Branding and visual identity

A visual identity has five parts, and each has to work both on a phone screen and in print.

• the logo, in a colour version, a one-colour version and a white version for dark backgrounds, with a short mark for the profile picture and the site icon in the browser
• colours, each with a job, for example which one carries offers and which one technical content
• fonts, usually one for headings and one for body text
• graphic elements that repeat, such as frames, lines, icons or a shape taken from the logo
• photo style, for example whether you show people at work or the product on a clean background

Customers recognise a business through repetition. When they see the same colour and the same font on a business card, in an ad and on the site, after a few encounters they know whose post it is before they read the name.

That is why you also need a one-colour version of the logo for letterheads and invoices printed in black and white. Without it, whoever makes a document turns the logo grey themselves and gets a different shade every time.

We draw the logo as a vector, an image made of lines and curves that stays sharp at any size. A JPG stretched onto a two-metre sign gets blurry edges, and on a dark photo a white rectangle stays around the logo.

A brand book is a manual with the rules for the logo, colours, fonts and tone of voice, with an example next to every rule. The book we hand over has these sections:

• the brand story: who you are, who you work for and what sets you apart
• the clear space around the logo and the smallest size at which the logo still reads
• colours with codes for screen (HEX and RGB) and print (CMYK)
• fonts with sizes for headings, body text and prices, and where to get them
• tone of voice, with phrases the business uses and ones it avoids
• examples on the site, posts, stories and ads, and next to them the wrong use

Without a book, only the designer who came up with the rules knows them. When someone else takes over the posts, the business slowly starts to look different, and that is only noticed when two pieces end up side by side.

With the book we hand over the logo as a vector in SVG and PDF format and as a PNG with a transparent background, together with the source files. Ask for these files from anyone who makes your identity, from us or anyone else. If one is missing, ask for it straight away at handover, because a few years on even the designer usually no longer knows where the original drawing ended up.

The templates come with the book, and when we run your posts through social media management, we make posts with them month after month. That way the profile stays recognisable even when a customer scrolls back through it.

For a business that is just starting, with one or two channels, logo design with basic colours is enough. You need a whole visual identity when you appear in several places, such as your site, social and ads.

Between a visual identity and an identity with a brand book, you choose by who will make the posts and ads next month. Who is that for you?

If you make them yourself, you carry the rules in your head, so a visual identity and one page with the colour codes and fonts is enough. When posts and ads are made by several people or an outside contractor, written rules save you an argument over every post.

You also need the whole identity before web design, so the look is decided before the first page. A web designer without ready colours and fonts has to invent them, and a few months later the business has two identities that don't match.

The price is set mostly by the scope, that is how many of the four parts of branding we do. Right after that comes the number of formats we make templates and examples for.

A site header banner and a mobile banner are laid out as two separate compositions, because the same layout doesn't fit a narrow screen. Every extra format is therefore one more layout.

These questions also change the quote:

• whether we make a new identity or refresh an existing one
• whether the business already knows what sets it apart or we write that down together first
• whether you need several versions of the logo, for example for two lines of business or two locations
• whether the brand book also covers tone of voice
• how many revision rounds we agree

The number of templates is where you can save without risk. Start with the formats you post every week, and add the rest only when you first need them for an offer, a trade fair or a new location.

If you aren't sure branding is the first step at all, answer three questions and get a recommendation on where to start.