Chapter 20. Brand Book Development
And here we are, at the final chapter of the first section "Anatomy of Branding." The brand book is the brand's almanac, which contains the entire path of meanings and forms that transform an idea into visual norms and rules.
The brand book should include the following sections:
1
Project description and main idea
2
Storytelling (legend)
3
Brand mission
4
Brand values
5
Description of the brand's target audience
6
Uniqueness of the brand
7
Brand metaphor
I call this first section the brand's semantic platform.
The second section is the guide to using the corporate identity:
1
Logo
2
Color palette
3
Typography
4
Brand identity elements
The third section of the brand book is the system of carriers, where we combine meanings and visuals:
Meanings, conveyed through slogans and advertising appeals, which can be expressed in motivational posters, banners, billboards, leaflets. Visual solutions, through a system of carriers individually selected for each business based on its needs.
The more detailed the brand book is, the more sections it contains, and the more thorough the preparation of the semantic platform was, the more inconveniences you can avoid in the future.
Employees don't stand still, and not all small and medium-sized companies have designers on staff, so design tasks are often outsourced. Without a brand book, each new employee or outsourcer will create the visual appearance of your brand according to their taste and inject their meanings. There will be no continuity between advertising materials, no sense of a unified style, but that is the least of the problems.
Usually, without a brand book, each design has to be created from scratch each time, and this takes time, coordination, and nerves. Not launching an advertising campaign on time results in losses that cannot be compared with the cost of developing a brand book.
In addition to the electronic presentation of the brand book (usually in PDF format), the source files, vectors, or "source files" are provided along with the results of the work. These are ready-made designs in layers, as well as print layouts. With the help of the formed corporate identity management system, each designer or advertising agency will consistently provide you with high-quality solutions year after year without deviating from the initial development.
A brand book can be extensive, detailed, or short with a few visual examples. It all depends on the technical task. When developing a brand book from scratch and requiring a long list of carriers, it may contain dozens of pages. In some cases, companies come with a ready name and logo, and they need to form visual solutions and pack them into a small manual. In this case, the brand book may contain up to 30 pages.
When choosing a contractor, be sure to clarify what will be included in the brand book, don't be afraid to ask "silly" questions, and clarify the meanings of terms.
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