Making brand guidelines strong is essential
When designing or creating a brand for a business or organization, many people often tend to have a romanticized vision of the process. There’s generally a belief that a fully-fledged brand can be created overnight because of the passion of the designers or because everyone really believes in the business.
However, nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, the very first step you need to take after deciding that you want to build a brand is to make sure that you have solid brand guidelines.
These are what help to facilitate the process of brand creation.
What are Brand Guidelines?
Brand guidelines are the core backbone upon which you frame a particular business style, their internal and external message. This message shapes the perception one has about the business through simple branding. When considering brand guidelines, it is important to realize that there’s no hard and fast rule here – one size does not fit all.
Why Do You Have Them?
A major reason why businesses and organizations have brand guidelines is to ensure that the brand, as well as any other branding and imagery, they create effectively resonate with the message that they have in mind. Without these brand guidelines, it is very easy for the process to get derailed or the message to get confused. With brand guidelines, it is possible for a business to retain a level of clarity.
What Comes Under Brand Guidelines?
Since brand guidelines are usually personalized according to the wants and needs of a business, it can often be hard to determine what comes under the umbrella of brand guidelines. However, two core areas are usually always considered here:
- The brand identity– This includes the brand’s personality, mission, vision, core values, and more.
- The brand assets – In this case, assets relate to factors like the logo, the type font, the color palette used, the background, and more style options.
Whether you’re developing a new brand or thinking of re-branding, these are the core things you need to focus on, understand, and make sure are emulated in the final result. By understanding the importance of brand guidelines and taking a closer look at this option, it is possible to bypass confusion in this area.
Moreover, brand guidelines that are developed with no confusion in this area have better clarity, transparency and carry over well with your target audience too. That’s why it is a good idea to take your time and understand this factor more.
