What is a brand book and how to design it correctly. Guideline and brand book: creation and examples Sberbank corporate font

Brandbook. For small and most medium-sized companies, a brand book is unnecessary: ​​the company runs its own small business: it 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 a franchise or when transferring control from the founder of the business to hired managers.

You can create this book yourself, but usually companies involve 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 does the brand exist, why is it good, useful and to whom exactly, what idea does it serve, what values ​​does it bring. Here you can write about positioning, uniqueness, roots - everything related to the ideology of business and product.
2. visual style. This chapter is often referred to as the "Identity Guide" or Guidelines. Logo, fonts, colors, trademark, slogan, corporate graphics, photo style, packaging idea, modular grid, special papers. In the same section, the rules for working with corporate identity are prescribed. A lot of technical information is given for designers, technologists of printing houses and programmers.
3. Interaction rules. This section describes the brand's interaction policy with the environment: with the target audience, the media, authorities, with all significant environmental actors. Editorial guidelines: language, grammar, style and manner of communication with different target groups, design of letters, articles, comments, interviews, requirements for blogs, and so on. Branding of everything (from pens to airplanes and ships), POS materials layouts, rules for designing offices, shopping areas, ideas for promotions, promotions mechanics, and so on are also located here. 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.

In Western companies, the brand book usually hangs on the site, available for download. Open business and all - companies are proud of their mission, values, and consider the brand book as an important tool for promoting 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 peep something superfluous. 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. Part of the functions of the brand book was taken over by branded products.

Examples of developed brand books 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

Aeroflot

Designed a little earlier, in 2008, five times thinner, with only 40 pages, Aeroflot's brand book is closer to the usual good corporate product. This is how the “Big Brand Book” should look like, as we call this genre in our Studio.

The image of famous brands like Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola is formed not only by their products, but also by the logo, font, certain colors and other components of the corporate identity of the company. 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 branding guides are needed and chose 10 interesting examples of such publications.

Why brand books are needed
and guidelines

Typically, a brand book describes the company's values, its goals, marketing strategies and other characteristics that make the brand different from others. In addition, an important internal document is the guideline - a set of rules governing the use of the logo, fonts, corporate colors and other visual brand identifiers.

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

10 brandbooks and guidelines
famous companies

In 2011, a book was published about how the Lufthansa corporate identity has changed- 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 Aicher, who in 1972 also created the design of the Olympic Games in Munich. The Eicher project 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 an airline's identity has changed over the course of its history. Also included in the book is a guideline developed by Aicher 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, a brief history of the brand, and guidance on how to use brand identity elements. True, the rules for applying the logo, corporate colors and fonts take up most of the book - a 100-page guide 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 the souvenirs of the Olympic Games in Montreal, is still hunted by collectors.

In 1986, at the request of Steve Jobs, renowned designer and art director Paul Rand created the logo for NEXT. To talk about his train of thought 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.

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 brandbook?

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

Why does a company need a brand book?

If you don’t have a single set of rules, then every designer and marketer that 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, the lack of unity can have dire consequences. If you use different design styles and communication techniques, you will not be able to build a strong brand and convince potential customers that your company is the best in its segment.

The Corporate Identity Guide will be especially helpful for new hires. Having familiarized yourself with the rules in advance, beginners will quickly orient themselves in the brand system. It's better than learning by making 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 reduces the number of embarrassing situations.

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

What you need to know before developing a brand book?

First of all, stick to the principle of the golden mean. The rules you develop should not be too rigid, as this will limit the creativity of workers, forcing them to stick to boring, tried-and-tested solutions. But at the same time, the rules should be clear and not allow for double interpretation.

There is a common misconception that the corporate style guide should be developed by the head of the organization. We hasten to dissuade you: this is not so. Leadership is a collaborative effort between executives, designers, and copywriters. And if your organization has a branding department, then developing a manual is the direct responsibility of such a team.

The 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 the 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 him with a manual for review. We will talk about this at the end of the article.

What does a brandbook include?

