What is the Content?

Brand Guidelines can run into hundreds of pages depending on the design and amount of content made available. These guidelines are also being made available online on the companies’ websites. Irrespective of the size or where it is being deposited, three basic features are expected in a brand guideline.

Brand Information

The brand guideline should contain a background into the need for the rebranding. The guidelines provide further insight into why they have decided to rebrand and come up with a new identity which warrants the need for the guideline. It also reiterates what the brand stands for – its values, vision and philosophy. The brand uses the document to remind the readers about their key messages and how it should be communicated, highlighting their heritage and what lies ahead after their rebranding. All these are the abstract brand identities that will be physically presented in the next section.

Brand Identities

The brand identity is the visual elements which need to be explicitly presented. These identities are generally classified into four groups.

Logo

This is a combination of two components – the symbol and the logotype. Brand guideline clear display what these features are. Users are expected to use the logo in all communications and to stick to the arrangement with the exception in some cases like social media profile where only the icon will be used. The various arrangement of the logo is also presented, sometimes in black and white or on a darker background. Brands take pride in the logo and will always emphasise an ‘Exclusion Zone’ around the logo where no text or image will interfere. This is the minimum clear space that must surround the logo. This zone ensures that the impact and legibility of the logo are not compromised in the application. Users are also warned about ‘Logo Misuse’ as brands want a consistent appearance of their identity. They warned that the logo should not be misinterpreted, modified, or added to. No attempt should be made to alter the logo in any way. They expect the logo’s orientation, colour and composition to remain as indicated in the document.

Colour

The consistent use of these colours is encouraged by the brands as it contributes to a cohesive and harmonious look across all relevant media. To achieve this, colour palettes are provided as part of the brand identity, and these are identified explicitly with various colour coding systems such as the Pantone® colour system, the international standard for producing colours, CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black) for print, RGB (Red, Green, Blue) for screen and hexadecimal values for websites. To further ensure that creative freedom, the brand will also advise users on different colour combinations within the colour palettes. For some brands that have trademarked their colours or have a specific shade of colour they use, information about these colours is also presented. For example, both Queen’s University Belfast and Netflix have red as their primary colour, but they are of different shades. Queen’s University Belfast has a primary colour that they describe as Queen’s Red - Pantone 185c while Netflix described theirs as Netflix Red – PANTONE 1795 C . This detailed information is necessary to ensure that brand differentiation and consistency

Typography

The organisation often acknowledges that type is more than a design element. They see it as a creative element which expresses who they are. The typographic principles are often based on function, format and purpose. These fonts could be bespoke fonts, specially designed for the brand and therefore any user, either internal or external will have to get the font from the company. Cisco showcased their clean, modern and simple font, specially created for them. There commercial fonts which external users may have to buy and use if they want to with the brand. There are also system fonts which might be used when bespoke and commercial fonts are not available. These fonts are available on most word processing software and are free to use, so they do not require a font licence. Information on the typography also includes size and weight, Case, Line spacing, Letter spacing (also known as tracking) and Justification. Some brands can also recommend specific fonts for use around the world, as far as it aligns with their main font. Non-English language layouts are also catered for, especially Arabic where right alignment will replace the left-alignment. Some specific rules are also often presented with regards to the typography such as not adding drop shadows, not stretching the type horizontally or vertically and avoiding hyphenation in general, and especially in headlines.

Image

Information regarding the type, composition and quality of images to use are provided in the guidelines. Images are considered one of the brands’ identity to effectively engage with the specific audience. Companies expect those working with their brands to use the image to tell a story and give the right impression. Specifically, some brands request for reportage-style photography that embodies a photo-journalistic eye to capture pure moments. Users are warned to avoid purchasing stock photography whenever possible as brands want specially commissioned images to convey their brand identities as it makes its unique, not see elsewhere and makes the message more coherent. I Love New York Brand Guidelines specially stated that images used should be photographs taken in the New York State. Some brands , do have a vast library of approved photos, freely available for staff and external users, these images can be used legally, anywhere in the world, in any media. Rules such as avoiding emotionless images, avoiding images that do not tell a story, or avoiding images where models are posing are also presented in the guidelines. Some brands also support the use of illustrations where images are not available or if there is a need to create an even more distinctive impression, but it should still be coherent with the overall brand identity. The use of icons is also allowed for some brands, but they expect it to be predominantly used in digital applications to aid navigation.

Brand Integration

Brands give examples of ways in which their brands can be adequately and consistently integrated across different media. They demonstrate how different brand identities can be combined to make effective communication. This also includes demonstrating the use of the grid lines as an essential organisational tool in visual identity design. The brands believe that using these examples and guides provided; it helps deliver their messages in a clean, simple, and direct way. This integration also includes the sample layout and template for marketing collateral, Stationery Items, Business Card, Compliment Slip, Envelope, Pull-up Stand, Building Entrance Plaque, Wayfinding Signage, Merchandise, Social Media, Microsoft powerpoint presentations and Website Elements. This list is inexhaustible depending on how large the brand is and how much touch point they need to integrate and reinforce their new brands.