Brand book of a cosmetic company. Brand book design. Examples. What is a brand book

Often, the visual and emotional image of the brand attracts the attention of the buyer no less, and sometimes even more, than the most outstanding consumer characteristics of the product itself. A set of rules and standards for the use of identity elements, which is clearly spelled out in the brand's handbook, will help to increase its recognizability and memorability, which is of obvious benefit to most companies.

What is a quality brand book, how to create it and how much will it cost to develop it?

What is a brand book in simple words

The brand book is a kind of brand bible; it is an official document for internal corporate use that communicates the mission, philosophy and core values ​​of the brand to all employees of the company.

Also contains a set of developed standards for the visual component. corporate identity organization and individual strategy of marketing activities and brand promotion, principles of its positioning and the concept of interaction with the consumer.

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

Why do you need a brand book

The brandbook defines rigid stylistic frameworks for the visual component of the company. The brand is easy to read, remembered, its image is recognizable on the market, a single, well-balanced concept fully corresponds to the main idea and successfully forms loyalty target audience, a positive image and brand reputation.

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

A set of rules for the use of 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 fundamentals of the brand system, which eliminates the annoying mistakes of ignorance and saves the time of other employees when introducing a newly learned business.

A high-quality brand book effectively works to reduce material and time costs for the production of advertising materials. Careful development of uniform standards for corporate style elements with a detailed description of their application will allow responsible employees of the company 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 the list of all the tasks that can be distinguished when creating a brand book, for the reason that the content of this document is directly related to the type and scale of activities 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 directions:

  • the type of activity of the company, its organizational structure, mission, philosophy, values ​​and key principles of the company;
  • the target audience and its main characteristics are highlighted, the desired consumer behavior is described, what impression the company can make on the buyer from a practical point of view (what opportunities the company provides), psychological (emotions and feelings that the product evokes in the consumer) and social (what status the client acquires while owning the product).

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

Form style

This section is a general set of rules for the visual component of the brand, which has received a different name guideline. This is what many aspiring entrepreneurs often have in mind when they talk about a brand book.

Guideline describes development standards such as 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 essentially describes marketing strategy and the selected promotion methods, determines the advertising tools and images, as well as the methods of broadcasting the appeal to the consumer.

Internal style of the company

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

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 cut or supplemented in accordance with the goals and objectives.

So, one would rather succinctly describe the philosophy of the brand and the principles of the basic stylistic decisions. Others will prepare a “three-volume essay” that provides a detailed understanding of brand marketing with a thorough description of each advertising tool used.

Differences between brandbook and guideline

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

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

Secondly, despite the fact that in small companies the guideline is often part of the brand book, it is, in fact, a stand-alone document and can be used separately. This is regulated by the fact that the brand book is usually developed for internal corporate use, and the guideline is a technical manual for maintaining the corporate identity when contacting various contractors to perform work (printing advertising products, designing a new office, creating a website).

Types of brandbooks

As a rule, a team of professionals, designers and marketing specialists are involved 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 design the most detailed brand book, there are several basic types of this document, which differ in the amount of written information, and, accordingly, in a tangible difference in the cost of execution.

Logbook

For small companies, a minimal package is recommended - 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 the use of corporate colors and logo, permitted and prohibited variations of placement, etc.

Standard

The standard brand book contains all the main sections of the 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, it is possible to exclude the development of its design.

Complex

The development of a comprehensive brand book is advisable for large brands and large corporations. Over and above the basic set of rules, it may contain additional requirements for the development and design of packaging, carrying out corporate events and trainings and other information, up to the nuances of advertising photography.

Requirements for brand books

  • The design is governed by the standards set by the brand.
  • The information provided should be easy to read, meaningful and without water.
  • Possibility of application by the company's employees at different levels of the 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 firms that do not plan to expand, the allocation of a large budget for the development of an inexpedient and extensive document looks, at least, an eccentricity.

Having established yourself in your decision, you can proceed to the painstaking and rather lengthy process of preparing, developing and creating a brand book, which consists of five main stages.

Preparatory stage

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

Discussion of wishes

The performers clarify the main wishes of the customer, systematize the received data and form the structure of the future document. Key points are agreed: the cost and work plan, the timing of the phased implementation of the project, contractual relations between the contractor and the customer are formalized. When working with a contractor at this stage, an advance payment is usually made (no more than 50% of the order value).

