What is a corporate brandbook and why do most developing companies need it?

In the past the term “brandbook” is understood as a detailed description of the rules and recommendations for creating layouts of visual products with company symbols. By corporate style is meant the corpus of all the elements, indicating belonging to a company. In creating a corporate image of the company there is no insignificant details, every millimeter and every nuance is taken into account. Any deviations, distortions and independent color solutions, which differ from those prescribed in the manual, are a violation of corporate identity. In brief, the brand book – is a set of technical requirements for designers engaged in creating original layouts, as well as executors, engaged in the material implementation of branded products.

The content of the brandbook depends on the characteristics and scale of the firm’s production. Brandbook is not regulated by State Standards and other generally accepted obligatory standards, it can be serious and laconic, like, for example, for large companies producing cars, or technical equipment, or designed in a playful form, like that of software for communication and video calls Skype.

But even in spite of this freedom in the design of the brandbook, there are certain compulsory standards. The simplest brandbook should contain:

• information about the brand colors, their combinations;
• The logo and its geometry;
• The logo, its text and colors;
• variations of the corporate background;
• information on basic and additional corporate fonts;
• examples of all sorts of branded products and advertising designs.

The brand book itself is also a polygraphic product, to a certain extent, an advertising product. It is also designed according to its own description. Brandbook layout is a time-consuming and responsible task, because the subsequent success of the company among potential clients and employees depends on its quality, so the creation of a brandbook, as a rule, do not save money and never entrust this task to amateurs.

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The science that studies color, color combinations, contrasts and harmony, the peculiarities of human perception of color, color language and culture, is called colorism. Also the influence of color on moods and feelings of a man is studied in detail in psychology. Selecting colors for advertising design is always a laborious process. It is necessary to achieve the right accents and combinations, not only to attract the attention of the potential customer to your product/service, but also to memorize it for a long time.
In advertising, color performs a list of indispensable functions. Besides attracting attention, it causes understanding of the offered goods/services, increases memorability of advertising, highlights its most important components, emphasizes the positive features of the product, creates a positive attitude towards the advertisement and the product in general.

How does it work?

• Full-color printed promotional items attract attention more than monochrome, even if they have a laconic design.
• Color memory allows us to quickly recognize goods by the color of packaging, for example the design of packaging for mint gum often contains shades of green, and in search of berry tea we will look for packaging with red, pink, purple shades.
• Color great helps to remember the ad. According to statistics, black and white ads are remembered by 40% of the audience, two-color – 45%, and full color – up to 70%.
• Visible color images, such as photos, graphics, will help to clearly articulate the image of the proposed product.
• Color solutions knowingly guide customers to the prices. Elements of silver, gold, a combination of black and red, blue and silver, purple or green and gold hint in advance at the class of the goods and the status of the manufacturer.

Next, we will present the specific effects of colors in different advertising contexts

RED is the clear market leader in advertising. It evokes a strong emotional response, builds up the consumer’s resolve and urges him/her to immediately buy the product/use the service. If your company does not intend to appeal so openly to customers, you can use shades of red, they cause a more sensible reaction. Purple and burgundy symbolize sophistication and solidity, pink – tenderness. In color combinations, red should be left to lead, so your ads will be remembered better.

YELLOW is one of the solar colors. Stimulates the brain and eyesight, creates an atmosphere of warmth and coziness, increases mood. Yellow is the lightest color in the spectrum, placing promotional text yellow on a dark background will be equally well readable at long distances and not very. As a rule, yellow is used in advertising for children’s products, entertainment, recreation.

GREEN most often symbolizes products and services related to health and areas of medicine, biology, ecology. Psychologists find shades of green soothing and relaxing. That is why green is often used as a background or for logos of medical institutions. If, for example, to serve ads for medical services in shades of red or black, it will seem unconvincing, as in this context, red will be subconsciously associated with blood, and black with grief. In shades of green, the reaction will be spared fear and anxiety.

BLUE symbolizes serenity, peace, and tranquility. Details of blue in promotional products will not catch the eye immediately, but they are guaranteed not to cause aversion.

WHITE is the symbol of purity, the symbol of the beginning. White is the standard background for all promotional products. It does not cause emotions, does not call for purchase.

BLACK is the main color in typography. It is the most suitable for readability of almost any font. Black underlines refinement and gives a sense of mystery in some contexts. Using the technique of “consistent contrast”, all colors can be made richer simply by placing them on a black background. The main thing is for them to be really contrasting. At the same time, do not put a lot of text on a black background, reading will be very tedious.

Of course, what color to choose and what associations it may evoke depends largely on the context, but at the same time, ridiculously chosen color can kill even the most “selling” advertising text.

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Today it’s very easy to pick up and order the paper you need, or use the help of a printing company in this matter. Design cardboard has a wide range of colors and textures, it is beautiful by itself, for it does not need to come up with a lot of design elements. Among other things, the choice of designer cardboard as a material for business cards, it is a bet not only on the visual perception of the recipient, but also on the tactile. It’s hard to find on the shelves of stationery and art stores, so trust me, your business card recipients will be surprised.

2. EMBOSSING

A business card with a printed logo and text is easy, but if you want something out of the ordinary, place all the information you need on your business cards using the embossing technique. To do this, you need to choose the most appropriate color of foil and order the cliché. Most likely, the printer will do all this independently, following your specifications. In the finished form you receive a business card with embossed images and text, in addition, you can choose glossy, or matte foil, gold and silver colors, with various effects (such as gradient colors, the effect of broken glass, etc.). In addition to foil stamping, you can try blind stamping and relief stamping.

4. EXECUTION

A little magic can be added to your business card with a die cut. With its help you can make a carved ornament or pattern, to make a non-standard shape of a business card, add interesting shaped elements. By virtue of the existing codes and rules of layout of business cards, die cutting for their production is not often used. But have the rules ever become an obstacle for a creative person. This option is suitable for artists, individuals and organizations that provide services and products in the field of creativity.

5. NON-STANDARD MATERIALS

No less surprising for the recipient can become a business card made of wood, plastic, metal, handmade cardboard. Imposing images on such business cards is carried out in different ways: burning, imprinting with paint, carving, decoupage, UV printing. All these processes are much more time-consuming and the cost of circulation is much higher. Handmade, after all.

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