According to reports from various market sources, on average consumers are exposed to between 6,000 and 10,000 ads every day.

For companies, this saturation of advertising forces them to rely heavily on systematic visual identity solutions to help ensure their corporate brand identity remains recognisable. There are more than 35,000 editable templates available for use in the design marketplace; however, internal marketing departments are still struggling to manage their assets and create versions of marketing assets for governance purposes. In order to identify the operational rules that, if adhered to, prevent production delays, this article is a structural analysis of 10 leading corporate identity frameworks and brand kit examples.

Through a dissection of the successful commercial systems, it will provide organisations with a template for establishing a scalable asset management architecture.

How a Brand Kit Works in Real Life

Many marketing departments do not differentiate between a brand style guide and a working asset library.

A brand style guide provides the theoretical framework for corporate identity, including the corporate mission, tone of voice, and the abstract concepts that underlie the company's visual identity system. A working asset kit is the actual toolkit for implementing campaigns and consists of the actual files, colour codes, and primary logo variations needed to implement a campaign. When poorly combined, these two functions create operational drag.

The functional system must provide users with three items immediately when they open it. First, it must clarify which asset to use within each channel. Second, it must stipulate the absolute limitations of how an asset may be used. And third, it must provide users with a direct download link to an approved file. If a freelance designer or internal media buyer must send you an email request for a logo file, your operational system has failed.

The core value of an asset library is not an aesthetic perfection. It's about consistency and speed. The purpose of having a strict visual architecture is to provide a universal point of reference for internal teams, outside agencies and vendor partners to create their work without having to continually receive approvals. Approval cycles represent unnecessary expenses. The systems must eliminate entire approval cycles.

Rules for Colors and Fonts

The need for mathematical precision in visual systems cannot be overstated. Requiring a team to adhere to "corporate blue" does not furnish any meaningful guidance for creating their work.

Your system must define the exact hexadecimal colour (HEX) code to use when working on digital screens and video, the red-green-blue (RGB) values to be used when creating video formats, the cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) percentages to be used for standard print applications, and the Pantone colour matching number to be used for producing physical merchandise. Each system must also define the hierarchy of typography. 

The exact typeface to be used as the main heading, the typeface to be used for body copy and the fallback typefaces to be used when the main typeface cannot load in a web browser must be specified.

In addition, secondary elements must have a similarly rigourous classification system. If illustrations are used by your organisation, the exact weight of the lines, colour palette, and viewing angles must be specified. The same is true for standard, industry-recognised icons that share common grid systems. Providing visual elements to your team as "rough suggestions" will result in visual assets that will likely result in inconsistent positioning within the marketplace.

Organizing Your Files

Most businesses lose control of their visual assets due to inadequate file management practices. A centralised library of digital assets must be established. Within this library, file naming conventions should be established to prevent previously used and outdated assets from reaching the marketplace.

To be correct, a good file naming convention must include the name of the brand, the type of asset, the specific type of asset, the colour space, the file format, and the version number. A correct example would be "Brand_Symbol_Primary_B/N_SVG_V3". Using this type of specificity will eliminate all ambiguity associated with file names. The designated owner of the database will establish an official archival method for old logos so that they are no longer floating around on shared drives. New variations of logos will be created from existing logos and formally archived.

10 Brand Kit Examples from Real Companies

When assessing real-world brands, we can see how many approaches to using visual rules are taken from corporate entities within their respective business models. Our evaluation of each of the ten business models from the previous section illustrates the distinctions between graphic design and true business logic.

1. Spotify

Digital products require a system of identity to accommodate rapidly changing interfaces. As a result, the major audio retailer is strictly adhering to guidelines governing the marketing of audio products via visual identification.

In fact, every visual identity created by Spotify is directly aligned with a specific platform use case. Every visual identity created by Spotify has very specific rules governing the following:

• Minimum size required for use as an icon.

• Required contrast for background vs foreground.

Spotify does not treat their logo as an isolated graphic element. Instead, they treat it as a component of their user interface; therefore, they have clear definitions of the rights allocated to individuals and entities who promote the Spotify brand through media channels. In this way, the digital brand can effectively manage a large number of artist partnerships and legal claims, making it one of the best brand kit examples for digital products.

Businesses can learn from Spotify that a digital company must have a primary logo that can be easily recognized on a mobile device. This requires precise pixel size and precise clear space calculations to ensure legibility.

2. NASA

NASA created one of the most comprehensive institutional identity manuals in 1976 known as the NASA Graphics Standards Manual.

