits him, the performers begin to actually develop a brand book prototype: its technical, graphic, and ideological components.

Final product presentation

Final presentation of the finished prototype of the brand book to the customer in electronic form and its final approval. At this stage, edits and minor adjustments are made; it is possible to additionally order the development of additional brand elements that were not initially mentioned in the brief. The final design project of the brand book is approved, the document undergoes layout and pre-press preparation.

Creating the document itself

The process of creating a brand book is completed by the actual transfer of the finished document to the customer in the form in which it was agreed: in printed or electronic form, sometimes both.

The company receives the sources of the described corporate identity elements and recommendations for their use, and pays the remaining remuneration to the contractor.

How to use a brand book correctly

The brand book is ready, but another important stage lies ahead - the effective use of the developed document. The whole point is that all personnel of the customer company strictly and fully follow the principles and rules presented in the brand book.

This should be an introductory campaign that starts immediately after the development of the brand book. All employees must be informed about the creation and operation of this official company document, and everyone must be familiar with its contents. An official representative of the brand (its ambassador) is also appointed from the organization’s staff.

Secrets and subtleties of design

It is recommended to involve only highly qualified specialists from the field of design when working on such an important document for a company as a brand book.

A unified stylistic vision of the project plays a big role when choosing a contractor. That is, all elements of style must be recognizable on any objects and in any situations. A good example is the corporate identity of the Mirros Hotel.

A preliminary meeting and familiarization with the most successful, in the designer’s opinion, examples of brand books will help make sure that the contractor will not be disappointed by a complete discrepancy between the final results and expectations. Or, on the contrary, the customer can prepare in advance a list of documents he likes and invite the contractor to choose the most successful stylistic solution.

However, it is important to consider one point here: the brand book should be a real reflection of the brand, and not the personal preferences of the customer.

It should be understood that the document must be visually attractive, easy to read and intuitive. Increase your chances of right choice it is possible by showing the intermediate option to other specialists or colleagues, thereby increasing the objectivity of its assessment.

At the stage of making edits and adjustments to the prototype of a design project, there is no place for haste. The final approval of the layout should be approached in the most thorough manner, paying attention to any little details. When end result will be completely satisfactory, all that remains is to add the finishing touches.

Brand book cost

Cost is often one of the deciding factors when choosing a contractor. Before talking about the final price of the issue, you should decide who to choose as a reliable contractor.

A specialized design studio is guaranteed to issue a large bill for its services, while fulfilling its obligations in a high-quality and timely manner. An experienced freelance designer can also perform high-quality work on a fairly modest budget. However, there is always a risk of running into an unscrupulous employee who will delay the completion of the project or completely waste the customer’s time without finishing it at all.

The final cost of creating a document is determined by the number of corporate identity elements being developed and the amount of information provided. So, a brand book for large company will be significantly larger and more detailed than a similar document developed for small company, which produces a rather modest range of products.

The corporation's brand book records the principles of documentation, the design concept of dealer stores, and a detailed description corporate culture and much more. The book of an individual small brand is less voluminous, but the main emphasis is in a different direction: primary attention is paid to the careful development of packaging, brand character, commercials and other types of communication with the consumer.

Also, the formation of the final price is influenced by factors such as the geographic location of the artist and his own established views on pricing, as well as the type of brand book. Thus, the starting prices of a professional design company in Moscow start from 50,000 rubles for a logo book and 100,000 or more for the most detailed, comprehensive brand book.

Where and how to order brand book development

First, you need to figure out whether the company is ready to entrust the creation of such an important document for the entire company as a brand book to freelancers, or is it worth spending more money, but end up with a product of guaranteed quality.

If a company decides to hire a contractor, it should highlight what it is necessary to pay attention to when choosing a specific performing company, so that the result will please you for many years.

So, key factors selection is, of course, the cost of the project, the professionalism of the contractor, effective step-by-step control and execution of the contract.

We can recommend the MAD studio, which develops corporate styles and brand books. However, before choosing a specific contractor, it is advisable to compare several contracting companies and ultimately give preference to the one that inspires more confidence.

The issue of cost was covered earlier; the second main criterion when choosing a performer is his professionalism. It is useful to familiarize yourself with diplomas and certificates of advanced training of the designer with whom you will have to collaborate, and study his portfolio.

Another important selection criterion is the ability to control the intermediate results of order fulfillment. It is important to clarify the details in this regard: how often the company summarizes interim results for the project, the number of possible edits and adjustments included in the cost of the project, what happens if the interim result is categorically not satisfactory to the customer.