Concept development

Having studied the target audience of the customer, the performers conduct a study of 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 the concept that suits him, the performers begin to develop the brand book prototype itself: its technical, graphic, ideological component.

Final product presentation

The final presentation of the finished prototype of the brand book to the customer in in electronic format and its final agreement. At this stage, corrections and minor adjustments are made, additional orders for the development of additional brand elements that were not initially mentioned in the brief are possible. The final design project of the brand book is approved, the document undergoes layout and prepress.

Creating the document itself

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

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

How to use the brand book correctly

The brand book is ready, but there is another important stage ahead - this is the effective application 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 should be informed about the creation and operation of this official company document, as well as familiarize everyone with its contents. Also, an official brand representative (its ambassador) is appointed from the organization's staff.

Secrets and subtleties of design

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

A single stylistic vision of the project plays an important role in the selection of a contractor. That is, all elements of style must be recognizable on any subject and in any situation. A good example is the corporate identity of the Mirros hotel.

A preliminary meeting and acquaintance with the most successful, in the opinion of the designer himself, examples of brand books will help to make sure that the performer will not disappoint with the complete mismatch of the final results with the expectations. Or, on the contrary, the customer can prepare in advance a list of documents he liked and offer 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 should be visually appealing, easy to read and intuitive. You can increase the chances of making the right choice 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 rush. The final approval of the layout should be approached in the most careful way, paying attention to any little details. When the end result is completely satisfied, the only thing left is to add the final 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 invoice for its services, while fulfilling its obligations in a quality and timely manner. An experienced freelance designer can also perform high-quality work with a fairly modest budget. However, there is always a risk of stumbling upon an unscrupulous employee who will drag out the deadline for the project or even waste the customer's time in vain without finishing it at all.

The total cost of creating a document is formed by the number of corporate identity elements being developed and the amount of information provided. Thus, a brand book for a large company will be much larger and more detailed than a similar document developed for a small company that produces a rather modest range of goods.

The corporation's brand book fixes the principles of documentation, the design concept of dealerships, a detailed description corporate culture and much more. The book for a separate small brand is less voluminous, but the main emphasis is on the other side: primary attention is paid to the careful design of packaging, brand character, commercials and other types of communication with the consumer.

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

Where and how to order the development of a brand book

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

If the company has decided to hire a contractor, it should be highlighted what needs to be paid attention to when choosing a specific contractor, so that the result will please for many years later.

So, the key selection factors are, 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 is engaged in the development of corporate identity and brand books. Nevertheless, before deciding on a particular contractor, it is advisable to compare several contractor companies and, in the end, 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 get acquainted with the diplomas and certificates of professional development of the designer with whom you will have to cooperate, to study his portfolio.

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

Let us examine the issue of formalizing contractual relations separately.

Development contract

Making a contract is one of the main steps in developing a brand book. In the event of any disputable issues between the customer and the contractor, this is a faithful support of the right side and a 100% guarantor of the fulfillment of the agreed conditions for the project. It is worth giving preference to a design company that does not neglect, when concluding a contract, indicating all the nuances of the process, the prescribed cost and terms, both final and intermediate, and for non-compliance with the terms of the contract, decent penalties and fines are provided. If the latter is included in the contract, one can safely expect that the company is doing everything possible to avoid such sanctions, and, accordingly, maintains compliance with the contractual conditions at a high level.

When contacting a freelance designer, there can be no question of concluding a contract - most of these workers do not even have the status of an individual entrepreneur, and all that the company can get from such a specialist is oath-oral (or written, but not having legal force) assurances that the project will be completed on time 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 companies with a worldwide reputation, and, perhaps, learn something interesting for yourself in order to subsequently adapt and apply to your document.

The best books of companies and brands known all over the world can differ dramatically from each other.

Someone devotes just a couple of pages to a description of their company and its ideology, setting aside the rest of the space for a detailed description of the brand identity, like the sensational Foursquare application; 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 performance or content, others are imbued with the unique style of the brand from the first letter to the last point.

