Developing a brand book: what do you need to know?

A brand book is a brand’s production instructions. It is used to collect everything: landing pages, social networks, offline media, tender presentations, merch and navigation signs in the office. If the document is made correctly, any performer will hit the tone, color and meaning without clarifying calls.

We have done hundreds of brand books and have seen it all. Homemade “guides” of three slides, Word files with a stretched logo and a list of fonts, and even a version in Paint. The result is always the same - money is spent, but there is no result. 

In this article we will tell you how it goes brand book development in practice, who is responsible for what and why you shouldn’t entrust it to a secretary, designers or creative freelancer “Vasya-5-stars”, who is ready to do the work 100 times cheaper than in an agency. 

What is a brand book and why is it needed?

A brand book is a document according to which a brand preserves its identity in any place and format. It is relevant for a company of any size: if you have a website, VKontakte page or TG channel, this is already enough. 

This is a way for a coffee shop to avoid becoming just another coffee shop. The document records what the menu looks like, what tone the SMM manager chooses on social networks, and even what font is on the “WC” sign. As a result, the establishment is recognized not only by the taste of the cappuccino, but also by its visual image, they call it by name and bring friends here.

For an Ozon pick-up point, the brand book means that even if the premises are located in the basement of a shopping center, in a garage or in a private house, the client will still see the branded blue-crimson “zebra”, façade icon and image banner. As a result, each pick-up point looks like part of the system, and not a random stall.

For an automobile concern, a brand book is insurance against chaos. In Russia, India and China, the logo must be the same, the colors are strictly according to Pantone, advertising slogans are translated taking into account the tone of voice. When dozens of branches sound and look the same, the customer gets a sense of scale: this is an international brand, not a drive-thru store. 

A brand book is equally needed by small, medium and large businesses. Let's move on to the preparation and look at why it determines whether the document will become the main brand regulations or will be preserved only in correspondence. 

Preparing to create a brand book

Entrusting the development of a brand book to a secretary is the same as asking him to draw up the Constitution. He will collect the files in a folder, indicate that “our corporate color is purple, and the logo has an apple with an arrow,” but the brand value will not be there. As well as practical benefits. For example, there are 196 shades of purple in the Pantone palette, while 12-2903 TCX differs from 19-3810 TCX as a hat with a pompom and a motorcycle racing helmet. 

The designer, unlike the secretary, will already prescribe the exact fonts, assemble the palette and carefully place the logo in the grid. But when asked in what tone the brand speaks to the audience, it will only answer in the style of “polite and friendly.” The end result is an album of pictures without meaning, which only works with the participation of the designer himself. 

Freelancer “Vasya-5-stars” promises “fast, cheap and high quality”, but we know that of these three components in reality there can only be two. It is impossible to develop a full-fledged brand book in a week and $100. Most often, you will receive a PDF, where a logo, a couple of fonts and abstract “values” are somehow assembled - and after a couple of days you will understand that this file does not help marketers, contractors, or even Vasya himself. And when you ask for corrections, it turns out that Vasya burned out and flew to Tai, all that remains is to understand and forgive.

Brand book development window in Figma

What does the agency do

To create a brand book, we involve a team: strategists draw out meanings and formulate positioning, marketers check the niche and competitors, editors write down the brand language, designers create creative visuals, and the art director keeps everything in one system. The project manager brings the process together and makes sure everything goes according to plan.

The stages that every project goes through:

1. Collection of information. Brief, interview, request for all developments.

2. Research. Analysis of competitors, audience, market.

3. Development of the brand foundation. Values, mission, tone of voice, positioning options.

4. Design and identity. Colors, fonts, logos, patterns, media.

5. Systematization. Everything comes down to a document: rules, instructions, examples, anti-examples.

6. Implementation. The finished brand book is tested on real media: social networks, advertising, packaging, presentations.

We offer: only original design without templates, neural networks or copying other people’s meanings, strict adherence to deadlines, prompt feedback in the work chat, unlimited edits until the ideal result is achieved, including within a year after accepting the work (if inaccuracies are our fault), protection of personal information under NDA. 

As a result, the business gains independence from the level of the contractor: even a junior designer or a new contractor will be able to reproduce the corporate style without errors if they work according to the brand book. It cures dependence on “star” specialists and helps maintain quality at the same level. In addition, you save time that would normally be spent on coordinating 50 shades of blue and editing presentations. All points of contact with customers look the same, from a post in TG to a billboard at Azbuka Vkusa, and this increases brand recognition, it is read at a glance and is trusted more. And analysts agree with us: according to research from Amra & Elma, companies with a consistent style across all touch points experience up to 23% revenue growth, and 60% of companies even reported more than 20% growth.

