Business Branding Guide: An Introduction to the World of Branding

1. Course Trailer: Welcome to the course 'Business Branding Guide, an Introduction to the World of Branding. In this world full of brands, It's often true that most of us use the words branding and brand identity interchangeably. A similar confusion is observed in the case of brand identity and logo design as well. When we talk about a huge brand, the list of such important but often confusing words goes way beyond just the brand name or the brand logo. As a result, it's very important for a brand identity designer or any business owner in general to have good clarity on all such terms. In this course, we will get to learn what the different terminologies related to branding are and a brief introduction to what they generally mean. We'll start with understanding the meaning of the terms brand and branding. We'll then take a look at the different qualities of an effective brand name and tagline along with real-world examples of famous brands. Then we'll understand how the brand identity is much more than just the logo of the brand. And understand how the verbal aspect of the brand is as important as its visual aspects. We will analyze what brand beliefs are and also look into the business stuff like the brand's mission, vision, brand strategy, and brand ideals. we'll then dive into something called brand archetypes and how they would help give a brand a human-like personality. Thereby making the brand much more relatable and trustworthy for the target audience. Not just these, we will also explore all the jargon that's related to the world of branding, like brand architecture, brand advertising, brand endorsement, and brand licensing. We'll end the course with something very important known as the brand guidelines. As part of the course, I've also included a fun project, which I'll talk about towards the end. Last but certainly not least, do checkout all the resources shared along with this course, which will help you better understand the course and also act as simple guides for your future reference. 2. Brand & Branding: Let's start with what do you mean by a brand and how does a business or a company turn into a brand? Well, most of us often assume that a brand is either the business' logo or the company's name. But in reality, a brand is the feeling that a viewer or a potential customer of the business experiences when they come across the business and their products. It's essentially how the company and its products are perceived by the people. A strong brand clearly stands out in a densely crowded marketplace. Any particular brand has three primary functions - The first one is that as we are exposed to a wide variety of choices, brands help consumers make this difficult choice, relatively easy, acting as a clear means of navigation for the consumers. The second is that since brands are essentially people's perception, it functions as a medium of giving assurance or rather a reassurance to the customer that they've made the right choice. The third is that through the consistent use of imagery, design elements, typography and language, brands engage with customers and help them identify with the brand, thereby making them loyal customers to the brand. To better understand the idea of a brand, let's consider the example of Mercedes Benz, a German luxury automotive brand. Right from their logo to their world-famous products, that is, their high-end luxury cars, just by looking at them, we have the perception of them being premium, highly reliable, and of the topmost quality. This perception is even more strengthened by the look of their advertisements and the language that they use to communicate and promote their brand. Now that we've understood what a brand is, let me introduce you to the term called brand equity, which goes hand-in-hand with the brand. Now this term, brand equity, defines the social value or worth of the brand. As a result of awareness, brands, associations, loyalty, and their assets, the brand equity of the company or the business increases as more and more consumers perceive the quality of their products or services be far more superior than those offered by lesser-known companies, or any generic equivalent. Now to ensure this perception that we've been discussing till now, these brands need to follow a certain process known as branding. The origins of branding can be traced back to the period when a 'brand' was a burning piece of wood. The modern-day word 'Brand' is derived from the word 'Brandr', a word from Ancient Norse, meaning 'to burn'. By the 1500s, it became very common to brand cattle with this wooden piece in order to show their ownership. The modern-day branding, however, is much more of a disciplined process of conducting research, developing strategy, and designing the identity. In order to ensure three primary outcomes. Building awareness, attracting new clients, and increasing customer loyalty. In short, branding is essentially the process of creating differentiation from other brands that are already in existence and making our brand stand out among all those brands. 