We will explain the basics of a brand manual so that you can quickly improve the effectiveness of your company's designs.
Every company, organization or media personality should have a brand manual. It is not a whim of designers, but rather an essential marketing tool to make communication effective in the visual aspect.
Each piece communicates. From a photo, a color, and even a font. The brand manual seeks to regulate all possible uses so that, when creating a graphic, the characteristics with which the organization seeks to connect are reflected. In addition, it is important to have it to give unified messages regardless of who is responsible for the visual piece.
In this post we bring you the most important points of a manual so that you can apply them in your company at zero cost.
Brand manual: basic criteria
A document of this nature has pre-established sections that must be followed. Although some of them are somewhat technical, below we will address the most important ones from a simple point of view so that anyone can understand and apply them.
Logo
The logotype (a combination of letters and symbols representing colombia phone number an organization) is a vital element. Many years ago, when companies as we know them today were just beginning to exist, these were elements created to signal quality, good composition and trust. Today it is a central aspect in any company: Apple, Google, Ford and others are companies valued at astronomical sums, but it is their brands that, to a large extent, give them value in the market.
The logo is the seal of a company. The brand manual should establish its characteristics: shapes, colors, correct and incorrect uses, minimum and maximum sizes, fonts.
If your company doesn't have a logo, there are many platforms that can help you create one: Canva , a design platform for people outside the industry, is one of them. Keep the following keys in mind when creating one:
Synthesis of ideas and elements.
A word can be a logo.
An icon can be one too.
Use simple shapes, as if you had to carve them in wood later.
Create versions in neutral colors.
Fonts
Fonts are another central aspect of visual identity. While their use may be more subliminal for many than that of the logo, which is very clear, establishing certain font styles is a tool to maintain consistency in messages, continue to highlight features and convey messages.
A brand manual establishes several font types, at least three. The choice of these has to be justified and supported by some point: readability, intention, the feeling it offers, etc. For example, Apple's thin, dry typography is all about elegance, synthesis, and freshness, while Nike's can be simple but overwhelming and broad.
It is not about carrying out a creative process to discover an ideal typography for the company, but rather you must think of a reason for choosing certain typographic characteristics and not others.
There are many options: serif or sans serif, wider or thinner, bold or light, stiffer or more flexible, and so on. Keep in mind a characteristic of your business when choosing them. List their uses: a certain family for a certain use (one for titles, another for body text, and another for words in margins, for example).