Table of Contents
The brand book is a summary of the brand strategy. All the elements that make up your brand, from the basic principles (mission, vision, brand voice, values, etc.) to the brand’s visual identity (logo, colors, icons, shapes, etc.), are all recorded in the Brand Book.
brand book is a complete guide on brand identity that covers all standards and details related to the brand.
Almost 96% of dissatisfied employers have not been able to present themselves properly!
In fact, I have obtained the above statistics from myself; But if you look carefully, the reason for many rework and mistakes is that the employer, brand or business is not well understood. One of the simple and effective solutions to solve this problem is to provide a brand book or a brand manual from the side of businesses.
It is with the Brand Book that we can share the red lines, values, principles, visual aspects and rules of the brand with our team members and those who work with us directly and indirectly.
Now, what is a brand book and how can we design a brand book, is the topic we want to talk about in this article from Dux center blog series in detail.
what is brand book?
The brand book is also known by other names among the managers, including Brand Guide, Brand Manual, Brand Identity Book, Visual Identity Book. Identity Guidelines) and Style Guide.
There is no requirement for the brand book to be comprehensive and complete and to cover all the standards related to the brand in one book.
The topics examined in each brand book are different according to the purpose of its preparation, for example, brand A may focus on the visual identity guide of the brand and brand B may pay special attention to the communication standards of the brand, of course, our recommendation is that Prepare all this information in an integrated form and in one place in a comprehensive brand book, so that employees are familiar with all dimensions of the brand from the very beginning, from the main values of the brand to the language used by the brand or the design standards they must follow.
The brand book is a summary of the brand strategy. All the elements that make up your brand, from the basic principles (mission, vision, brand voice, values, etc.) to the brand’s visual identity (logo, colors, icons, shapes, etc.), are all recorded in the Brand Book.
Dux Center
So, we can consider Brand Book as a reference for following the rules and different aspects of the brand (visual, written, communication, etc.).
Do you also need a brand book?
Every company and organization needs a brand book to ensure that the brand message is expressed in the same way through all marketing activities and communication channels.
Also, Brand Book helps organizations to ensure the integrity and coordination of all visual content of the brand in communication and marketing activities and when expressing the brand identity (that is, everything the audience sees and receives from the brand).
The brand book also helps the company’s branding team when outsourcing some brand activities to marketing agencies or graphic design teams, because the marketing and design teams spend less time with the core of the brand and its strategies. Also, the dos and don’ts of the brand will be known.
Benefits of brand book for businesses
If you spend a lot of time explaining repetitive issues to different people on the team, be sure to read this section to learn more about the miracle of brand book.
1. integrity
Having a unified identity in different channels and networks makes your brand recognizable and reliable!
When you follow clear and unified guidelines on your website, social media, magazines, ads, business card design, videos, etc., the audience can notice your presence without reading your brand name.
2. Definition rules and standards
The brand book includes rules such as the use of logos, typography and colors. Having these rules helps different people from different teams easily follow a unified identity and implement it consistently in different places.
3. Create brand awareness
By creating and publishing a brand book, you show what sets you apart from your competitors. By seeing these distinctions, people will remember you more easily and sometimes they will even talk about your brand on social networks or in other communities.
4. Improve brand position
Your organization’s image is more than just a logo. Values, organizational culture, brand voice, and everything you and your team believe in can be highlighted in a brand manual and reflect what is going on within your organization.
5. Acceleration of processes
Brands that have a brand handbook and make it available to new team members (both face-to-face and freelance) speed up the on-boarding process. With this guide, the new member will get to know your organization faster and will find the answers to many of his questions without getting involved in attrition processes.
6. Reduce confusion
When we don’t have a brand book, we go by guesswork and trial and error. Of course, some of these tests have good results and some may fail completely, the point is that even if the tests are successful, if we look at the big picture, we will see a disjointed and disjointed collection.
So it is better to reduce these irregularities as much as possible by designing the book brand and by following it, reduce the percentage of guesswork.
when you want to start a knew project
How to make a brand book?
