Guideline - what is it? Recently, this term has become increasingly used in everyday life. When literally translated from English, guideline means “line indicator, guide, guide.” Most often, this word means a collection or rules for the creation, use or logo.

Brand book in design and advertising

A brand book is an internal corporate document that contains sections dedicated to explaining the meaning of a brand for a particular company and its practical tasks for it. This is a kind of passport of standards regarding the use of the brand. The brand book necessarily includes a Logobook section, which outlines the principles of creating and using brand elements. Its basic components are color, font, symbol, graphic inscription. The standards passport contains data equated to and must be labeled “Top Secret” (or Top Secret, TS).

As a rule, the first section of the brand book contains a description of the main idea of the brand, the second is devoted to the rules for creating and using the brand, and the third justifies the canons of applying brand marks to advertising media.

Guideline as an integral part of modern design

A guideline is a guide that indicates the boundaries and possibilities of using the visual elements of a corporate brand or style, and their conceptual capabilities. It should contain a section with a clearly marked slogan, logo, details, and advertising message. It is especially important to consider the significance of this section in the field of design.

Main tasks of the guideline

The guideline contains detailed instructions for using variants of the corporate logo, color panel; structure of the block of the brand name, font options, style elements. It includes sections that cover, for example, maintaining corporate records, uniform style, advertising marketing, the use of corporate elements, and company merchandise.

The central place in this part of the corporate identity passport is given to the criteria of combining the logo and company motto, slogan, and contact information. Sections describing the rules for placing a company logo on documentation, attributes, uniforms, and vehicles are required.

The guideline and brand book are unique in each version. They can never be repeated in two different companies, even if they work in the same field, because their corporate identity standards and goals are different.

Guideline in medicine

The guideline will help you learn about the algorithm of a doctor’s actions regarding the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, as well as about new advances in medicine. What is this? This is the name of special clinical guidelines for medical professionals. They are regularly updated and published in specialized catalogs published by official international medical associations.

Guidelines in different areas of medicine

Treatment recommendations are created for each area of medicine. For example, a guideline on cardiology contains information on the treatment of heart diseases, the prevention of illnesses, and statistical data on the effectiveness of medications. Clinical guidelines related to cardiovascular therapy can be viewed in the catalogs of international medical associations (European Society of Cardiology, European Congress of Cardiology). The guideline is designed to help create a successful and cost-effective treatment regimen for the patient.

Urology also has its own clinical guidelines, the purpose of which is to analyze symptoms and prescribe effective treatment. These documents can be viewed in the catalogs of the same specialized global medical societies, for example the European Association of Urology (EAU), the European Society of Urology Residents (ESRU).

Historical aspect of creating medical guidelines

Guideline - what is it and how was it actually created? The first clinical guidelines were written primarily to confirm and justify evidence-based medicine at the beginning of the twentieth century. Before this, each doctor applied a treatment regimen, focusing only on his own opinion and experience. In the 80s The world medical community has developed the concept of evidence-based medicine (in English - evidence-based medicine). Its proponents, Susan and Robert Fletcher (who were mainly involved in clinical epidemiology), formulated a definition of this term.

This is the conduct of medical practice, which will be based strictly on the results of clinical studies of a particular disease. Everything that the doctor relied on before (experience, traditions, opinions of colleagues) has ceased to be authoritative.

British epidemiologist Archie Cochran in 1972 first proposed compiling and publishing medical reviews on the effectiveness of various treatment regimens for diseases. They should be based on a systematic collection and analysis of medical facts. Guidelines describe the relationship between treatment and outcome, and the cost-effectiveness of using certain medications.

Modern medical guideline - what is it? Now you know the answer to the question. He will provide you not only with an overview of the proven treatment regimen, but also with general recommendations for doctors, treatment and surgery protocols. Guides can be found in special printed publications.

Today, almost no one needs to explain what a logo is and why the company needs it. But, strange as it may seem, market research has shown that representatives of small and medium-sized businesses often believe that the creation of a company’s corporate identity is limited to the logo. On our own behalf, we can add that when we recommend to a client ordering the creation of a logo to invest a relatively small amount of money in creating a guideline, this causes, in the vast majority of cases, two common reactions. First: “I don’t know the meaning of this terrible word - guideline.” Second: “we don’t need any extra expenses at all, a logo is enough.”

