Guiding a brand
Brand guidelines are crucial for maintaining a consistent and authentic brand identity across all channels, ensuring trust and cohesion. We developed tailored guidelines for various clients in Architecture, Automotive, Fashion & Beauty, Financial Services, Lifestyle & Leisure, Technology, and more, addressing their unique needs and enhancing their brand presence. These guidelines save time, clarify expectations, and prevent brand erosion.
Background
The cornerstone of successful brands is trust, built through authenticity and consistent values. Customers trust a brand when their experiences align with their expectations, and brand guidelines are the key tool for maintaining this consistency. These documents detail everything from visual representation (logos, fonts, colours, images, iconography) to the brand’s purpose, values, and voice, ensuring a cohesive brand identity across all channels.
Challenge
While common elements like logo usage, fonts, and email signature layouts are standard, the best brand guidelines documents also account for unique requirements like sub-brand logos, in-house printable templates, and brand partnership protocols. These documents must be comprehensive yet simple, providing clear instructions to ensure consistency while allowing for growth and adaptation.
Challenge
While common elements like logo usage, fonts, and email signature layouts are standard, the best brand guidelines documents also account for unique requirements like sub-brand logos, in-house printable templates, and brand partnership protocols. These documents must be comprehensive yet simple, providing clear instructions to ensure consistency while allowing for growth and adaptation.
Solution
As we brand a company or product, the demand for guidelines that steer application varies. Factors such as common communication channels, the extent of internal usage, and budget impact the technical nature and breadth of the resulting documents. Here are several examples of brand guide executions that showcase a diverse range of projects.
Brand Foundations: Spayce & Loungenie
Spayce:
Spayce, a dynamic fintech start-up, was a project we were involved with since the brand’s inception. From the initial brand framework to meticulous naming, we continued on to craft every aspect of its visual identity. The resulting guidelines encompass our vision, detailing personality, logos, colours, typography, and graphics, ensuring consistency and coherence in brand communication. The resulting brand guidelines document aims to create a compelling brand identity that resonates with audiences, establishing recognition in the competitive fintech industry.
Loungenie:
For Loungenie, a B2B product rename and rebrand project, we crafted streamlined guidelines for the reimagined identity tailored to their niche market. As communications in their category are limited, the document is simpler than most yet covers all essential items such as logo usage, typography, a cohesive colour palette, and basic collateral such as trade show backdrops and brochures.
Brand Extensive: Grand Touring Automobiles
GTA's brand legacy spans back to 1974, undergoing numerous renditions and refreshes over the years. Our latest update introduced a modern 2D logo, designed to complement the classic 3D marque, essential for tangible applications like building signage.
In the detailed guidelines document, we meticulously outlined the company's convictions, purpose, values, priorities, and personality, laying a robust foundation for expansion across North America. The extensive brand system included the introduction of new sub-brand logos, expanded utilization of their mantra 'LIVE GRAND,' diverse lock-up variations integrating OEM logos, and tailored email signature designs. Additionally, we guided merchandise and gifting items, ensuring a consistent and impactful brand presence across all touchpoints.
This emphasizes the depth and breadth of the guidelines document, showcasing its role in shaping and maintaining GTA's brand identity across various contexts and applications.
Brand Refresh: Soroc & 7 Communications
Soroc Technology:
Soroc Technology, a forward-thinking IT provider, entrusted us with a comprehensive brand refresh that brought intentionality to their brand assets. First, we revitalized their brand voice and values, aligning them with their evolving identity. Drawing inspiration from their original logo, we then developed a new set of adaptable marks and introduced a fresh colour palette, typography, and photographic style. An eclectic graphic suite was also added to inject dynamism and character. The resulting comprehensive guide empowered the Soroc team with a clear and consistent brand vision and the tools to communicate it effectively.
7 Communications:
For our own brand, we embarked on a brand refresh journey introducing invigorating new elements to evolve and elevate the visual identity. This included an updated brand voice and values, as well as new fonts, colours, and graphic styles. With a larger team in mind, we ensured thorough communication of changes, including subtle yet critical adjustments like darkening the iconic orange for accessibility standards. Beyond technical details, the guidelines aim to inspire the team with the brand's story, reflecting sophistication, passion, and innovation in every element.
Results
Proper brand guidelines are essential for preserving a brand’s integrity and ensuring consistent, accurate usage across all platforms. They streamline operations, saving time and resources by providing clear instructions and expectations for the team. By preventing brand erosion and maintaining a cohesive identity, these guidelines enhance brand recognition and customer trust, ultimately supporting business growth and competitive advantage.
