5 golden rules to ensure consistent branding

One of the biggest challenges of a new branding project is ensuring your design is consistent across all platforms, touch points and territories. The worst mistake you can make is to create a brand that is impossible and impractical for the client to implement and use. So how do you do create the perfect branding in an increasingly complex world? Here are five tips from leading designers…

01. Coherence, not consistency

Rolling out a brand across different touch points and territories is less about consistency and more about coherence. It’s about having a set of core brand elements to draw upon and flex across multiple brand channels , rather than just having a logo in the top left hand corner of everything.

02. Avoid impractical brands

Designers shouldn’t limit their thinking with practicalities, but they do need to remember that at some point a brand will have to be used by the client to create PowerPoints, word templates, and so on. Ignoring this point will only come back to haunt you later down the line.

03. Consider digital early

Digital applications can be some of the biggest hurdles when it comes to brand consistency. “For some reason they are often regarded as their own niche without approaching them in a more holistic way.” “[Digital] is often boxed off as a separate exercise – it should be the opposite. Early involvement of digital designers or teams is crucial to avoid this problem.”

04. Take a principled approach

Taking a more principled approach to graphic design is key in achieving consistency across touch points. “So rather than a rule book that tells you how to apply the brand in a given situation, think much more about principles.” “It’s about giving inspiration to designers to understand the best way that they can apply the brand to any situation.”

05. Build the ultimate toolkit

Brand guidelines are still the ultimate tool to keep branding consistency. “Goal is to help clients understand that consistency builds recognition, and recognition leads growth.” “The brand is not only solely based on a logo, so it’s important to map out all the possible touch points, and from there establish all necessary guidelines.”