Question from Ivan, via Twitter:

Do you have guidelines on how to make brand guidelines?

Answer by Aaron Poe, Creative Director at Ueno in San Francisco:

Hey Ivan,

Great question. Back in the day, creating a brand guidelines used to be a much simpler process. We’ve gone from a world where the competitive landscape and its dynamics were so simple and slow, to one where they are extremely dynamic, unpredictable and crowded.

The purpose of a brand guidelines is consistency. Many parties will be touching the brand—both internal and external—so it’s very important to define a set of rules for all of them. Customers are more savvy these days, and expect a brand to show up in a cohesive manner. A brand lives on mobile screens, in social, on the web, in the streets, in TV and film, and even the traditional business card. All touchpoints matter. It’s a confusing world out there, Ivan, people respond well to a brand that’s rolled out consistently.

Now, truth be told, my approach to creating brand guidelines is not revolutionary. In fact it’s based on something I learned how to do in elementary school. I don’t recall what grade I was in, but I remember the day I had to write my first book report. My teacher, Mr. Story (real name, by the way) taught us how to make a content outline. It’s funny how much we retain in those formative years that can still be applied in your professional career. The lesson here is pay attention in school, you never know how it will help you later in life.

Ok, enough about me. Let’s get to the question at hand: Is there a guideline for creating brand guidelines?

Disclaimer: There are many methods and approaches. I encourage you to explore different possibilities—whatever serves your client best. I’m am just one creative director in a world with millions of other creative directors. So take my version of the gospel with a grain of salt.

Step 1 — Draft your content outline

The first thing I do is draft an outline of the elements that need to be communicated to anyone who’s planning to create something involving the brand. Always run this by your client and gain approval. The high level basics, are not limited to, but may include the following:

– Introduction
– Strategy overview
– The logo
– Brand architecture (if applicable)
– Color palette
– Typography
– Brand elements
– Photography
– Identity in context
– Tone of voice

Step 2 — Define your user

Next up, define your primary audience. Ask yourself “Who is the end user of this beauty?” Typically this will be the internal brand and communications team. Also, high on the list is any external 3rd party vendor said brand may encounter (print vendors, web developers, advertising partner, PR firm, etc.)

The single most important thing an agency like Ueno does is to provide the client with a healthy amount of bravery when launching the brand into the wild. Put another way, the role of a design studio (or freelancer) for a brand launch or rebrand, is to set your client up for success on day 1, and more importantly, 3–5 years into the future.

“Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for life.”

In life, as a rule of thumb, I prefer to measure twice and cut once. So I tend to over-communicate the details. What may seem obvious to me and you may not be as obvious to others. You want to allow anyone who views the guidelines to understand how to use them and how to deploy the brand properly. You do that and you’ve done your job.

At Ueno, we like our clients. We like them so much, we call them partners. We are super empathetic to the emotional effects change has to an internal organization during a rebrand.

We’ve all heard the saying “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for life.” Nothing can be more true when on-boarding the client to their shiny new brand guidelines.

Step 3 — Choose a format

Next up, after you’ve shared the content outline and defined your intended audience, discuss the format in which the client wants the guidelines delivered. Do they want a printed poster? Maybe they prefer the more common PDF that gets updated every time something new gets made? Traditionally, a brand guideline document was called a ‘Brand Book’ —because it was literally printed and put in a spiral binder. Look at that beauty below!

Currently, the standard operating procedure in brand guideline creation is to circulate PDFs via email or a link to Dropbox. It’s a totally broken way to work. This method suffers from version control, which is the exact moment where brands often get lost in translation.

If you think about it, all modern brands are natively digital these days. In my humble opinion, the best solution is a web-based approach that is open to the public and allows for anyone to view the brand assets and download said assets as needed. Ueno has adopted this approach and we’re never going back.

Think of it as an ‘Open-Source Guideline’ that lives online, it becomes accessible to anyone who knows their way around the web. For those of you who are looking for an easy to use, off-the-shelf solution, I encourage you to check out Brandpad. It’s a cloud-based platform for hosting guidelines and assets for designers and clients.

The kind folks over at Brandpad have created several introduction templates to help you get started, or you can design your own from scratch. Some design agencies have created their own bespoke platform for web-based guidelines. In fact, Ueno will be working to create our own proprietary platform very soon.

We most recently launched Clubhouse.io guidelines using Brandpad, and several other rebrands in the works that we cannot show just yet.

Step 4 — Design the damn thing

Get started. Set up your first slide, the index. There’s a good chance it will change, so be prepared. If you’re reluctant to change (shame on you!) and prefer to go old-school with a Keynote PDF, be sure to set your file up as an ‘Interactive PDF’ and make each item in the index a clickable link that allows viewers to fast-forward to any of the sections within the document.