We will examine the issue of formalizing contractual relations separately.

Development agreement

Drawing up an agreement is one of the main steps in developing a brand book. In case of controversial issues between the customer and the contractor, this is a sure support right side and a 100% guarantee of fulfillment of the agreed conditions for the project. It is worth giving preference to a design firm that, when concluding a contract, does not neglect to indicate all the nuances of the process, the prescribed cost and deadlines, both final and intermediate, and for non-compliance with the terms of the contract, hefty penalties and fines are provided. If the latter is included in the contract, we can safely expect that the company is doing everything possible to avoid such sanctions and, accordingly, maintains compliance with contractual terms at a high level.

When contacting a freelance designer, there can be no talk of concluding a contract - most of these workers do not even have the status of individual entrepreneurs, and all that a company can receive from such a specialist is sworn oral (or written, but not legally binding) assurances that the project will be completed within the agreed time frame and in compliance with all conditions.

Examples of global brands

Before creating your own brand bible, it can be useful to familiarize yourself with examples of brand books of successful world-famous companies, and, perhaps, learn something interesting for yourself to later adapt and apply to your document.

The best books of companies and brands known throughout the world can differ radically from each other.

Some devote only a couple of pages to a description of their company and its ideology, devoting the rest of the space to a detailed description of the brand identity, like the Foursquare application that was sensational in its time; and someone, exactly the opposite, fills their brand book mainly with information about the mission, brand philosophy and strategy of the company, like the youth organization AIESEC.

Some brand books worldwide famous companies stand out from the rest with their brightness and unusual execution or content, others are imbued with the unique style of the brand from the first letter to the last dot.

For example, the brand book of Vanvero, a manufacturer of accessories for digital cameras, filled with stunning photographs.

The brand book of Animal Planet, a world-class television channel about animals, is also permeated up and down with colorful photographs of the earth’s fauna, they are everywhere: both in the description of the identity and in the disclosure of the company’s mission. A superbly consistent brand book design style can be an excellent role model for young and creative companies also striving to reach the global level.

Unicef ​​brand book , in addition to the standards for applying the basic elements of corporate identity, it also includes rules for creating photographs, designing presentations, media releases, etc.

The Skittles brand book is bright and colorful, in full accordance with the concept of positioning and advertising campaign. Skittles' message regarding its identity shines with originality: "Just do whatever you want with our logo, as long as it's cool, try to be creative."

In the general ledger international company Skype also has a lot of interesting things to look at. The document boasts a stunning stylistic approach using elements from comic books.

Brand book Mozilla Firefox carries many emotional messages. Intended for internal corporate use only and reveals the company’s ideology. The key point is staff involvement in the brand.

Inspired successful examples and starting to develop own book brand, it should be remembered that it must first of all reflect the uniqueness of the brand, and not the personal tastes of the customer or global trends, and also have the enduring relevance of the content, because this document, with the proper quality of content, will serve the company for decades.

Image famous brands like Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola are formed not only by their products, but also by their logo, font, certain colors and other components of the company’s corporate identity. It is also important how these elements are used in real life and what values ​​they reflect. This is regulated by internal documents of companies - brand books and guidelines. Look At Me figured out why such guidelines for using corporate identity are needed and selected 10 interesting examples of such publications.

Why do we need brand books?
and guidelines

Usually the brand book describes company values, her goals marketing strategies and other characteristics that make the brand different from others. In addition, it is important internal document is a guideline - a collection of rules governing the use of logos, fonts, corporate colors and other visual identifiers of the brand.

However, often (especially in small companies) these technical standards included in the brand book: in this case, it sets out both the company’s mission and reflects the visual components of the brand.

10 brand books and guidelines
famous companies

In 2011, a book was published about how Lufthansa’s corporate identity was changing.- one of the largest airlines in the world, founded in 1926. Its visual image was formed in the 1960s: then the identity for the company was developed by the German graphic designer Otl Eicher, who also created the design in 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Eicher's design is considered one of the best corporate identities developed in the 20th century. The book Lufthansa and Graphic Design: Visual History of an Airline shows how the airline's identity has changed throughout its history. The book also includes a guideline developed by Eicher in 1963.

British Airways, like many other companies, has a brand book combined with a guideline: their “book” contains a description of the brand’s core values, its brief history and guidelines for using brand identity elements. True, the rules for using a logo, corporate colors and fonts occupy most of the book - the 100-page guideline contains tables and detailed explanations.

