The Anatomy of a Brand Book
Clients hire a branding agency for a myriad of reasons. Really, every project we’ve ever done has been different than the last in many aspects. But the one constant for each brand we help create, refresh or fortify is our delivery of a brand book.
We always say that a brand book is the client’s bible. All the work we’ve done, from discovery to implementation, has a spot in the largest deliverable of the project. Our goal for each brand book is ensuring the client can send their brand book off to any employee, marketing professional, designer or developer and immediately give them the confidence to look, sound and act as the brand concept was intended from day one.
Because each project is different, some level of stability to ensure our process stays on track is necessary. Each brand book looks a little something like this:
Brand Overview
Similar to the order of our process, the foundation of the brand needs to be laid. The Brand Overview usually lays out the brand story, its pillars to keep that story on track, and the personality and voice to convey how that brand will communicate its new self to the world. Once all that is set up, it informs the…
Visual Identity
The Visual Identity is the “fun” stuff. It’s the logo, color palette, patterns and anything else that creatively catches the eye of passersby. The visual identity can’t be done without the steps before it, which makes flipping through each brand book in order imperative. Our brand books are kind of like story books themselves.
Technical Guidelines
While stretching our creative muscles is always fun, our priority is to set up the client for long-term success. Technical design guidelines meticulously offer the Dos and Don’ts of every aspect of the brand. If done right, it gives the reader exact instruction on next steps to bring the brand to life.
And the best part about any good brand book… they’re never in their final version! They’re living, breathing documents. Each new application created automatically gets added to the evolving document, slowly growing and validating the brand. There’s always more to add and refresh–just like the brands themselves.