For example, Vanvero's brand book for digital camera accessories is filled with stunning shots.

The brandbook Animal Planet, a world-class television channel about animals, is also full of colorful photographs of terrestrial fauna, everywhere: both in the description of the identity and in the disclosure of the company's mission. The perfectly sustained style of the brand book design can become an excellent role model for young and creative companies that are also striving to go global.

Unicef ​​brand book , In addition to the standards for the application of the main 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 about their identity shines with originality: "Just do whatever you want with our logo, while it's cool, try to be creative."

In the ledger international company Skype also has a lot of interesting things to see. The document boasts a stunning stylistic design using elements from comics.

Brandbook Mozilla Firefox carries with it many emotional messages. Intended for internal corporate use only and reveals the ideology of the company. The key point is the involvement of the staff in the brand.

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

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

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

    when a branch network appears;

    when transferring the production of goods under a license;

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

You can create this book on your own, but usually companies use branding agencies, with the help of which it is easier and faster to create a brand book. Typically, a brand book has three main sections:

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

V Western companies the brand book usually hangs on a downloadable site. Open business and all that - companies are proud of their mission, values, and see the brand book as important tool promotion of the company. In Russia, usually the first part of the brand book is kept secret, the second is not hidden, and the third is again tried not to advertise: so that competitors do not spy on something superfluous. The main thing is that the brand book fulfills its main mission - it makes it possible to understand what the essence of the brand is and how to work with it.

The episode from which I decided to start talking about the brand book happened in a company with a very rich design history. Within the framework of the brand book, staff 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 brandbooks of companies in Russian

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

Sberbank

The Sberbank brand book, developed in 2009 together with the British agency Fitch, is for me personally a reference, despite all the laughter of amateurs that accompanied the emergence of the new style. As a result of this work, Sberbank's sleek and clumsy monstrously green "wallet" turned into a convenient, flexible, modern style, successfully used today on all media. Sberbank has recently been called differently: simply "Sberbank". 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 has 195 pages containing all the necessary sections. 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, you 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 how the “Big Brand Book” should look like, as we call this genre in our Studio.

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

Many do not 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 things by their proper names.

What is a guideline?

Guideline - a guide to using visual elements of corporate identity.

This is a purely technical document. open type designed for designers, printers and advertisers. It contains a detailed description of the elements of the corporate identity (logo, fonts, colors, style-forming elements), as well as formulated the rules for their use (location of objects, color schemes, security field of the logo, etc.). In the extended version, the principles of business documentation, souvenirs and other materials that contribute to brand promotion can be demonstrated. A guideline is a must for a company that has a need to create promotional materials and other visual communications with its customers.

Guidelines for creating a guideline

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

2. The rules should be flexible enough not to kill the creative streak in the designer, but clear enough to keep the brand recognizable. There are situations when the rules can be “bent”, but in no case “broken”. Integrity is also very important, especially if the brand will be presented in different media.

3. Help the designers get started. Make Toolkit. This could be a single page with an overview of your brand, which includes identity, colors, typographic elements, images, and other visual aids. Make all the elements of the corporate identity available for download from your site or provide them on disk as an attachment.

What is a brand book?

Brand book - a description of brand values ​​and how they are communicated to consumers.

This is an internal document that captures the company's DNA: mission, values ​​and much more. It is also important to prescribe in the brand book the fundamental principles of identity, which should 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 see if they have gone astray. It simplifies strategic decision making, communication with customers, and stimulates sales growth and brand awareness. Brand books are made by experienced internal staff or professional branding agencies after a thorough audit.

The brand book should disclose such issues 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, infect with the philosophy of the company.

2. The brand book fixes the values, principles, ideology of the company. It cannot be a dry instruction like a guideline.

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

Feel the difference!

Photo by Mark Stanjo

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

At first glance, there is nothing criminal about such a mixture. But think, how ready are you for the fact that competitors will know about the internal principles and guidelines of your company? 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 reflects values, target audience, mission, etc. In general, everything that should be here.

The cisko brand book

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

Ford brand book

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 work of a designer. All that remains to be done is to fill in the required fields with visual information.

In this article, we will tell you how to develop and properly use a company 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 your company's visual style standards... There are no two identical brand books. While some companies focus on design aspects, others create a more detailed document with a company overview and guidelines for dealing with customers and business partners.