Book brand design can be as detailed as your brand is. I mean, if you’re only going to guide a team of designers and writers, a concise and useful brand book will do the trick.
But if you have a brand as big as Amazon and it is necessary for many people to get to know your rules and values, you should spend more time and prepare a comprehensive brand book.
We have described the steps of creating a brand book below:
chapter 1
Introducing the brand:
Like any other acquaintance, we introduce ourselves in the first step. In fact, we need to familiarize the audience with the values, goals and missions of the brand at the very beginning of the booklet and create the initial mindset.
Vision:
In this section, we explain the long-term goal or the ideal future of our brand. Note that the brand vision is like a compass that shows where we want to be in the future and what we want to achieve.
It’s a good idea to ask yourself the following questions to define your brand vision:
- What are the core values of your brand?
- What problems does your organization solve?
- Whose needs are you going to meet?
- Where will you be in the next 10 years?
example: Dux Center brand vision is to become the digital marketing destination in the world.
Mission:
A brand mission describes your short-term goals and what you are currently doing.
The answers to the following questions will help you define the brand mission:
- What activity do we do?
- How do we do this activity?
- For whom do we do these activities?
example: Dux Center’s brand mission is continuous innovation and helping businesses get better results from digital marketing.
Brand voice:
Knowing what your brand’s character is, helps you have a clear policy in relation to your audience. For example, if the personality of your brand is young and friendly, you can easily reflect it in the tone of the brand, the images and videos you publish on social networks, or even in the online chat of your site.
Some examples of brand character:
Nike: positive and inspiring
Mailchimp (email marketing service): fun and informal
Dove: Powerful and uplifting
Tone of voice:
Simply put, the words you use and the emotion you convey to your audience shape your brand’s tone. In this section, specify the dos and don’ts and explain to those who are going to read this brand book the right tone to communicate with the customer.
Target Audience:
What are the characteristics of those who use your services or products? What audience would you like to attract to your site? Who is your ideal customer?
Answering these questions and getting to know the target audience will help you get to know the challenges and mental knots of the customers and be able to guide them more easily. The more this familiarity is, the easier it is to gain the audience’s trust and communicate with them.
chapter 2
Logo guide:
In this chapter, we have to briefly explain about the logo and its nature and examine its placement in different environments. For example, see this page of the Amazon book brand; All dos and don’ts are given with examples.
chapter 3
Color pallet:
One of the important elements of the book brand that helps to maintain the integrity of the brand on the website, various advertisements, social networks, etc., is following a specific color palette.
So this season, show your brand’s primary and secondary colors along with their name and RGB or CMYK code. Also, if you have special rules for combining colors, write them in this chapter.
chapter 4
Icons and Shapes:
Large websites usually use uniform and coordinated icons designed exclusively for them. If your website also uses icons or special shapes, introduce them in this chapter of Brand Book and tell them their uses.
chapter 5
Typography:
Typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes our copy or content readable, clear and visually appealing to the reader. In this chapter of the brand guide, we introduce site fonts, social networks, printed content, etc.
You can include the following in the presentation of this chapter:
- Introduction of Persian fonts
- Introduction of Latin fonts
- The place of use of each font (for example, we use Tanha font on comic or informal images.)
- Important sizes (such as site titles and H1 and H2 size of the article)
chapter 6
Video:
If video marketing is part of your brand strategy, it’s better to dedicate a chapter to it. In this chapter, talk about colors, soundtrack, intro, subtitle size and color, font, and all the dos and don’ts of video production.
Save everyone from confusion by creating a brand book!
Not only should your team members be aware of your red lines, values, principles, visual identity and brand rules, but you may want to outsource some of the work. This is where you need a manual called Brand Book to avoid wasting time and money.
In this article, we told you what a brand guide is and what business should start thinking about its design. On the other hand, we also thoroughly reviewed the benefits of having such a guide so that you can understand why some brands can’t even drink water without it!
I understand that designing this booklet seems difficult. For this reason, we have prepared a special and consulting service in the Dux Center so that you can take the first step for a solid design. Of course, we will not leave you alone; You can share your questions and problems with us in the comments section.