From this moment, from this small “saving”, the entrepreneur begins to lose money, literally and regularly. And if you think that we are talking about some kind of secondary benefits, then this is not so. We are talking about real, direct financial losses, which after a relatively short period of time cover the initial cost of the guideline. I will tell you exactly how losses associated with the lack of a guideline arise in a few sentences below, but let me digress and remind you in just a few words about the essence of the guideline, the functions and purpose of this marketing tool.

The guideline is a necessary and very useful tool for real savings when promoting your products and services.

Guideline is a combination of words borrowed from English that literally means a guide to using the company’s corporate identity. The guideline describes exactly how, in what styles, on what media and in what composition identity elements can be applied. The guideline will “tell” about the correct arrangement of elements on packaging, business cards, letterhead, boxes, postcards - on any media.

Creating a corporate identity for a law firm

Entrepreneurs often try to save money on creating a guideline in order to reduce the cost part, reduce advertising costs, without even suspecting that without it, these costs will very soon increase. The allocated budget for the guideline is not a company expense, but an investment in its bright future - just like you buy an expensive and good car for a comfortable ride, instead of shaming yourself in a traffic jam on a rusty bucket, constantly investing in repairs and stuffing it with spare parts , which ends up being more expensive than if you took a normal car. Even if you take it out on credit and pay interest. The guideline (guideline for using a logo and corporate identity) is one of the pillars on which your company’s marketing strategy is based on the path to a successful financial future.

The guideline allows you to save nerves, time and money.

And in order to tell you what exactly causes the savings when investing in the guideline, and what exactly my unshakable confidence in all of the above is based on, I will tell the story of one of our clients. Of course, I won’t name names. I will only note that this is a fairly large trading company that approached us to create a discount plastic card. Our question about the existence of a guideline and the request to send it to us caused bewilderment on their part about such a question, and surprise on ours about its absence in such a fairly large organization. As a result, we asked to send us a logo and some other advertising materials in order to somehow get into the general outline of their corporate identity and make the highest quality product possible.

Recently, the presentation guideline service or presentation design guide has become increasingly popular. Read more on the Services page.

The variety of materials sent, their style and content can only be compared with a photograph of one of the shopping streets of some Chinese town. When thousands of assorted signs cover the sky, getting tangled in coils of electrical wires. It was especially surprising that each time they paid different (not always, to put it mildly, skilled designers) for the development of something that should be created and paid for once and only once and then taken care of and cherished - the creation of a corporate style, a general trend in the visual appearance of the company. Every person who has at least once encountered the search for personnel knows how difficult it is to find a worthy candidate. In the world of design, everything is absolutely the same, despite the fact that it is more complicated)) Here, on top of everything else, many less-than-brilliant designers have the raging passions and ambitions of Picasso or Dali, which can be simply impossible to curb. Therefore, in this context, the guideline can become a “life preserver”.

How much does it cost to do without a guideline?

This story ended with the fact that after the most cursory calculation of the amount of costs for creating “design chaos”, the company placed an order for a guideline and since then has had significant savings, without turning to us for a design for every request, but simply using ready-made solutions. Creating a guideline for the web can also be a profitable investment in business development. This is a document that describes visual solutions for all types of online brand communications, from the website to the design of posts on social networks.

The cycle of “design chaos”. Every advertising campaign, coverage of every new promotion or special offer without a guideline means going through this chain of creating advertising materials again and again.

To summarize all of the above, I want to note that the guideline is a necessary and very useful tool for real savings when promoting your goods and services. It's like flying on an airplane instead of walking along unknown dusty paths, always losing your way. All advertising experts are unanimous in their opinion about the need for a company to have, if not a brand book, then at least a guideline. So as not to be like the company described above, which for a long time was losing money where it should have been in the black. Earn a good image, reputation, clients. Earn more money. And sometimes you just need to look a little beyond the every-second investment, understand that it’s needed, pick up the phone or contact us through the website and do what should have been done a long time ago. Start earning more. To be better, more successful.

How much does a guideline cost?