3. Brand Name & Logo: The branding process begins with coming up with a name and tagline for the company. And then moving on to designing their logo. Just like the name of a person, a brand name is a single word or a group of words that essentially acts as an identification for the business. The right brand name Is timeless, easy to pronounce, memorable, and the sound has a certain rhythm to it. Perfect brand name helps your brand connect well with the people you want to reach. For example, brand names like Netflix, Instagram, Tesla, and Hulu, are very memorable and each of them has a catchy rhythm to it. To learn more in-depth of the different types of brand names and the process behind naming your business, checkout my course called 'Crafting a brand name'. I'll make sure I mention the link to this course in the 'About' section. After the name comes the brand tagline, which is essentially a short catchy phrase that summarizes the company's brand personality and the positioning. And it differentiates it from the rest of its competitors. For an effective tagline, it's always good to follow these rules. The first one is to keep it clear and easy to understand. The second one is to make it sound clever, yet keeping it short. The third one is to ensure that it feels relevant to the brand. And the fourth one is, to ensure memorability, make sure that it sounds nice when we say it. Let's have a look at some of the popular taglines. Nike - Just Do It. Youtube - Broadcast yourself. TED - Ideas worth spreading. Target - Expect more, pay less. BMW - the Ultimate Driving Machine. Skittles - taste the rainbow. The logo or brand mark is one of the most important assets of a brand. The logo is a unique design or a distinctive symbol that acts as an identification for the brand, essentially, as the face of the brand. According to my understanding, logos can be categorized into seven different categories: The first one is Monograms are Lettermarks. The second category is Wordmarks or Logotypes. The third category is that of Pictorial logos. The next one is Abstract logos. The fifth one is Mascot logos. The next one is Combination marks. The last one is the Emblem logos. For a more in-depth understanding of each of these categories, as well as all the theoretical concepts related to logo design, checkout my course that I had published a while back called 'Logo Design Theory: the ultimate guide'. I'll make sure I mention the link to this course in the 'About' section. 4. Brand Identity: The brand identity of a brand is a set of tangible elements that help recognize the brand instantly and makes the brand visually stand out among the competition. Brand identity is an iterative process of strategic imagination that comes after stages of conducting research and developing strategy, in the process of branding. After a thorough research, understanding, explorations and iterations, a brand identity system is designed, which is a step beyond the logo of the brand. Strong brand identity can make your customers perceive your products and services as higher-quality through consistent visual design applied over the complete range of brand assets. Subset of this brand identity is the visual language of the brand, which could be described as the look and feel of the brand. The design elements of a brand, like shape, color, materials, finish, typography, and composition that work hand-in-hand to form a consistent visual language emerges into the brand identity system, which strengthens the core beliefs, ideology, and the impact that the brand intends to have on the people. Essentially, the brand identity of a brand is the combination of logo, visual language, and the overall editorial tone, all of these, consistently applied to all the various assets belonging to the brand. 5. Brand Collateral: The ultimate aim of any business is to become a successful brand. And a metric of this success can be linked to increasing their sales and net worth. Now this requires consistent measures to promote and create awareness about the brand. All the materials and the media that are used to create brand awareness among the people and to promote the brands ideology, their products, their services, and their overall perception are collectively referred to as brand collaterals. These brand collaterals are never the same set of media or materials, they differ from brand to brand, and also change depending on the industry that the brand belongs to. Here's an example of a brand that I had previously worked on, which is a premium and a classy brand. These were all the brand assets and promotional material that could be considered as part of their brand collaterals. The best brand collateral communicates the right information at the right time with the regular customers or potential customers. This accessibility to the information helps the brand express that it understands the customer's needs, and values their preferences. 6. Brand Messaging: Just like the visuals, every brand needs a consistent use of words and tone of language across all possible communications that are related to the brand. This 'How we Sound' part of the brand is what is taken care by the brand messaging. The brand messaging is essentially a collection of practices and rules that guide the brand on how to deliver its value proposition to the customers and how to effectively communicate its values and ideologies. It's essentially the brand's style of writing and speaking. Brand messaging is a huge responsibility, and each word has to be intentionally crafted like, like it's the brand's superpower. There are a number of departments within the brand where these rules of messaging could be applied. The first one is brand nomenclature, like the brand name, tagline, product names, service names, and division names. These rules can also be applied in a category called brand essence, like the mission and vision statements of the brand, its value prepositions, the key messages given out by the brand, elevator speech, and hashtags as well. These rules can also be applied in the third category called communications, like the brand's voice, tone, headline style, and social media posts descriptions. The fourth category is information media, like titles, email signatures, voicemail messages, and the regular content. Last category is brand's touchpoints like websites, annual reports, brochures, apps, presentations and advertising campaigns, essentially, all those brand collaterals wherever there's a lot of text related to the brand. Now to better understand brand messaging, let's look at two examples of some famous brands. Now the first one is Uber. In case of Uber, the messaging evident in their advertisements and posts is of a 'considerate' kind of tone of voice. Their ads focused more on the customer experience and social issues. Now, in contrast, when we look at McDonald's, we would observe that the tone here is more of a witty and smart kind of brand messaging. 