Business value increases because the brand book turns the brand into a manageable and scalable asset. For investors and buyers, this is a signal that the company is systematic and ready for growth. Such a business is easier to scale, sell and package into a franchise. When a new branch opens or a new product is launched, the team does not spend weeks discussing how to formalize it; it already has a ready-made package of solutions. 

To make the project work, three types of input are collected at the start:

1. Strategic. Positioning, values, mission.

2. Analytical - current style, strengths and weaknesses of the visual, past versions of the brand book, best practices in the niche, target audience and competitors.

3. Practical. Where exactly is the brand book used: social networks, packaging, outdoor advertising, tenders, franchises.

Next, the main sections of the brand book will be formed based on them. 

Main sections of the brand book

We have already told you what it is brand book structure and what is included in it. Therefore, here is a look from the inside: how these sections are born in real agency projects. 

Strategic introductions → semantic part

When creating brand book for Emas (clothing manufacturer from Ugra) the task was clear: to show the regional character, but not slide into folklore. The strategic section began with the formulation of the brand's mission and values: modern clothing for the city and nature, with respect for the roots, but without shamanic drums. From these introductory words, slogans emerged (“Yugra in every stitch…”) and a tone of voice—calm, confident, with a touch of local identity.

Communication messages from the brand book for clothing manufacturer Emas

Analytical inputs → audit and benchmarks

We always analyze the client’s current style, past versions of branded materials (if any), and research the best players in the industry - both in Russia and abroad. In the case of architectural bureau "MOA" There was already a brand book, it was good, but it didn’t work. We reviewed the presentation, visual structure, and identity elements and came up with a solution that better suited the nature of the business and set it apart from its competitors. 

Practical introductions → media and templates

Any brand book is based on real tasks. So, for “Emas” we showed how colors and patterns work on forms, commercial paper, and souvenirs. And in project for Sakhalin Turbine Service practical introductions came to the fore. The company operates in heavy industry and services gas turbine units. Therefore, we made the document in such a way that the corporate style could be applied not only in presentations and advertising layouts, but also directly at the factory. It included layouts for business cards, outdoor advertising, and even a design scheme for building facades. Thus, corporate colors and graphics with “turbine fins” became part of the environment in which the business operates.

A brand book without basic elements is like a burger without a patty: it looks like it has buns, cucumber and sauce, but it’s still a lie. Inside must be:

• logo with instructions on how to use and what never to do;

• a palette with codes so you don’t have to guess whether it’s the color of a frightened nymph’s thigh or space cream;

• fonts with rules of use (and a sign of shame for Comic Sans);

• brand voice - examples of messages, from “how we communicate with the client” to “what is prohibited for us”;

• visual elements: patterns, icons, photo or graphic style;

• media - from investor presentation to building façade.

And one more very important part is anti-examples. If they are not there, you are like on a dating site without photos: you fantasize about who is behind the avatar, and then you are surprised when you meet. That’s why we always show what the brand looks like in reality and how it turns into trash if you forget about the guide.

Technical aspects of creation

The brand book has its own structure, which is followed by both NASA and the salon “Nails from Alina”. It was not invented for beauty or so that agencies could bill for extra pages; it sets the logic: meaning → communication → visual → application. For example, we are often asked whether it is possible to do without brand values ​​and positioning; it’s just a collection of visuals and fonts for designing messages. In general, of course, it is possible. And without a brand book too. Watch your hands.

A brand book is needed to show the unique image of the company. Simply put, it spells out everything in which IP “Ivanov” differs from IP “Petrov”. And if Petrov communicates with the audience like a foreman at a construction site, and his logo is in the form of a fist with brass knuckles, then it is unlikely that his values ​​will include “kindness and love for one’s neighbor.” Accordingly, the audience will be represented not by kawaii girls who faint from a rude word, but by brutal men who are close to such a vibe. And here Petrov just looks whole and honest. 

But Ivanov has a pear on his logo, he chose the font, the palette too, he even wrote it in CMYK, what a great guy - it would seem that everything is there. But if you look at the communication channels, the style jumps from “Congratulations on the Honey Savior!!!” to “gayz, like-sher-repost.” Contractors honestly sculpt a pear wherever possible: against the background of chemical formulas, next to tractors or on top of an acid gradient. Why? Because no one has recorded what this pear is for, what its meaning is and what it says.

If you dig deep, Ivanov sells organic pears: watered with the tears of babies, grown on black soil without an ounce of chemicals and carefully picked by the hands of virgins. Its value is health through healthy products. But without positioning, the logo turns into a sticker: “where you stick it, there’s a brand.”