We offer three ready-made cases for creating a guideline:

You receive all materials in the required format for professional printing and placement on various media on a flash drive, with which you can contact any printing house to order printed materials. Or if it is necessary to create new booklets, leaflets, etc. You just need to insert the necessary information into a pre-made template. Agree, this simple work can already be entrusted to anyone, but from us you can order the corporate identity itself.

"Economy" Suitable for startups with minimal investment in advertising. At the same time, you need to understand that, having gone through the first stage of entering the market, one way or another you will have to worry about creating a fully functional guideline. However, at first, this will help save your advertising budget.

"Standard"– the most optimal solution for any type of business. It will allow you not to return to the topic of expenses for creating advertising materials for a long time. Simply insert the desired text into the ready-made blocks of a leaflet, presentation or exhibition layout and the layout is ready.

"All inclusive"– a complete set of key elements for building a strong brand.

What if you already have a logo and just want to create a corporate identity and guidelines for it?

Our many years of practice have confirmed the opinion of the best designers that in most cases, it is impossible to create a corporate identity for an existing logo. As a rule, a logo created in isolation from the corporate style does not contain key elements that can be worked with, from which a visual identification system can be built. Therefore, in such situations, we offer logo restyling (creation and updating of visual brand attributes). This will not only refresh your company's image, but will also be the first step towards building a strong brand position.

The image of famous brands like Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola is formed not only by their products, but also by the logo, font, certain colors and other components of the company’s corporate identity. It is also important how these elements are used in real life and what values they reflect. This is regulated by internal documents of companies - brand books and guidelines. Look At Me figured out why such guidelines for using corporate identity are needed and selected 10 interesting examples of such publications.

Why do we need brand books?
and guidelines

Typically, a brand book describes the company’s values, its goals, marketing strategies and other characteristics that make the brand different from others. In addition, an important internal document is the guideline - a collection of rules governing the use of the logo, fonts, corporate colors and other visual identifiers of the brand.

However, often (especially in small companies) these technical standards are included in the brand book: in this case, it sets out both the company’s mission and reflects the visual components of the brand.

10 brand books and guidelines
famous companies

In 2011, a book was published about how Lufthansa’s corporate identity was changing.- one of the largest airlines in the world, founded in 1926. Its visual image was formed in the 1960s: then the identity for the company was developed by the German graphic designer Otl Aicher, who also created the design for the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. Eicher's design is considered one of the best corporate identities developed in the 20th century. The book Lufthansa and Graphic Design: Visual History of an Airline shows how the airline's identity has changed throughout its history. The book also includes a guideline developed by Eicher in 1963.

British Airways, like many other companies, has a brand book combined with a guideline: their “book” contains a description of the core values of the brand, its brief history and guidelines for using elements of the brand identity. True, the rules for using a logo, corporate colors and fonts occupy most of the book - the 100-page guideline contains tables and detailed explanations.

The graphic design of the Olympic Games in Montreal, created by designers Georges Huel and Pierre-Yves Pelletier, is considered one of the most successful, along with the identity of the Olympics in Munich and Mexico City. In 1976, a detailed guideline was also published, which, like souvenirs from the Olympic Games in Montreal, is still sought after by collectors.

In 1986, at the request of Steve Jobs, famous designer and art director Paul Rand created a logo for NEXT. To explain his thought process and the logo he created, Rand created a logo-book. It explained how to use the designed logo. Jobs liked this book so much that he gave it as a souvenir.

Use the sliders below to tell us about your brand and we'll translate it into the main logo color.

Feminine

Courageous

Serious

Luxurious

Accessible

Classical

Modern

Youth

Muted

Your main logo color is red, a universal sign of excitement, passion, anger and sexuality. Looking for a loud, playful, youthful or modern color? Red is your path.

Do you think that white is the absence of color? White the color of youth and thriftiness, but can work for almost any brand. As a neutral color, consider white as secondary accent.

You have a logo color. Fabulous! We recommend using it as the main color in your logo design to express your brand's personality.

But remember, you are not limited to just one logo color. Choosing a primary color with two or three accent colors can highlight other brand features. Additionally, if your brand has a variety of products, complementary colors are a great way to differentiate them.