7. Brand Behavior: Like brand messaging and brand identity, the brand behavior is the 'How we Interact' part of the brand. It's focused on the customer's experience of interacting with the brand. It's essentially the practical demonstration of what your brand values and strengths are Brand behavior aims at achieving two very important goals - The first one is to build customer loyalty by making customers more satisfied. And the next one is to build an ambitious and meaningful workplace that behaves inline with the brand. Very good example of this is when you as a potential customer, enter into a premium brand car showroom, like BMW. Right from the moment you enter, there is one employee that is meant to be your dedicated personal assistant, helping you decide on what to buy. Such dedicated assistants are generally extremely polite and well-mannered. This, in turn, improves your experience and strengthens your connection with the overall brand. 8. Brand Cues & Touchpoints: Brand cues are the visual or tonal indicators of how the brand looks or sounds. These could be visual assets and written or spoken messages that influence the consumer buying behavior. The intended cues could also be generated using specific colors, textures, size, motion, loud sounds, harmony, the different orientations of the objects. For example, when a hungry customer comes across this billboard advertisement of McDonald's hamburger or fries that are of the golden color, which clearly stands out on a red background, it's more likely that the customer will feel compelled to buy it from the nearby McDonald's. Similarly, in case of Apple stores, the glass enclosure itself attracts potential customers to enter into that minimalistic art gallery-like display of products. After a closer look at how each of their products is given that strong importance, the person is much more likely to feel the urge to buy an Apple product or at least an electronic accessory at that store. These brand cues are made available to the people through brand touchpoints. Brand touchpoints are any opportunity for interaction or communication between the customer and the brand. These are those interactions that build the customer experiences with the brand. Examples of brand touchpoints include brand advertisements, email marketing, customer care, staff behaviors, in-store displays, social media posts, product packaging, the website's usability, just to name a few. When it comes to effective touchpoints, there are some essential checklist items that the touchpoints need to adhere to. The first one is to make sure that the touchpoint clearly conveys the brand's personality. Next, touchpoint should align well with the positioning strategy as well. The third is that it needs to demonstrate a clear understanding of the target customer. Finally, it has to create a point of view and look and feel that's relevant to the brand. All in all, touch points are a great way to ensure that the brands ideology and the personality is consistently conveyed to the people. 9. Brand Ideals: A brand is much more than a logo or a tagline. These are just the vessels of identification for a brand that has a much deeper sense of ideology and reason. This higher purpose of a brand that goes beyond its products or services is known as the brand ideals. Now for a strong brand, It's essential that the brand values are consistent throughout its marketing and communication practices. There are various different elements within the brand ideas that a strong brand is expected to have. First one is a compelling Vision by a passionate leader, is the foundation of a successful brand. The second one is Meaning. Strong brand stands for something. It could be a big idea, defined set of values, or a voice that stands apart. The third ideal is Authenticity. A brand's clarity on its market positioning, its value, preposition, and competitive difference makes it very authentic and strong. The fourth ideal is Coherence. The consistency in branding and marketing at every touchpoint makes the brand easily recognizable and very memorable. The next ideal is Differentiation. Brands need to continuously compete with the other brands to attract new customers and also to improve the loyalty of the existing customers as well. After that, it's Flexibility. With the changing world and the world's changing needs, the marketing strategies must keep evolving. This enables a brand to effectively position itself for future growth. The next ideal is Longevity. The goal of any brand should be the ability to stand strong in this market for a very long time, withstanding all the future events that no one can actually predict. The next ideal is Commitment. Strong brands are those that really have the power to actively maintain the standards and core beliefs with all their heart. The last ideal is Value. Brand's value needs to be continuously created either by building awareness, by increasing recognition, and communicating its quality, uniqueness, and its competitive advantage. 