The graphic design of the Olympic Games in Montreal, created by designers Georges Huel and Pierre-Yves Pelletier, is considered one of the most successful, along with the identity of the Olympics in Munich and Mexico City. In 1976, a detailed guideline was also published, which, like souvenirs from the Olympic Games in Montreal, is still sought after by collectors.

In 1986, at the request of Steve Jobs, famous designer and art director Paul Rand created a logo for NEXT. To explain his thought process and the logo he created, Rand created a logo-book. It explained how to use the designed logo. Jobs liked this book so much that he gave it as a souvenir.

Agree that the company’s charter is an obvious thing, but the need to develop a guideline or brand book raises questions among many. In fact, these are the same integral documents of the company that regulate its activities and relationships with other organizations and clients.

Many people don’t make brand books and guidelines at all, and those who do often confuse these two concepts with each other. In this article we will tell you how they differ, and why it is so important to call a spade a spade.

What is a guideline?

Guideline – a guide to the use of visual elements of a corporate identity.

This is purely technical document open type, intended for designers, printers and advertisers. It contains a detailed description of the elements of corporate identity (logo, fonts, colors, style-forming elements), as well as formulates the rules for their use (location of objects, color schemes, logo security field, etc.). The extended version can demonstrate the principles of designing business documentation, souvenirs and other materials that promote the brand. The guideline is mandatory for a company that needs to create advertising materials and other visual communications with its clients.

Principles for creating a guideline

1. Show, don't tell. Make the reader a participant. Text style is key. Keep the text short and easy to understand. Depending on the company, you can use humor here and there - this will bring lightness and creativity. Remember that people will read it.

2. The rules should be flexible enough so as not to kill the designer’s creativity, but clear enough so that the brand remains recognizable. There are situations when the rules can be “bent”, but in no case can they be “broken”. Consistency is also very important, especially if the brand will be represented on different media.

3. Help designers get started. Make a Toolkit. This can be a single page with an overview of your brand, which includes identity, colors, typography, images, and more. visual aids. Make all branding elements available for download from your website or provide them on disk as an attachment.

What is a brand book?

Brand book is a description of a brand’s values ​​and how to convey them to consumers.

This is a document for internal use, which records the company’s DNA: mission, values ​​and much more. It is also important to include in the brand book the fundamental principles of identity, which must be preserved even in the event of rebranding. The brand book is a kind of company bible, where top managers and other employees should look to check if they are on track. It makes it easier to accept strategic decisions, communication with customers, stimulates sales growth and brand awareness. They make brand books or experienced ones internal employees, or professional branding agencies after a thorough audit.

The brand book should cover issues such as: mission, philosophy, values ​​and principles of the company, target market and audience, key channels and methods of communication with customers, brand identifiers.

Principles of creating a brand book

1. Since this document is intended only for your employees, try to captivate them with the idea and infect them with the company’s philosophy.

2. The brand book records the values, principles, and ideology of the company. It cannot be a dry instruction, which is what a guideline is.

3. When working on a brand book, you need to take into account that this document will be the backbone of the company for decades. It outlines the general vector of development. All the creativity unique offers and fluctuations in the market should subsequently fit harmoniously into the overall strategy.

Feel the difference!

Photo by Mark Stanjo

It’s interesting that both in Russia and in the rest of the world, the concepts of guideline and brand book are constantly confused. It is very common when advertising agencies they receive an order for a brand book, but they make a guideline, because there is no word about any mission, but 150 examples of prohibited use of the logo and fonts. Or they write down both the values ​​and the design rules in one beautiful thick book. And customers are not particularly picky.

At first glance, there is nothing criminal in such a mixture. But think about how prepared you are for your competitors to become aware of your company’s internal principles and guidelines? Therefore, the design, i.e., the guideline, is separate, and the mission and principles, i.e., the brand book, are separate. This will be correct and convenient for everyone.

Examples of brand books

Mtrading brand book

This brand book displays the values, target audience, mission, etc. In general, everything that should be here.

The Cisco brand book

Less about the company, more about the elements of corporate identity.

Ford brand book

The target audience and consumers are well shown

Examples of guidelines

VX guideline

Skype guideline

Layouts and Templates

We have collected several layouts and templates that will greatly facilitate the designer’s work. All that remains to be done is to fill out required fields visual information.