The Case for the Branding Board
We recently started creating branding boards (aka Style Guides) for clients as part of website design projects and have realized what an indispensable tool they are. The overall end result is a very cohesive branding image that extends well beyond the website. The branding board is essentially a design guide that identifies the company’s key branding ingredients. These guides can be distributed to anyone involved in creating materials for the company – from business cards to social media imagery.
Key elements of the branding board include:
- Color palette: should incorporate 1-3 primary colors plus 2 or more secondary colors
- Typefaces: Headings, Body and Accent font families as well as bold or italic variations
- Logo variations: vertical or horizontal options, social media variations, black and white version
Other optional elements:
- Icon sets
- Button: style (squared, rounded, etc.) and color
- Tone of Voice: a descriptive definition like playful, conservative, etc.