Moving on, you can choose to create each slide in Illustrator, save each file, import into the application of your choice or you can simply copy and paste the vector assets directly into the program. There is no right or wrong way, but depending on your format (Keynote or InDesign) you may find you have more control of the details by creating each page as a linked asset.

If you’re feeling adventurous (good for you) and you end up using a web-based tool like Brandpad, each piece of content is essentially an image asset. It also allows for hover states and motion files.

Wait, there’s more!

A few extra tips & tricks based on nearly two decades of experience.

Introduction: Be sure to start the document with a nicely worded intro that communicates the purpose of the guidelines so people take you seriously.

Brand Strategy: Keep it short and to the point. Don’t force people to read too much up front. Just focus on Purpose, Promise, Values.

The logo: This section is typically the most robust. Start with an overview of the logo. Big and proud without any spec callouts. Then document and explain the architecture. Define minimum sizing for print and digital. Don’t forget to provide rules around clear space.

Still with me, Ivan? Cool.

Now define the unapproved uses of the logo. This page is my favorite. It includes visual examples of ways that people could potentially violate the logo (colors, drop shadows, putting it in a weird holding shape etc). Imagine your worst nightmare of someone stretching or skewing your logo. The shame! The horror! Well, it happens. But not on your watch.

Color palette: Show the color palette in a way that illustrates the “weight” of your color usage — which colors are the big stars, and which ones play supporting roles. Provide Pantone® chips and CMYK for print, RGB and HEX for screens. Additionally, now is a good time to show approved usage of logo color variations paired with your color palette.

Typography: Perhaps one of the most important parts of any brand identity system is the typography. You’ll want to treat this section in a way that demonstrates the beauty and functionality of each typeface. I like to showcase the primary typeface as if it’s an image from the marketing site of the type foundry— have fun with it. After you’ve geeked out on the type, begin to break down the primary font into the various weights, displayed from light to bold. Your secondary typeface needs to be defined just as prominently. Now, when the client inevitably says, “So, we use Google Slides company-wide, and we need a font that looks the same as this cool new font you made us license,” be prepared to document free Google fonts as well as a link to download. Lastly, always be sure provide a mention to the type foundries that designed the fonts in your brand’s system.

Brand elements: This is the section to illustrate and describe what I like to call a brand’s “kit of parts.” These are design system elements like iconography, your grid system, data visualization, or illustration style. Basically anything created beyond the logo that helps support the visual language. You know the drill.

Photography: If you are fortunate enough to have a client sign off on content creation, bravo! Original photography can really help your brand stand out. At Ueno, we have a dedicated content team busy making still and moving images. From conceptual still life photos, 3D images, to people collaborating at work in their environment (not pointing and smiling at screens), to simple leadership portraits — all the imagery should be displayed as final output with post-production retouching completed. If you really want to bring the chocolate, work with your photographer to create a diagram that shows the lighting setup, camera settings and seamless specs.

Identity in context: Finally, now it all comes together! The strategy, logo, color, typography, iconography, illustration, photography, and tone of voice working as a larger ecosystem. You’ve somehow managed to pull it off. Take a minute to let that sink in. Ok, now get back to work because you’re not done yet. You need to finish strong. The guidelines will be seen by a lot of eyes – from a creative director to an intern they hire this summer. You need to be able to express how the brand will show up in the world.

If you were tasked with designing production ready corporate swag, show it all off, but make it look real, instead of a production file with bleed and trim marks. If you created faux billboards, corporate swag, wild postings or tote bags that may or may not make it into the real world, that’s ok. Be proud of those blue sky applications that demonstrate what the brand could be one day—if they have the courage (and the budget) to execute on your ideas.

Tone of voice: A brand’s tone of voice is a direct extension of their brand values, which inform everything the brand does, including communication. If you’ve been working with a content strategist on the project, you’ve likely created a framework for how the brand speaks and sounds—what I like to call the verbal identity. This should consist of three to four voice principles, and can include a simple outline of “speak like this, not like this” examples.

Ok, Ivan. I’ve shared too much.

Just remember, whether it’s a new brand you’ve created from scratch or a rebrand for a business looking to become the future version of themselves, the guidelines you create will effectively serve as the “Bible” for that company — at least from a visual and verbal standpoint. And like the Bible, brand guidelines are often open to interpretation.

I hope that helps!

Aaron Poe is, as you may or may not know by now, Creative Director at Ueno in San Francisco. Although not strictly a part of his job, he will happily audit your brand guidelines and tell you where you went wrong.

You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers. Email hi@ueno.co with the subject line “Dear Ueno” (let us know if you want to remain anonymous) or tweet at us with the hashtag #DearUeno.

Want to work with Aaron? Because Ueno is hiring.

Want more email in your inbox? Because Ueno has a newsletter.