This manual contains more than 200 pages of material concerning the following:

• Identification

• Typography

• Signage

• Vehicle markings

• Uniform specifications

The NASA Graphics Standards Manual is still considered the definitive resource on establishing and maintaining environmental control.

Start-ups may benefit from reviewing the NASA Graphics Standards Manual to better understand how not to model your small business. Start-ups do not need to create a large volume of rules.

For instance, the production of a manual of this size for a small SaaS organization will likely waste financial resources. NASA sets an example for absolute consistency across all physical places, but NASA's level of scale/size is very large and therefore can only be achieved by a very large, decentrally based organization like NASA.

3. Hulu

Media companies working with consumers have a difficult balance between creating visually appealing branding and marketing campaigns that are effective.

Hulu has an extensive, written reference book that outlines all of Hulu's product design and UI icons, along with the tone of voice of each advertising campaign, and what the layout should be for each type of advertising campaign.

The brand identity framework of Hulu connects the static visual identity, which is used in advertising campaigns, directly to the user product experience. The use of green as a branding color and the specific typography of Hulu are both used in advertising campaigns for Hulu as well as in the streaming interface of Hulu itself. By connecting the two areas, Hulu creates a seamless user experience from advertisement through to the use of the software.

4. Yelp

Component-based design systems are very advantageous to software as a service companies. Yelp takes an approach to organizing their brand assets similar to what a "cookbook" is to cooking. They view the visual ingredients as being the raw visual assets and the "recipes" to recreate and re-use the visual assets again and again.

Yelp's component-based visual system includes colors, fonts, user ratings, alerts and interface buttons.

The cookbook analogy gives a useful operational tool for non-designers to understand the logic behind visual logic and helps to expedite the product development and marketing timeline by providing a pre-approved set of visual components that the developer can use without having to wait for the graphic designer to approve the layout.

5. Slack

Technology brands often have difficulty in retaining a professional look while still being perceived as having a corporate personality, but Slack does an exceptional job of doing so by defining their tone of voice, along with the visual assets of their brand.

Slack's resource center establishes guidelines for logo use, colors, icons, typography, and the formation of their emojis and illustrations.

Slack maintains a strict regulation of how to use the bright color palette of their brand. They provide a clear and definitive way for their designs to be created, so there is no risk that their playful expressions become too chaotic or unprofessional. Companies that create communities around products and services will benefit from establishing a specific and consistent style guide for creating illustrations (and emojis if applicable). This ensures that any external communication will have a coherent and unified look and feel.

6. Shopify

Theoretical design gets shot down because of production limitations, which is why Shopify does an excellent job at recognising and preparing for physical and digital production limitations before they actually happen. The Shopify design framework is ready to accept exceptions. There is a primary logo for both light and dark backgrounds within the framework, and also an extensive list of monotone alternative logos for restricted printing conditions.

Shopify has developed very specific and detailed guidelines for third-party trademark use because they anticipate that most external vendors will mismanage the usage of their brand assets.

By providing examples of improper usage and specifying the minimum amount of clear space needed to maintain a proper trademark, Shopify has help to eliminate the majority of vendor misuse. Shopify provides a great example of the value in anticipating potential pitfalls as compared to designing for perfect conditions from the outset, serving as one of the best brand kit examples.

7. Airbnb

While many visual systems heavily favour vector graphics, they often overlook the requirements and standards for the visual representation of products.

Airbnb is an example of how important photography is in an image-driven marketplace. Specific rules for how to represent authentic images of individuals and what constitutes an appropriate image, cropping, and other contextual elements of an image are defined within the Airbnb system.

The company's entire revenue model is based on the promotion of travel imagery, so they certainly do not want to portray themselves with heavily altered or artificially produced images. The guidelines developed by Airbnb provide direction to ensure that every image has a look and feels like it is part of the Airbnb brand. As a result, any business seeking to promote physical items or real estate locations should have strict photography standards outlined in the assets that they create.

8. Google

Because Google is such a large company, there is a need to establish legal protections within their visual framework.

The Google Brand Resource Center has very little to do with inspiring design and everything to do with how you can use the Google brand. The Google Brand Resource Center outlines the ways in which Google allows other companies to imply an endorsement of their products or services. It provides the framework for licenses to promote their brand and outlines the ways in which Google does and does not allow the alteration of Google’s primary assets or the unauthorized use of the Google name on products.

