We’ve all seen a completely skewed logo or a brochure with the wrong brand colours.  Also, you can damage your brand through inappropriate or poor usage of their intellectual property. Furthermore, often than not, it damages the way you view that brand.

So if you’ve invested a lot of time and money into getting your branding perfect, how can you stop this being used ineffectively, with the wrong dimensions, colours of scales?

Consistency is key

First and foremost the Brand and logo guidelines are vital in making sure your brand is consistent through all channels. These documents outline the ways how we should use brand assets and logos. When a brand is looking to become easily recognisable and remembered by their target market, moreover it is important that every use of the logo or brand is the same, regardless of the platform they are on.

Having brand and logo guidelines means that anybody using, uploading or amending these files will have to use them in line with the instructions. By creating this, designers will have to adhere to the guidelines, rather than altering it to fit specific designs, fitting your logo in ill-fitting spaces, or using fonts which do not match your branding. While these may sometimes feel like small changes, it’s these little consistencies which make a brand recognisable at a quick glance.

Logo style guidelines

You should create logo guidelines, which mean your logo will remain consistent, regardless of who is working with it. This should cover:

• The smallest logo size when being reproduced
• Colours  (Pantone/Hexadecimal/RGB/CMYK)
• Used font family
• Spacing or areas
• Exclusion zones or borders around your logo

In addition, guiding those who are using your logo. It also gives the impression that you take the use of your logo seriously, reducing the likelihood of anybody using it without permission. Those who use it will have to adhere to these guidelines, meaning you are reducing the risk of people abusing the use of your logo and potentially damaging your brand’s reputation.

Brand guidelines

Brand guidelines protect the reputation of your brand through keeping everything consistent. For new companies, the list of brand guidelines may not be as extensive, however, for larger, more corporate brands, there may be a longer list of guidelines to follow.

Brand guidelines can include:

• Tone of voice, brand vision, company values and your brand’s story
• Images used and the style
• Brand messaging
• Advertising
• Editorial style and content
• Merchandise and marketing materials
• Social media posts
• Website assets and design

While it’s important to cover all necessary aspects of your brand. However, to keep your brand consistent, it’s important that these aren’t too restrictive. It is vital to control all areas you would like to, while also leaving space for creativity in a way that will keep your brand consistent enough to be recognisable.

We all know and recognise the Apple logo… sometimes it’s featured in different colours, or placed in different positions for specific marketing campaigns, however it’s never altered out of Apple’s specifications. This is all because Apple have a list of specific guidelines, and while Apple is well-known brand, there’s no reason you shouldn’t do the same and stand out using the same tactics.

Overview

Brand and logo guidelines keep branding consistent and recognisable, preventing poor logo usage or damage to brand reputation. If you’re starting your business, or in the early stages of creating branding, you can do it correctly from the beginning, asking logo designers to provide a brand and logo guidelines which you can use. It is always important to check that designers can do this and whether they include it in their packages or if it will cause an additional cost.

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