Dear Ueno: How do you make brand guidelines? was originally published in Ueno. on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Luc Cleutjens‏, a product designer in Amsterdam, sent us this tweet:

#DearUeno How do you guys (re-)create brands without hurting people’s feelings?

Aaron Poe, Creative Director at Ueno SF, jumps at the opportunity to help answer this very tricky question:

Hey Luc — appreciate the thoughtful question.

There is no single approach. The short answer is simply having the emotional intelligence to orchestrate this delicate ballet of emotions. The long answer is much more layered, like an onion.

The short answer

When clients approach us for a rebrand, they already recognize the way they’re showing up in the world needs to improve. We’re here to help. It’s important to have a certain level of emotional intelligence and empathy because getting brand right is very, very hard these days.

Thanks to the internet our world is getting smaller, businesses are sprouting up everywhere, and design is everywhere too. Which can be good, but also has its fair share of unintended consequences. Like nothing being original anymore, or every SaaS company relying so much on illustration that it can feel like we’re living in a sea of sameness.

Imagine if the roles were reversed. You’re a founder or CEO and have built a company (or you’re building one from the ground up) and now you’re paying a hefty sum of capital to a group of people you don’t know all that well to solve a problem that you and your internal team have been unable to get right. There’s a lot of emotional baggage to be aware of. Ownership, ego and creative control just to name a few.

At Ueno, one of our values is “We’re all in this together.” Creating a unique and innovative outcome requires an empathetic design agency and trust on behalf of the client. It may sound cliché, but it requires a bit of quid pro quo to get it right. When the stars align, it blossoms into a partnership of shared responsibility. And when we all have skin in the game, everyone can look each other in the eye and speak more openly and honestly.

The role of designer is adapting. More and more I’ve witnessed design having a seat at the table, and businesses are understanding its real long-term value. If done well, design creates extreme brand loyalty, which is great for the tattoo industry.

The longer answer

Back to the onion. Ever notice when we cut an onion, our eyes become overwhelmed and we begin to cry? That’s what rebranding sometimes feels like.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way, Luc? What if someone figured out a way to avoid the painful experience of cutting an onion?

Well, someone already did.

You can cut the onion under a vent, light a candle before chopping, cut while placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth, cut while chewing gum, freeze the onion before cutting, soak the onion in water for 15 minutes, cut under running water, remove the onion’s core (where the roots are) before chopping, or you can wear tear-free onion goggles.

For rebranding projects, the best way to avoid tears, awkward silences and a roller coaster of emotions, is called strategy. When designers and clients work together to identify the brand strategy, the design outcome becomes harder to argue against and helps get everyone aligned.

Before we design anything for a company, we have a phase of discovery, research and analysis of the market they’re in. We’re not experts in everything, so we need to learn about their business challenges and goals to make anything meaningful. In fact, it may be one of the best parts about working at a design agency. We get to learn something new with each client engagement — whether it’s a SaaS, B2B, innovation, or lifestyle brand. Each organization is unique, with its own set of challenges.

Strategy informs design. Without strategy, design becomes focused only on aesthetics, which is entirely subjective and essentially a race to the bottom. For designers, strategy reveals the clients’ business needs and requirements, so we can begin to craft how they will live within their competitive space. The goal is to not only identify the who, what, when and why, but to come away with insights.

We make observations and we turn those into opportunities for our clients. A brand is not exclusively the name, logo, product or website. A brand is a holistic experience that people should feel connected to on an emotional level.

For a rebrand we’ll sit down with our client and ask a lot of questions, because we need to understand the culture of the company — what they do well and what legacy processes are holding them back. Within the workshop and discovery phase, our goal is to understand the customer problem their offering solves, the biggest challenges they’re facing, who their audience is and what they care about, and how they position themselves within the competitive landscape. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Trust me

Through meaningful client interaction and an open dialogue, we build a high level of trust with our clients which evolves into partnerships. Trust is the foundation of any successful partnership and we believe it’s the best way to drive innovation for businesses.

Clients, like other people, are more sensitive to some onions than others, and what works for one client won’t necessarily work for every client. From my experience, though, having a strategy (wearing tear-free goggles) is the most hassle-free, effective way of rebranding (and cutting an onion) without crying like a baby.

I hope that helps shed some light, Luc!
– Aaron

Aaron Poe is a creative director at Ueno in San Francisco. He reads the news with sunglasses on, apparently. Follow him on Instagram and Dribbble, because why on earth wouldn’t you?

Want to one day be asked to answer Dear Ueno questions with wild abandon right here on this blog? Because Ueno is hiring.

Want to get even more email? Because Ueno has a newsletter.

Dear Ueno: How do you rebrand without hurting people’s feelings? was originally published in Ueno. on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.