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

Brand

• This section is about 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 paperwork 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 be used in the text (for title, plain text, list, etc.). The best logo fonts you can find
• Photo: tips for creating photosets, requirements for images.
• Other graphic objects: icons, patterns, textures.

Interaction rules

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

Brand book design

You need a professional to design a brand book. Before committing 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 tell him what he likes about each of them. If there are no such examples, show the brand book options below to the specialist and ask them to make a list of favorites. This way you will understand how your designer sees your future leadership. For example, does he plan to use large type and short paragraphs on every 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 read. When the first version of the guide is ready, it will not be superfluous to show it to other specialists in order to get their opinion. Remember that a brand book should be a reflection of the brand, not your personal preferences.

Do not hurry. Allow as much time as you need to make edits. 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 corporate identity guide? We have collected a few examples that you want to flip through forever! Get inspired and get creative!

Microsoft Brandbook (PDF)

Who uses brandbooks
Many large companies provide a brand book 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 the company.

How to use the 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 in creating a document that no one looks into?

First of all, inform your employees about the existence of the brand book. Send the document to 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 representative (ambassador) of the brand. Let's take developers as an example. Although they are not directly involved in branding, they can notice and correct mistakes made in the design in time.

The next step is to appoint a person responsible for compliance with the rules. Ideally, this should be the same person who coordinated the brand book creation process.
About a month after the release of the guide, it is not superfluous to hold a meeting to verify compliance with the rules for using corporate identity. Also ask your co-workers about the difficulties they have experienced in following the rules.

In conclusion, we note that brands - just like people - are constantly changing. In this regard, get in 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 ​​\u200b\u200bof your company.

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 will help to increase its recognition and memorability, which is clearly stated in the brand's reference book, 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?

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, which broadcasts to all employees of the company the mission, philosophy and key values ​​of the brand.

It also contains a set of developed standards for the visual component of the corporate identity of the organization and an individual strategy for marketing activities and brand promotion, the 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, up to detailed rules for interacting with business partners.

Why do you need a brand book

The brand book defines the rigid stylistic framework of the visual component of the company. The brand is easy to read, remember, its image is recognizable in the market, a single, well-defined concept is fully consistent with the main idea and successfully forms the loyalty of the target audience, a positive image and reputation of the brand.

In the case of opening your own branches of the company 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 the use of corporate identity is especially useful for new employees of the company. A well-prepared brand book will allow a newcomer to quickly navigate the basics of the brand system, which eliminates annoying mistakes due to ignorance and saves time for other employees when introducing a newcomer to the know.

A high-quality brand book effectively works to reduce material and time costs for the production of promotional 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 a list of all the tasks that can be identified when creating a brand book, for the reason that the content of this document is 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 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's work are mentioned;
• the target audience and its main characteristics are identified, 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 , owning the product).

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

Form style

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

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

Marketing strategy

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

The 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 followed 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 truncated or supplemented in accordance with the goals and objectives set.

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

Differences between a brand book and a guideline

Description of a corporate style or a 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 significant differences.

Firstly, the brand book contains much more information than a guideline: brand philosophy and its core values, principles for carrying out activities, as well as the marketing and promotion strategy of the company and characteristics of the consumer behavior of the target audience, while corporate identity is a set of brand standards describing the stylistic solutions of the 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 separate document and can be used separately. This is regulated by the fact that the brand book is usually developed for intracorporate use, and the guideline is a technical manual for maintaining corporate identity when contacting various contractors to perform work (printing promotional products, designing a new office, creating a website).

Types of brand books

As a rule, a team of professionals, designers and marketing specialists is involved to work on the development and creation of a set of brand rules, whose services can cost a round sum. Given 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 prescribed, and, accordingly, in a tangible difference in the cost of execution.

logobook

For small companies, a minimal package is recommended - a logo book, which, if desired, can even be developed independently using an online designer, such as Logaster, Logo Maker. Such a document covers the basic rules for the use of corporate colors and logo, permitted and prohibited placement variations, 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, you can exclude the development of its design.

Complex

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

Brand book requirements

• The design is regulated by the standards that the brand sets.
• The information presented should be easy to read, meaningful and without water.
• Possibility of application by employees of the company at different levels of 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 particular organization: after all, in the case of small firms that do not plan to expand, allocating a large budget for the development of an inexpedient and extensive document looks at least eccentric.

