Branding Guide
Logo and Branding

Logo is the visual representation of a brand. And a brand is all that your company or organization stands for, how it is perceived and what it looks and feels like to your audience. A logo should capture all of those elements of your brand in a succinct mark; but there is more to your brand's visual style than the logo. The way a logo is used and presented is just a critical your company's brand as the design of the logo itself.

Brand Guideline

A brand guideline is a collection of typefaces, colours, rules and tips for the application of your logo and supporting visual style. In each brand guide, or "brand book," there will traditionally be a section focused entirely on the logo itself: ways it should and should not be displayed, abbreviated and long versions of your logo and restrictions regarding the space surrounding it. The goal of a brand guide is to make sure your logo, typefaces and all supporting artwork is applied consistently in all formats, maintaining a consistent visual style.

Brand Basics
  1. Brand Essence is the guiding methodology in which activities and behaviours can be measured against; and are used as the framework for communications, creative work and helps to create outward facing personality.
  2. Brand Values are those values that form the foundation on which you perform work and conduct your salve.
  3. Vision & Mission Statements are fundamental expression of identity, personality, style, capabilities and market intent. They drive brand essence and guide, the overall approach to how you interact with clients and with each other; your visual identity support this.
  4. Focusing on Target Audience - Your value proposition must be relevant to your target market. This means your target market must be clearly defined.
  5. To achieve your brand marketing goals it is important that you know your target market inside and out. By knowing your target audience you will be more confident in the steps to take to connect with that audience.
  6. The power of your brand relies on the ability to focus. That is why defining your target market will help to strengthen your brand's effectiveness.
Logo Construction

The logo is the most visible element of company's identity – a universal signature across all communications. Because the logo is such a recognisable and highly visible brand asset, it is vital that it is always applied consistently wherever it appears.

Following elements required to consider while constructing Logo:

Logotype

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Choosing a typeface can be tricky. The first thing you have to do in order to choose a typeface is form a strong impression in your mind about how you want your audience to react to the text. Your choice of typeface needs to strike a good combination of legibility, readability and aesthetics.

Sizes

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Does a brand logo's size really matter? The answer is, surprisingly, both yes and no. It depends on the design. Plus, there are a few more things to it.

Your company logo should be the pictorial representation of what your business is all about. A well-designed emblem can fulfil this purpose effectively and convey the right message about your brand to your audience meaningfully. But a well-designed logo does not always need to be a gigantic one. A small insignia can also do the job perfectly. In this case, it is the purpose that matters, not the size.

A large insignia that lacks sufficient content can create a negative impression. It can even distract and disturb onlookers. So, it can do more harm than good and spoil your entire branding effort. The focus of the design will have to be on the content. Oversized designs can overshadow the content, which is not at all good for branding. However, a balance of both may attract the eye, but for that your creation needs to stand out.

As mentioned before, larger size does not ensure effectiveness and neither does smaller size. Too small logos can make the typography illegible and too gigantic emblems can tire the eyes. There should be a balance. Boosting the brand recognition of the company is a primary goal. Both aesthetics and effectiveness plays important parts in the job, so both big as well as small logos are important.

Clear Space Grid

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Always maintain a minimum clear space around logo to preserve the integrity. To maintain visual clarity and to provide maximum impact, the logo must always appear legible on a background.

Colour

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Choosing colours to design a logo can be tricky. A logo design specialist tries to find out how people react to certain colours, how certain colours might help highlight the logo, what colours create great impact, what colours create long-lasting impressions, etc. A darker shade of any colour grabs attention faster than lighter shades of the same colour. It's all about making logo prominent.

Choosing logo colours is more than deciding what looks nice and what doesn't. Create a logo which pleases your viewers not yourself. Sometimes choices of colour may be based on Colour Perception (Selecting colours for logo is to identify your target audience. Different colours mean different things in different communities. People's perceptions of colours are subject to cultural influences.)