(This blog article was updated on 2 January 2018.)
When you start your own business, there comes a point when you say "I need a logo". In most cases, what you mean is: you need a professional look for your business. (See my video titled "Logo vs. Corporate Design".)
But what do you really get, when you order a "professional look for your business"?
After finalising a corporate design for my clients, they receive a whole bunch of design assets, put together in a nice folder structure:
I Logo pixel: for the uncomplicated usage by non-graphic-designers and for social media platforms
I 4c (colour) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I 1c white (white) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I 1c black (blacm) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I Logo vector: for the professional usage and unlimited scalability without quality loss
I 4c (colour) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I 1c white (white) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I 1c black (blacm) in print colour mode CMYK and in screen colour mode RGB or HEX
I Fonts: Files incl. license of the fonts defined in the design concept, for installing on the client’s computer.
I Colour codes: The exact codes in CMYK and RGB or HEX of the colours defined in the corporate design.
I Secondary style elements: These can be different things that are necessary to perfectly implement the branding into practice (i.e. graphic shapes, background layers for brochures, design elements for social media etc.). Secondary style elements are often derived from the logo and can repeatedly be found in many communication materials. An example is the vertical line in my logo that you see in my social media posts, in my whitepapers or videos.
I Print data: Print-ready PDF files for letterhead, business cards, envelopes, poster etc. (depending on what the client orders).
I Social media: All design assets for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Youtube can be provided on demand (like profile pictures, banner pictures, templates for social media posts).
I Website: Design assets needed for the website can be found in this sub-folder: special buttons, bars or other design elements.
I Picture language – examples: If the client works with a lot of picture material, it can make sense to use a certain pre-defined picture language or also a pre-set colour layer on top of the photos. This sub-folder contains examples.
In addition to this folder structure, my clients also get a corporate design manual as a PDF file. This brand style guide has about 10 to 25 pages, depending on how complex the branding is. This brand guide explains the entire design concept in an easy language, so that clients can work with all design assets correctly. This allows for a flexible, thus correct usage of the corporate design and the design can grow with the business.
Apart from that, my clients stay independent from me in future; this way, all clients stay independent from branding agencies. Even though, almost all corporate design clients come back to me when they need something (what I appreciate of course), they can work with other graphic designers or with their own in-house graphic department too, because they are provided with the brand style guide.
By the way: I was awarded with the quality seal "Qualitätsstandards Corporate Design" by the initiative corporate design, which is only given to branding agencies that work in compliance with pre-defined minimum standards in terms of branding quality.
Find out more about how I create a corporate design here.