Corporate Identity Guidelines
Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 9:31 am
A designer friend contacted me the other day to ask if I had done much work on corporate identity guidelines as she was trying to put something together for a client. It’s been several years since I have worked on any logo/corporate ID guidelines, but of course I have had to follow existing ones for projects I am working on for larger companies.
I did a quick google to see if there was any information about corporate guidelines and found a resource I thought could be very useful. At www.designerstalk.com they have a page with has loads of downloadable PDF files of different companies corporate ID guidelines which could be really helpful if you are trying to put something together yourself.
Also I have just found via David Airey’s logo design love another site with branding guideline examples
Category: General Graphic Design, logo design
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Comment by Tracey Grady
Made Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 12:48 pm
Thanks for the tip. I remember from a few years back that I found lots of corporate ID guidelines manuals just through Google, so that’s another avenue too.
Comment by Lucinda - eightyone design
Made Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 4:47 pm
Thanks for the resources.
I do find that the longer the guidelines the harder it is for clients to follow them. If they go on more than 3 or 4 pages then in my experience the client tends to ignore them. Have you had any experience of this or is it just my clients?!
Comment by Tara: Freelance Designer
Made Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 5:03 pm
HI Tracey
I remember finding a national charity’s guidelines that way, but I don’t think the local version of the charity knew they had any!
Hi Lucinda
I haven’t had to put together any for ages, but I know when you have to use them yourself its a nightmare when you have to read through a big brochure to see what you can and can’t do just to put together what should be a really simple A4 poster.
Comment by Gio
Made Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 6:38 pm
This is a great resource, thanks Tara! I’ve compiled a few ID standards before, but they’ve always been something I threw together without really knowing what the standard is for standards.
Now, is that website Designers Talk or Designer Stalk? ![]()
Comment by Tobias Wright
Made Wednesday, 30 of July , 2008 at 4:53 pm
Excellent. I am planning to put one together for my current company, and this is right on time.
Comment by Quote Catcher Website Design
Made Wednesday, 30 of July , 2008 at 9:08 pm
I have authored long detailed and specific corporate identity documents in the past, only to have them ignored or skimmed. I have found that creating a web page with the same content received a better response. Not sure why, perhaps people are so used to using online resources they have forgotten how to turn pages.
Comment by web design newbie
Made Friday, 1 of August , 2008 at 5:08 pm
Excellent post! Coming from a graphic design background into web design, this sure is a blast from the past. Some really awesome resources you’re sharing though, definitely adds value! Thanks for sharing!
Comment by Robert
Made Friday, 1 of August , 2008 at 10:57 pm
Thank you for the links. I haven’t done any ID guidlines before but it’s definitly worth exploring.
Comment by David Yates
Made Monday, 4 of August , 2008 at 4:02 pm
Another good tip from this site. Thanks. As soon as I have our rather old and nasty website redesigned, I will place a link back.
As someone who has put ID guides together on both sides of the client divide I have seen organisations big and small request these documents, tinker with them and often dismiss their value – certainly baulk at paying too much for them. Far better to get a rolling start from a ‘template;’ such as these than start from scratch, labour for days and receive little reward.
Comment by Polet
Made Sunday, 10 of August , 2008 at 3:56 am
Corporate logo is very crucial for a company because it reflects the over all image of one business.
Comment by Calidad ISO
Made Monday, 18 of August , 2008 at 4:55 pm
I bought a book about corporate ID, guidelines and Briefs a couple of years ago, and is the best thing I could have done. If someone is interested in getting back to paper and not just internet browsing
the book is “Designing Brand Identity” by Alina Wheeler, a must have from my point of view.
Comment by Aibal
Made Saturday, 23 of August , 2008 at 8:10 am
Thanks for the great links. You can never be careful enough when preparing these things. I’m going to forward these resources to a friend of mine that’s currently mulling over some guidelines..
Comment by Protection eau
Made Wednesday, 27 of August , 2008 at 4:38 pm
I haven’t heard about logo design love before… but it’s just great.
Comment by Macey
Made Tuesday, 9 of September , 2008 at 8:21 am
Excellent post! Coming from a graphic design background into web design, this is a blast from the past. Some really awesome resources you’re sharing though, definitely adds value! Thanks for sharing!
Comment by stellar
Made Wednesday, 15 of October , 2008 at 3:08 am
great insights.. thanks for sharing the link. i learned from it. I never knew it was that good. thanks!
Comment by web design newbie
Made Tuesday, 21 of October , 2008 at 9:55 pm
Hi Calidad, I read the book “Designing Brand Identity” by Alina Wheeler some while ago and it was excellent. Need to go and find it. Its always recommend to learn from those that have the experience
Comment by Mike X. - internet marketing strategies
Made Wednesday, 22 of October , 2008 at 8:13 pm
wow, thank you for the great resources.
I don’t need them but they will be very helpful to a friend of my who was recently promoted at his job.
Comment by Roger Hamilton
Made Tuesday, 28 of October , 2008 at 5:55 pm
Hey, thanks for the information. I’m still a little unsure of this and your post has allowed me to understand more on it! Thanks again!
Comment by Sean
Made Thursday, 30 of October , 2008 at 11:40 pm
Thanks for sharing, it’s good to learn about logo design.
Comment by John
Made Friday, 31 of October , 2008 at 3:51 am
Our corporation just rolled out a new logo. Ugly! ugh!
Comment by Graphic Design Wigan
Made Thursday, 6 of November , 2008 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for this resource, it is sites and blogs like this that help alot of new designers grasp the whole idea of graphic design.
Regards
Taz
Comment by Ted@ Security Certifications
Made Monday, 17 of November , 2008 at 2:58 am
Some great resources.
My biggest problem is that I try to do too much myself, without having the necessary expertise or experience designing logos or anything similar
Comment by Steve Rickmount
Made Tuesday, 18 of November , 2008 at 11:55 am
Logo designing expertise is something that hard to find. Very few people I know expert in this field.
Comment by design plumber
Made Tuesday, 18 of November , 2008 at 12:38 pm
These are really helpful, dose anyone know of any good sites for colour management and printing guidelines, in my job im really detached from the whole printing process, but im expected to have knowledge and get things right first time. I often waste hours sending artwork back and forth before it gets done right. Any advice?
Comment by Pamfruit
Made Tuesday, 18 of November , 2008 at 3:52 pm
It is always great to hear about new resources, thanks very much, keep them coming!
Comment by junaidy
Made Tuesday, 18 of November , 2008 at 5:32 pm
your blog is great!