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

Preparatory stage

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

Discussion of wishes

The contractors clarify the main wishes of the customer, systematize the data received 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, 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 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 brand book design. As soon as the latter decides on a concept that suits him, the performers proceed to the actual development of the brand book prototype: its technical, graphic, ideological component.

Final product presentation

The final presentation of the finished prototype of the brand book to the customer in electronic form and its final approval. At this stage, changes and minor adjustments are made, it is possible to order the development of additional brand elements that were not originally mentioned in the brief. 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 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 source codes 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 there is another important stage ahead - this is the effective application of the developed document. The whole point is that all the 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, as well as familiarize everyone with its contents. An official representative of the brand (its ambassador) is also appointed from the staff of the organization.

Secrets and subtleties of design

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

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

To make sure that the contractor will not disappoint with a complete discrepancy between the final results and expectations, a preliminary meeting and acquaintance with the most successful examples of brand books, according to the designer himself, will help. 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 take into account 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 changes and adjustments to the prototype of the design project, there is no place for haste. The final approval of the layout should be approached most carefully, paying attention to any little things. When the end result is completely satisfied, the only thing left is to add the finishing touches.

Brand book cost

Often the cost is one of the decisive 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 quality and timely manner. High-quality work with a fairly modest budget can be done by an experienced freelance designer. However, there is always a risk of stumbling upon an unscrupulous employee who will drag out the project deadlines or even waste the customer’s time 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 products.

The brand book of the corporation fixes the principles of paperwork, the design concept of dealer stores, a detailed description of the corporate culture, and much more. The book of a single small brand is less voluminous, but the main focus is on the other side: the 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 such factors as the geographic location of the performer and his own established views on pricing, as well as the type of brand book. So, the initial 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 whole company as a brand book to freelancers, or is it worth spending more money, but in the end getting a product of guaranteed quality.

If the company decided to hire a contractor, it should be highlighted what you need to pay attention to when choosing a particular contractor, so that the result will please you for many years to come.

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 develops corporate identity and brand books. Nevertheless, before choosing a particular contractor, it is advisable to compare several contractor companies and, as a result, give preference to the one that inspires more confidence.

The issue of cost was covered earlier, the second main criterion when choosing a contractor 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 subtotals of order fulfillment. It is important to clarify the details on this matter: how often the company sums up the interim results for the project, the number of possible edits and adjustments included in the project cost, what will happen if the interim result is categorically not satisfied with the customer.

We will discuss the issue of registration of contractual relations separately.

Development contract

Drawing up a contract is one of the main steps in the development of a brand book. In the event of disputes between the customer and the contractor, this is a true 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, when concluding a contract, does not neglect to indicate all the nuances of the process, the prescribed cost and terms, both final and intermediate, and decent penalties and fines are provided for non-compliance with the terms of the contract. If the latter is included in the contract, it can be safely expected that the company is doing everything possible to avoid such sanctions, and, accordingly, maintains compliance with the 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 an individual entrepreneur, and all that a company can get from such a specialist is an oath 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 get acquainted with examples of brand books of successful world-famous companies, and, perhaps, learn something interesting for yourself in order to subsequently adapt and apply it to your document.

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

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

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

For example, the brand book of Vanvero, a manufacturer of digital camera accessories, is filled with stunning images.

The brand book of Animal Planet, a world-class television channel about animals, is also full of colorful photographs of terrestrial fauna, they are everywhere: both in the description of the identity and in the disclosure of the company's mission. The superbly consistent style of brand book design can be a great role model for young and creative companies that also strive to reach the global level.

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

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

The main book of the international company Skype also has a lot of interesting things to look at. The document boasts a stunning stylistic solution using elements from comics.

The Mozilla Firefox brandbook carries a lot of emotional messages. It is intended only for internal corporate use and reveals the ideology of the company. The key point is the involvement in the brand of personnel.

Inspired by successful examples and starting to develop your own brand book, you should remember that it should primarily 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.