NOTE: this is in no way the only way to start building your brand platform. You do you, and whatever works for you, great!
But for those not sure how or where to start, here's a 5-step roadmap to get a jump-start on developing a strong foundation for your brand management platform.
1. Write down the rules
A good starting point to start building your brand platform are the actual design guidelines and principles. It's the first thing your design team or agency should look at before designing anything, to make sure they stay on-brand when creating new assets.
Make sure you have some basic rules for at least the following brand elements:
- logo
- fonts
- colour palette
- graphic elements (if you use any)
- iconography
- photography
This way creatives have the right building blocks to continue building your brand consistently with your existing identity.
2. Add some assets
Once you have your basic guidelines down, it's time to upload the actual assets you've been talking about so your design team has everything they need to get creative.
Make sure they have at least:
- All logo versions
- All used fonts
- Colour codes in CMYK, Pantone, HEX, and RGB
- Graphic elements
- All existing icons
- All photos
Bonus: Now you can also go back to your design guideline pages and add a download package for each design element.
3. Set up your strategy
Now that the design aspects for your creatives have been set up, it's time to dive into the strategic guidelines. They are the foundation of your entire brand, the way you communicate and serve as extra inspiration for designers. Generally, it will consist of 2 parts, your brand strategy and your brand voice.
Your band strategy should include your:
- Purpose
- Vision & mission (Optional)
- Positioning
- Brand promise
- Core values
While your brand voice consists of your:
- Personality (archetype)
- Tone of voice with character traits
- Brand story / manifesto
- Tagline
4. Bring in your people
Now that the core of your brand platform is ready, it's time to start creating your user groups with custom rights and permissions for each one. User groups make sure not every single asset can be seen or changed by everyone, instead you get a couple of levels of clearances depending on how sensitive the information is to your organization.
Once you've set up the user groups, invite other employees or external partners to the platform and assign them the correct user group.
5. The work is never done
Great! The core of your brand platform is up and running.
Just remember the work is never done, as there are always extra assets or guidelines to add.
The next step is to sit down with your marketing and design team to go over the platform and find the gaps that still need to be filled up over the next couple of weeks or months.