As a result, we collect all possible errors:

1. Inconsistency of communications. The logo is the same, but the meaning is different: in one layout “eco and cleanliness”, in the other “agricultural machinery and chemistry”.

2. Loss of uniqueness. Instead of a niche eco-brand, Ivanov visually merges with the nearest agricultural holding.

3. Substitution of values. The thesis about health and naturalness is easily lost if the pear is adjacent to atomic symbols or acidic colors.

4. Chaotic changes. Each contractor contributed their own vision, and as a result, the brand collapsed.

5. Losing control. Without proper positioning, any contractor decides that “this is also normal.”

Ivanov will be left without sales and an audience: those who are looking for an eco-product will run away because they don’t see values and honesty, and those who don’t care about cleanliness and black soil simply won’t understand what to overpay for. 

In addition to the internal content, external aspects are also important: what the brand book will look like as a medium, how to check and implement it, how to update and promote it. 

Brand book design and layout

A brand book has one chance to be useful: if it is actually read. They didn’t agree, they approved it and let it sit, and they didn’t send it to the contractor, somehow he’ll figure it out on his own, but they actively read it and put it into practice. What is important here is not only the content, but also the design of the document itself: even someone who knows nothing at all about your company should be able to find all the necessary information in a couple of minutes. Therefore it should be:

• branded - in corporate colors, fonts and logo;

• convenient - with a clickable table of contents and logical navigation;

• understandable - with clear instructions and examples. 

An example of brand book design and layout for DigiDent

The format in which the brand book will exist depends on the context. For a startup that is still experimenting with positioning and identity, it is better to host layouts and notes on a web portal or Yonote for easy updates. For large production, we recommend PDF in a folder on the server. We select the format for the client’s working environment; if necessary, we will deliver the file ready for printing at the printing house. We also prepare design layouts of brand carriers for application: uniforms, passes, banners, business cards, souvenirs, and so on. 

As a result, you receive a guide to action, with which the public will not notice that your SMM manager has changed, and the designer will not mess up with the colors. No matter who you collaborate with or where you present, your voice will be consistent and your visuals will be the same on all platforms. 

Testing and implementation

And now you have a brand book that is so perfect that you want to kiss the fingertips of the entire development team. The colors and fonts are beautiful, the tone of voice sounds better than Basta in “Olympic”. It seems that everything is ready to go. But no, you have one more very important step left: field testing. The simplest thing is to give simple tasks to team members:

• You can ask the designer to layout the banner according to the guide and share his impressions of how quickly he found the logo of the required size, main font, colors;

• copywriter - write a post on a social network using tone of voice to check whether it hit the right mood;

• manager - find a CP template, if after that there is silence or shouts in correspondence “where can I find the logo??”, then something went wrong. 

All problematic issues need to be finalized before the brand book falls into the hands of contractors. And when everything is agreed, it’s time to implement the document into work processes. To do this:

• assemble a team;

• go through the brand book, show what is where;

• consider common scenarios: how to layout a presentation, how to arrange a tender, etc.

Organize a document presentation offline, with coffee and goodies, conduct an online webinar, or discuss everything in a work chat. You can even create a Google Doc where all participants can leave comments for quick search. The method doesn’t matter here, the main thing is to make sure that the document is accepted for work and there are no more questions about it. And only after that you can send it to a freelance designer, production company or outdoor advertising studio. 

To prevent your brand book from getting stuck in 2025, schedule updates, for example, once every six months or once a year and assign someone responsible for them. Then you will always have the current version on hand. 

Brand book promotion

The last thing left to do is to increase the popularity of the brand book among the team and third-party performers. It may be like this: after testing and implementation, everyone nodded their heads, saved it in the working folder and went to work as usual. In order for employees to search for answers in a document like in Google, you need to create conditions for this. First: where is the brand book located? If it remains somewhere in correspondence or in subfolders called Final_Final_v27_ready_ok.pdf, the likelihood that it will be dug up every time in controversial situations tends to zero. You need convenient access: direct links to the brand book in each task, pinned in CRM or in the task manager, and so on, so as not to have to ask for a link every time. 

In addition, it is good if you have a person responsible for promoting the brand book: its ambassador, or “brand dad”. He will make sure that an up-to-date link to the document is included in the contractors’ terms of reference, in welcome letters to new employees, and will conduct training and debriefing: who made what mistake and why. 

In short, if you want something good, beautiful and clear the first time, choose Veonix. We will make a turnkey brand book, develop a corporate identity from scratch and teach you how to use it all.