Let’s establish
the definitions
People often confuse the brand manual
and guideline
What is a brand manual?
The brand manual describes:
- brand characteristics;
- brand platform;
- product advantages;
- consumer’s values;
- brand essence drawn
from the research; - brand mission;
- vision of the company’s future;
- criteria of creative verbal and
visual identity development.
What is a guideline (guidebook, style manual, passport of standards)?
It is a guide to using the elements of the company’s visual identity: its logo, color palette, brand fonts, layout styles, style elements, corporate style elements, photo style etc.
There are also other types of passports of standards:
- design of business documents and souvenirs;
- advertising communication design;
- interior and exterior design;
- a guide to repairing and decorating rooms;
- cut guide which includes website design and layout manual;
- merchandising book is a set of merchandising standards.
What passport is the
best?
The question is: what passport is the best? Though the best is not a right word. You need the passport that describes your brand to the fullest.
For example, a guide on the use of visual identity elements (guideline) is enough for a small and new business
Why do you need a passport of your company’s standards?
If you want your brand to be integral, a guideline is necessary. Brand design is a basis of the creation of a design of passport of standards.
By refusing to create a guideline, you risk that a new designer working with your brand will do something that adds something that contradicts your brand, for example, the designer adds fonts, decides to change the color thus violating the integrity of the brand.
The price of a guideline creation usually depends on the number of brand style elements. Passports created by us contain all the tools that keep the brand cohesive and integral. The price of a brand manual depends on many nuances. You can order quality passports of standards in our agency together with the brand development.
You need to develop a brand manual so that the contractee and clients could understand what your brand is about. If you want to write how to correctly use the visual identity elements and design brand communication, you need a guideline. To start, please fill in the briefFill in the brief