Brand book is an official document of a company that describes the brand concept, brand attributes, target audience, company positioning, and other information that can be used by marketers and management.

In addition, the brand book contains a complete guide to corporate identity, which provides a detailed description of the use of each corporate element on various media, both advertising and corporate.

What is it needed for?

It is needed to ensure that the designers or marketers you involve work within your corporate identity. Otherwise, they may fulfill orders at their own discretion, which may not align with your existing brand. To avoid mistakes, business owners create another unique advertising tool, including an introduction to the corporation and rules of interaction with the target audience.

For new employees, the brand book will be useful as it allows them to familiarize themselves with the brand, thus bringing them up to speed. This saves time and eliminates the need for lengthy conversations.

What sections does this document consist of?

Company Philosophy in the Market

It contains the history of the corporation’s creation, reveals the scope of activities, and discusses development prospects. It provides information about the target audience and prospects for interaction with customers. This section can vividly describe the company’s advantages and its highly skilled employees, explaining why consumers should choose you. Well-presented material in this section increases interest in the company and its reputation in the market.

Visual Strategy of the Company

This section is the most extensive and requires a special approach and attention to detail from the designer.

• Logo Book – a section that contains instructions for using the logo. It explains where and how to place it, what backgrounds can be used, as well as the size, color, fonts of the trademark, and slogans.
• Documentation and Printing – includes layouts of business papers: business cards, application forms, contracts, letterheads, examples of letters and email signatures. It also includes templates for posters, flyers, bouquets, and other promotional leaflets.
• Image and Advertising Products – here you can learn all about badges, flyers, see what the employee uniform looks like, its colors, and style. It also covers banners, signs for offices, signs in corridors, and more. This section also includes all promotional merchandise: magnets, pens, notepads, mugs, t-shirts, aprons, ties.
• Interior and Transport Design – these are design solutions and instructions for applying the graphic style in offices, corridors, and other premises in terms of color, materials, and placement.
• Market Interaction Rules – how many languages you use in your brand: Russian, English, etc. What style do you prefer: technical or literary? What communication style is closest to you: friendly or formal? What kind of posts do you prefer to publish on social media, blogs, websites, their topics, and posting periods?

Graphic design of the brand book

The development of this product is a creative process and always starts with a meeting with the client. Only they can determine their preferences and vision of the end result.

The development can be presented in various formats:

• Printed book or brochure
• Website page
• Branded film
• Electronic book in PDF format
• Wall poster
• Interior design

There are no specific rules for designing such a product. Therefore, clients have a wide choice, and a professional designer can advise on the best options. However, it is important to ensure that their vision of the project aligns with yours. A brand book that adheres to the contained rules is a great outcome of a graphic designer’s work. Take your time and thoroughly review the provided sketch. Even if it takes more time than you planned, the revision stage is crucial. It is necessary to create a unique and stylish image that will capture the potential customer’s attention.

Who needs a set of rules (brandbook)?

First of all, large organizations will need a ready-made manual for the application of corporate identity and logo:

• To sell franchises
• For opening new branches in other cities
• For the creation of branded products
• For advertising purposes

Companies that do not have their own advertising departments use the instruction to facilitate the interaction between the contractor and the customer. Freelancers or other organizations prepare brand products for them, which just need a ready-made instruction to perform their work. It reduces pre-agreement time and reduces the likelihood of error.
Corporations with an advertising department will have the same advantages. After all, often their branches are located in other cities and a ready-made set of rules reduces the time to coordinate projects, which increases productivity and efficiency.

Who else can help?

Executives, when they make a development strategy, to stay on the same course.

• Marketers during activities to increase the recognition of the company.
• Managers during the training of new employees in the organization to improve corporate morale.
• The sales department during the promotion of products and services.
• Lawyers during the solution of disputes relating to copyright owner.
• Journalists during the writing of promotional articles.
• To summarize

For advertising purposes

According to the obtained knowledge, we can conclude that for quality brand management, it is desirable to have certain rules for management. The structure of the brandbook can be absolutely different. It all depends on the scale of the company and the goals of its creation. Examples of complex corporate identity creation you can see in our Portfolio.