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INSIGHTS

We’re passionate about our craft and love to share our knowledge, so here are some free nuggets of wisdom we hope you find helpful.

Why does your brand need guidelines…

27 Jan 2023 by Vicky Hutchinson

What are brand guidelines

Brand guidelines are the set of rules that define the look and feel of your brand. A framework for the visual, verbal and written communications of your brand. They can also be known as a style guide or brand book and depending on the size of your business can be a one-pager or a full book spanning multiple pages

Your guidelines, regardless of size, should outline everything from your logo, marque and word marque, typography and colour palette to your photography style, patterns and iconography. The bigger more in-depth guides show examples of marketing collateral, do’s and don’ts with logos, photography and tone of voice and mission statement.

Do I really need them?

YES! We always talk about the importance of consistency within your brand both visually as well as written and verbal, this is key to helping to build a brand identity that your audience will recognise across all touchpoints on and offline. Building that brand awareness creates trust, and loyalty and sets you apart from your competitors.

Regardless of your business size having a brand guide will keep you on track to building a strong brand and prevent it from getting diluted with the wrong colours, font or logotype. Because crafting an identity, no matter what it is, is much easier when you have a set of guidelines to help you maintain a coherent image.

REV Brandguidelines

Useful internally as well as externally

Having a set of guidelines ensures that your whole team knows the brand in-depth and can be your brand ambassadors. They will understand how to speak to clients/customers, how to construct emails and other written communications in the right tone of voice and which colours or style of photography to use if they do need to do anything visual.

It also helps you keep that consistency your brand needs if you need to outsource marketing or design to an external consultant. They have your guidelines to help them keep your brand and message strong and consistent (that word again!).

Top level what should we have in them

  • Fonts – including the look and sizes of headers and body text
  • Logos – including the right colours, the right sizes, the right alternative logos (secondary, marque or word marque)
  • Colour palettes – what specific colours should be used in online and print material. Primary and secondary/highlight colours
  • Photography style and tone
  • Pattern or icon style

If you would like help to create a more cohesive brand or would like to level up your brand for your business growth then drop Vicky a line at vicky@creativehutch.com

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