As designers and teams, we all know the importance of having a solid brand identity consistently communicated across all touchpoints. But creating effective brand guidelines that are easy to follow (and maintain) can take time, and traditional methods, such as creating a PDF document, can be outdated and difficult to work with.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into the key elements that make the most successful brand guidelines and provide tips to create better ones. If you’re ready to upgrade your brand guidelines and creation process, let’s get started!
Thanks to our friends at Brandpad for sponsoring this blog post!
What makes great brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines are the backbone of any successful brand. They are a set of rules that dictate how your brand should be portrayed across all touchpoints, including logos, typography, colors, and messaging.
Here are the key elements that make the most effective brand guidelines:
- 🤝 Accessible to everyone: Your brand guidelines should be accessible to everyone who needs them. Whether it’s your internal team, external partners, or clients, they should be able to access and understand your brand guidelines easily.
- ✏️ Easy to follow: Your brand guidelines should be easy to follow and understand. They should provide clear and concise instructions on how to use your brand assets and maintain consistency across all touchpoints.
- ✅ Always up-to-date: Your brand guidelines should be up-to-date and easily maintained. As your brand evolves and grows, your guidelines should be updated to reflect these changes.
- 🚀 Scalable: Your brand guidelines should be designed to accommodate future growth and expansion. They should be flexible enough to adapt to new trends and technologies while maintaining brand consistency.
By following these key elements, you can ensure that your brand guidelines are effective, consistent, and easily understood by everyone who interacts with your brand.
5 tips for better brand guidelines
Creating effective brand guidelines can be time-consuming, and traditional methods, such as creating a PDF document, can be outdated and difficult to maintain. That’s where Brandpad comes in. With its customizable templates, collaborative features, and user-friendly interface, Brandpad offers a comprehensive solution for creating brand guidelines that are scalable, accessible, and easy to maintain.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can start leveling up your brand guidelines using Brandpad’s modern and intuitive platform.
1. Make your guidelines insanely easy to access
With Brandpad, your brand guidelines are hosted on a secure cloud server, accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. You can share the link to your guidelines with anyone who needs them, ensuring everyone has access to the most up-to-date version of your brand guidelines. See how IKEA used Brandpad to host their Co-create identity guidelines.
2. Make assets downloadable
Easily upload and organize all your brand assets in one central location with Brandpad. You can also make these assets downloadable, saving your team and partners time and effort when they need to access your assets. Get inspired by Essence’s accessible brand guidelines below.
3. Customize it to your client’s needs
A major advantage of Brandpad is its ability to customize templates according to client needs, streamlining the brand guideline creation process. You can change the colors, fonts, and layouts to match your client’s branding and create brand guidelines tailored to their needs.
4. Make guidelines collaborative
With Brandpad, you can collaborate with your team, partners, and clients in real-time. You can invite others to view, comment, and suggest changes to your brand guidelines, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal.
5. Keep them updated and synced
Brandpad makes it easy to keep your brand guidelines up-to-date and synced at all times. As you change your brand assets or messaging, you can update your guidelines in real-time, ensuring that everyone is working from the most up-to-date version.
Build better brand guidelines, faster.
Brandpad’s philosophy is simple: make it easy for designers to create and maintain effective brand guidelines. Brandpad is designed to help designers work more effectively, enabling them to develop scalable brand guidelines that get used.
With Brandpad, visual identities will finally have a proper home. With its user-friendly interface, customizable templates, and fair pricing for freelancers, agencies, and everyone in between, Brandpad is the ultimate solution for creating better brand guidelines, faster. Try Brandpad for free today! ■
About Brandpad: Brandpad is the brand platform where design studios and brand owners standardize their brand deliveries. Everything from creation to sharing and usage in one, dedicated place in the cloud. Accessible for everyone involved, beautifully designed by you.
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