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

Why does a company need a brand book?

If you do not have a single set of rules, then each designer and marketer whom you will engage to solve certain problems will implement their ideas in accordance with their vision. There is nothing wrong with diversity, but in some situations, lack of unity can be dire. If you use different design styles and techniques for interacting with people, you cannot build a strong brand and convince potential customers that your company is the best in its segment.

The branding guidelines will be especially helpful for new hires. Having familiarized themselves with the rules in advance, beginners will quickly orient themselves in the brand system. It's better than learning with embarrassing mistakes, right? This way, you don't have to talk to new hires and explain to them that they broke a rule they didn't even know existed. Thus, a well-designed brand book saves you time and cuts down on awkward situations.

Watch also a short video of why a good brand book is important for your business:

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

First of all, stick to the middle ground. The rules you develop should not be too rigid, as this will limit the creativity of employees, forcing them to stick to boring, proven solutions. But at the same time, the rules should be clear and avoid 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. Leadership is a collaborative effort between executives, designers, and copywriters. And if your organization has a branding department, then leadership development is the direct responsibility of that team.

The person who participated in the development of the corporate identity and has sufficient authority to make and implement important decisions should coordinate the work on the document. If employees do not know about the existence of the brand book or do not take into account its rules, then all the work done will go to waste. When hiring a new employee, you must provide him with guidance for review. We will talk about this at the end of the article.

What does the brand book include?

As we already wrote, there are no two completely identical guides. Each company includes in its document rules that are consistent with its values, goals, business model and other characteristics. Nevertheless, there are 3 main sections in a standard brand book.

Brand name

  • 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 see no point in rewriting boring office text from one document (such as a business plan) to another.

Form style

  • Logo: colors, placement, variations, size and proportions, examples of effective and ineffective use of the logo.
  • Trademark: use cases, colors.
  • Tagline: 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 use in the text (for heading, plain text, list, etc.). The best logo fonts you can find
  • Photos: tips for creating photosets, image requirements.
  • Other graphic objects: icons, patterns, textures.

Interaction rules

  • Language: What languages ​​does your brand use to communicate with the world around you?
  • Grammar and Formatting: abbreviations, capital letters, numbers, acronyms, dates and names.
  • Readability: light sentences or capacious formulations.
  • Style: technical or official or slang, etc.
  • Communication manner:(formal / friendly / reserved / humorous, etc.)
  • Emails: basic construction of a letter, an example of an electronic signature.
  • Blog: blog post requirements, formatting, subject matter and structure.
  • Social platforms: purpose, posting time and post types for each social network.

Brand book design

To develop a brand book design, you need a professional. Before submitting a project to work, talk to the designer and make sure you share his vision. Ask the designer to show his favorite examples of brand books and what he likes about each of them. If there are no such examples, show the specialist the brandbooks below and ask them to make a list of favorites. This will help you understand how your designer sees your future leadership. For example, does he plan to use large print 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 that it contains, i.e. be visually appealing and easy to understand. When the first draft of the manual is ready, it will not be superfluous to show it to other professionals in order to get their opinion. Remember that the brand book should reflect the brand, not your personal preferences.

Do not hurry. Allocate as much time as necessary to make edits. Once your team is happy with the end result, all that remains is to add the final touches.

Examples of brand books

What is a ready-made corporate identity guide? We have collected a few examples that you want to leaf through forever! Get inspired and get creative!

Microsoft Brand Book (PDF)

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

How to use the brand book

So, you have developed the 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 in creating a document that no one looks at?

First of all, inform your employees about the existence of the brand book. Send the document out on the newsletter and ask your colleagues (all colleagues, not just designers and copywriters) to read the rules and standards that it contains. Any employee can become a brand representative (ambassador). Take developers, for example. Although they are not directly involved in branding, they can spot and correct design mistakes in time.

The next step is to designate 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 guide, it will not be superfluous to hold a meeting to monitor compliance with the rules for the use of corporate identity. Also ask your colleagues about the difficulties they faced in following the rules.

In conclusion, we note that 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 a corporate identity should be in line with the current goals and values ​​of your company.