Brand book: what's inside and why your company needs one
A brand book is a passport and a user manual for the brand in one document. It answers three questions: how the brand looks, how it speaks and how it behaves.
3 main sections
1. Appearance (identity): the logo and how it may and may not be used; colours and their exact shades; the typefaces to use everywhere.
2. Character and voice: the tone of communication (serious, friendly, ironic?) and key phrases. Yandex speaks like an expert but stays accessible; Tinkoff is bold and youthful.
3. Rules of behaviour: one style for social media, the website and advertising; template replies for difficult situations.
3 reasons from real life
- People will stop confusing you with others. After updating its brand book, VK clearly set itself apart from being "just a social network".
- You'll save time and money. Without a brand book every designer draws the logo their own way. At Sber, shared templates make work 2–3 times faster.
- Everyone will speak the same way. A brand book keeps communication consistent.
How to create your brand book: 4 steps
- Gather everything you already have: the logo, posts that worked, advertising materials
- Answer the questions: who are we for? how are we different? what is our character?
- Write down the rules, from colours to banned phrases
- Update the document every 2–3 years