Why are Brand Guidelines Usually so Crap?

Most brand guidelines are a barren set of creative and design rules used to police a brand at the end of the process. At OSSC, we see them differently.

Having just completed extensive brand guidelines for one of Australia’s largest renewables companies and a major road safety body, it struck me—most brand guidelines suck. But the thing is, they don’t have to. In fact, I would argue that properly completed, brand guidelines are one of the most important documents in an organisation.

Let me explain what I mean. Most brand guidelines are a barren set of creative and design rules (logos and colours, etc.) used to police a brand at the end of the process (doing creative work). At OSSC, we see them differently.

Firstly, good guidelines are for everyone involved in the company, including external stakeholders and partners. We start at the beginning with the business and competitive strategy and engage the business on what success looks like. The brand is a tool to achieve business strategy. I’m going to shorthand the process we use for the sake of time, but basically, we research the business, the category, the people, industry papers, etc.

This business understanding goes into forming the brand strategy. The brand strategy is clearly outlined, including key personas both internal and external. Who are we talking to? What do they know? What do we want them to know? How do they usually best receive information? You get the idea. The strategy and the personas go into making the brand molecule. It’s a summation of who the brand is strategically, all wrapped up nicely and neatly on a page.

From there we move to the Brand Story. We look at this as a handoff between creative and strategy. It’s taking the strategy and making it accessible to anyone who picks it up. It is written in the brand tone of voice and should come across as a human-to-human narrative. In it, we look at where the brand started, where we are now, and where we are going. We usually wrap this up in a sentence which is a brand statement. Some clients use this as a tagline, but for others, it is just a unification of purpose.

Then we are deep into the creative. It’s just so important that the creative follows the brand strategy, which follows the business strategy. Pretty designs are nice, but purpose beats all. Most of the document here not only sets out how the brand acts and reacts, but we explain why and link back to our brand and business goals. I won’t go into too much detail, but a good brand guideline is a really good read. It unifies the company and brand team, it helps the client keep the brand on track and grow it. Importantly, it should be a massive asset for agencies as it removes the subjectivity around the actions of the brand, which often leads to wasting time on presenting things that are off-brand.

Wow, reading back, I realise it seems we are brand guideline nerds. And hey, maybe we are. Or maybe it’s just that we’ve seen the power they have to strengthen a client and provide clarity to agency partners. Let me know if you want a peek at some of the ones we’ve created.

What about you? What are the best or worst brand guidelines you’ve seen?