Brand guidelines
5 stops on the road to success
written by Koen Koster
Strategic Account Director at VBAT
I’ve come across quite a few brand guidelines in my working life. And even today, I’m amazed by the variety of flavours that are out there.
From the utterly useless to the (almost) brilliant. Small Quick Guides to extensive Brand Bibles and from hair-raising inspirational to the mind-numbingly boring.
So obviously, many brand managers are faced with the question:
What type of guideline are you looking for?
The problem is that brand guidelines are usually considered as an after thought, sometimes even a ‘necessary evil’. After all, who wants to think about those boring guidelines after going through a tough rebranding process, while anticipating the pop of champagne at a successful launch?
As a consequence, very few brand owners are willing to spend the time to write a proper brief and merely mention ‘brand guidelines’ as a simple project deliverable. This not only underestimates the importance of solid brand guidelines, but could also put the project owner on a path of frustration and budget overspend.
So, I hear you thinking: why are brand guidelines important? Well, they can perform a few key tasks in the brand management cycle.
Brand guidelines:
facilitate brand consistency;
focus brand touch point development;
generate cost and time efficiencies;
These benefits do not only impact the internal organisation, but also the consumer experience. This emphasises the idea that brand guidelines are not merely ‘governance tools’, but can also serve as powerful branding and marketing tools.
So how do you write that brief? Don’t worry; no need to write a 10- pager. But there are five key topics you should address:
1. Your brand
‘Content is king’ is a phrase I hear quite regularly these days. This is a true statement in some cases, but brand guidelines often seem to be only about content. The focus is very much on saying what it is that readers are meant to know. Far less attention is given to how content is conveyed.
It’s very simple: brand guidelines are a manifestation of the brand. Make sure it conveys your brand character.
If you’re a Rebel brand, make sure your brand guidelines have the edge too.
2. The role of the brand in your organisation
Organisations value brands in different ways. For some, it’s a key strategic tool to drive business success. Others are more product driven, or may think more in terms of ‘Visual Identity’ rather than ‘Brand’. This should already make you wonder; what’s the balance of Brand vs. Visual Identity in my guidelines?
Generally, you can distinguish two key types of guidelines: brand books and brand guidelines. Brand books usually serve a more strategic purpose. They solidify brand strategy and brand character and typically address the brand’s specific brand identity models and character traits. Brand guidelines serve a more tactical and practical purpose. They usually address the ‘how to’ principles of the brand, often focusing on Visual Identity.
From my experience, brand books are often considered ‘nice to have’, while brand guidelines are ‘must haves’. However, it is not a question of choosing one or the other. A brand guideline could (should) also contain brand strategy principles.
When your brand is a key strategic asset, so are your brand guidelines.
Finally, if your brand is a part of a multi-brand portfolio; don’t reinvent the wheel! See what other brands are doing in the portfolio, learn from it, and create a standard model that works for all. This way, developing an integrated brand guideline approach can help to create efficiencies and synergies on a company level.
3. The governance model
Brand guidelines are not the end station. Consider how brand management is governed in your organisation and who is responsible for the day to day management. After all; who’s name will appear in the ‘Contact’ section of the guidelines? Depending on how the guidelines are developed, he or she can either get overwhelmed or end up redundant.
The stricter and more accurate a guideline is, the less questions you can expect and the more consistent your brand will appear. This could however also limit the brands’ capability to evolve or fit specific needs. The ‘tight jacket’ doesn’t work. A more modular approach to Visual Identity development (creating the individual brand design elements, but not the principles to apply them) could be more fitting. This however, puts more strain on the governance structure.
So yes, spend time and budget on creating powerful brand guidelines. But don’t overlook what should be done to maintain them.
4. The evolution of your brand
I will say it again; brands evolve. Or at least they should. The idea that guidelines are ‘fixed’ obviously hasn’t evolved. This could be due to the fact that many guidelines are still print based. A simple pdf version is generally all that’s asked for.
The realisation that brands evolve has not yet landed in ‘brand guideline land’
There is one obvious major flaw in this; updating your guidelines becomes almost impossible. You have to go back to the agency for the smallest of changes, and when you send out your revised pdf you never know if the recipient will actually replace old for new.
Not surprisingly, delivering brand guidelines in an online environment (a.k.a. ‘brand portal’) is becoming increasingly popular. And fortunately these applications are becoming increasingly more accessible and affordable, after having to work with expensive licensing fees for decades. Bynder is a good example of this new revolution in brand portal world. Some (online) brands choose to develop their own platform (take Uber and Google).
5. Your target audience
This is a definite ‘last but not least’. Who are you developing these guidelines for? A marketing manager will have different needs and requirements from a designer that’s developing the new company brochure.
This is also where the ‘Brand vs. Visual Identity’ discussion
(see point 2) comes in; what information is your audience looking for?
Generally speaking; the more design-oriented the audience, the more detailed and practical the guidelines. The more brand-oriented the audience, the more captivating and inspirational the guideline. This makes perfect sense: you want a marketer or brand manager to get inspired by the opportunities and develop a range of plans to maximise brand potential. The designer needs (to some extent) clear steering to ensure visual consistency.
So with the target audience, also consider the purpose; should the brand guideline inspire, facilitate or instruct?
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written by Koen Koster
Strategic Account Director at VBAT