The purpose of this system is to create a legal defence system that protects the Google brand itself. The first thing to remember is that the Google visual asset (i.e. logo) is primarily a legal trademark and secondly, a design element.

9. TEDx

The TEDx programme (TEDx.org) requires parent brands to have a modular structure. TEDx has to maintain worldwide recognition of its brand but at the same time allow for the flexibility of thousands of local event organisers to market themselves.

TEDx’s branding guidelines control the naming of local events and strictly enforce the use of Ted Red and a defined charcoal grey as the only brand colours for all TEDx events. TEDx allows for local adaptations of its brand within a controlled template format. The TEDx modular structure proves that strict central control and local adaptation can co-exist provided the parameters are mathematically-based.

10. Medium

Medium, as a corporate entity, faces serious risks with version control and the introduction of multiple versions of an identity.

Medium has changed its identity multiple times. Medium’s documentation does an excellent job of defining the primary logo, wordmark, and stand-alone symbol. However, more importantly, with regard to rebranding, an operator must manage the old assets when they are being re-branded.

While Medium does a good job of outlining how to define clear space and contrast rules; the underlying lesson is that, when you re-brand, you must aggressively archive old assets. You cannot allow the old and new guidelines to exist at the same time. If you allow both to exist at the same time, you are creating an environment for external vendors to download and publish the old assets. When they do this, they destroy the consistency of the marketplace.

Rules for Small Businesses

Usually, enterprise manual systems are the discussion topic of large company manuals. Emulating their enterprise systems is detrimental to small teams within these companies. For instance, a Series "A" software company or a regional agency would require a lean, functional guide of approximately 5 to 15 pages long. In contrast, creating a massive 100-page operation manual will result in a guide that no one will read.

Begin by identifying your essential requirements to match the best brand kit examples. Create an exact definition of your logo in various vector file formats (e.g., SVG and PNG) and ensure you create your primary color codes in a color hierarchy. Next, find a web-safe font that matches your brand and choose a basic fallback web-safe font.

Next, provide examples of marketing material templates. For example, create a standard-sized email header, a standard social media image, and a unified presentation deck. The goal of creating these examples is to lock in on the 20% of your visual assets being produced that produce 80% of your productivity. Anything outside of these examples is subject to experimentation.

If these core assets are not enforced strictly, your employees will stretch logos to fit their presentation slides, pick random colors from their desktop dropper tools, and select any font they think looks "creative." By creating a minimum viable system with restricted access to experimental options, you will eliminate that guessing game.

Testing Your Brand Guidelines

Creating the asset library is only the first step in this process. The asset library as a system must be able to withstand real production demands. Just because a file folder has been organized, does not mean the visual system behind it is operational; the visual system must be subjected to real-world stress-testing, so unknown rules or broken access protocols can be identified.

To validate a visual system is functional, it must have performed a standard task without verbal instructions. To validate a visual system is functional, variables should be isolated from each other. Supply the asset library to a newly hired contractor or junior employee who has not been exposed to any historical information about the company; direct that individual to utilize only the documentation supplied to create a digital ad or printed brochure.

• Determine how long it took to locate the correct file format.

• Count how many times during the review process a technical correction request was generated.

• Document instances of background/foreground contrast ratios that are inaccessible and/or typography that is unreadable.

• Track whether or not the contractor successfully utilized both a dark and light background without additional guidance.

If the contractor cannot locate the high-resolution file, then your logical storage system is broken. If the contractor places dark text on a dark background, your application rules are too broad. Document the failure points and then update your documentation using mathematics.

Replace broad terms such as, "leave some space" with, "30 pixels minimum margin," and replace terms like, "use a dark blue," with the exact hexadecimal value associated with dark blue. By establishing accuracy through measurement and iteration, a static guide can become a dynamic production engine.

Why Speed is the Best Measure of Success

Visual identity management is not a matter of creativity, it is indicative of risk mitigation and supply chain velocity.

The data clearly shows that the most successful corporate identity systems and brand kit examples emphasize asset accessibility and mathematical accuracy of documentation in contrast to the quantity of documents produced. Reliance on complex and verbose manuals unnecessarily decreases production speed as operators must wade through irrelevant or unnecessary aesthetic philosophies to uncover the simple hex code. Organizations can eliminate repetitive approval loops that drain marketing budgets through implementation of strict version control, definitive naming conventions for files, and exception handling constraints.

The only appropriate measure of success in developing a visual structure is the ability of an external operator to produce a flawless and fully compliant file with no additional instruction.