Essential Elements Of Brand Guideline

22 June 21

How does a brand stay unique and unforgettable? Simple, it remains consistent throughout all of their forms of communications and marketing materials. Brand identity guidelines ensure this consistency by policing the brand essence, logo, colors, and other design elements. Milestone, the leading brand consultant in Indonesia will guide you in understanding the essential elements of a brand guideline to secure the memorability of your brand. 

Brand guidelines should cover the rules for logo applications. As one of the brand’s main visual elements, the logo needs to be constant and familiar. The exclusion zone (or space around the logo) must be uniform in all mediums and there should only be limited color variations for different backgrounds. Guidelines should be firm in establishing the misuse of the logo and ensuring that the logo’s elements, color, and composition should adhere to the rules indicated. It would guarantee the memorability of a logo despite its application by various designers. 

A study by Baxter, Ilicic, & Kulczynski (2018) concluded brand colors are vital to heighten the positive perceptions of customers. The iconic Cadbury purple and Apple gray are recognized with excitement, a sentiment not shared to other generic shades of purple and grey. Brand identity guidelines regulate the color palettes and include Pantone codes of a brand to ignite the same enthusiasm of audiences and maintain brand consistency. 

Additionally, the typography and imagery of a brand should be regulated in a brand identity guideline. As typefaces and fonts generate different perceptions, the guideline establishes the fonts that convey a brand’s personality, used for headers and body texts. It also shows the photography, illustrations, and graphics that align with the brand’s visual elements. These images would have the same look and feel and might be bright or subtly lit.  

In short, these elements are essential in a brand identity guideline to secure consistency. The brand logo, color palette, typography, and supporting imagery are the visual aspects that frequently represent a brand, making them vital to be regulated and uniform. With these regulations, brand identity guidelines aid various designers and help brands to ensure their memorability.