10. Brand Core Values: The brand core values are the beliefs that the brand stands for. Clear set of established brand core values can really make the brand positioning very strong. They serve as a compass that guides your brand story, your brand's actions, behaviors, and the overall decision-making process as well. They are incorporated into the look of your brand, your marketing campaigns, and your relationship with your customers. Great brand core values should ensure these points - The first one is to be clear, and be sincerely followed and cared for. Now, the next point is to build connections with customers who have the similar beliefs. And the third is to be distinct and help the brand really stand out. The brand core values often revolve around beliefs like integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, leadership, and passion. Let's look at some examples of how famous brands articulate their brand core values. The first example is Coca-Cola, an American multinational beverage brand. Their core values are articulated in this way. The first value is leadership. In their own words, they say courage to shape a better future. Similarly, the next one is collaboration. Leverage collective genius. Integrity. In their own words. They say, Be Real. For accountability, The brand quotes. If it is to be, it's up to me. The next one is passion, Committed in heart and mind. The next is a statement that highlights diversity. In their own words, they say, As Inclusive as our brands. Talking about quality. Coca-cola says, What we do, we do well. Now similarly, let's look at a brand that belongs to a completely different industry altogether The core values of Adidas, a sportswear brand are: Performance. To highlight performance, their statement goes like Sport is the foundation for what we do. Similarly to highlight passion, they say, We're always moving forward. For integrity - People trust us because we are honest and ethical. For Diversity. the statement goes like, it takes people with different backgrounds to make our company succeed. 11. Core Brand Elements: The core brand elements that together make up a brand are as follows. The first one is core purpose. It's the ultimate reason that the company exists. This is a reason beyond making profits. This is, in a true sense, the ‘Why’ of the brand. The next one is vision. Vision is the accomplishment that you as a company is seeking, as a result of the core purpose. This is essentially the 'What' of the brand. That is, what will be the outcome of your brand being committed to its purpose. The third element is mission. This defines the practices that will be followed by your brand to achieve its vision and fulfill its purpose. This is essentially the 'How' of the brand, that is the statement explains how the brand will achieve its ultimate purpose. Now the next element is values. Values includes the core beliefs, ideologies, and philosophies that the brand it believes in. The next element is personality. This is a set of human characteristics which can be attributed to a brand. It includes brand tone, brand voice, everything else that is used to increase receptivity and resonance. The next one as capabilities, the different abilities and features of a brand that really help it achieve its vision. The next element is core competencies. These are the abilities, knowledge, and skills that ensure the brands effective performance. Then comes competition, The points of parity and difference. These are the elements that establish any brand as a competitor in a particular industry. Then comes the target audience. The population segment of the market that your brand wants to reach. This is done by identifying the characteristics of your target customers, like their age, the geographical location, income level, behavioral traits, and personality traits as well. The next element is brand essence. It's a differentiating phrase that provides inspiration and focus. It's the ultimate idea that the brand lives by. For example, Apple's brand essence is 'Empowering people through technology'. Value preposition. The set of functional, emotional, and social benefits that the brand provides its customers with, to fulfill all their needs is called the value preposition. 12. Brand Positioning: Brand positioning refers to how the brand is perceived in the market by its customers and how it clearly stands out from its competition. Essentially, the process of distinguishing your brand from your competitors in meaningful ways. Therefore, brand positioning has a very high impact on the success of your brand. Brand positioning is influenced by every single encounter with every single stakeholder. These stakeholders include people like the customer, the employees, the competitors, the legislators, the journalists, and the public. The four brand pillars of effective strategic brand positioning for the business are - The first one is purpose. What is your purpose beyond making money? The second is difference. What do you do that your competitor doesn't. The third pillar is value. What do your customers truly need and why do they need it? The fourth pillar is execution. How do you consistently establish a position in the market? Once these four questions are answered, the brand usually has a better idea of its strategic positioning in the market that it belongs to. 13. Brand Strategy: Brand strategy is a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand. It's a central unifying idea that guides and aligns the brands behavior, actions, and the communication as well. The brand strategy of a brand defines its positioning, differentiation, competitive advantage, and its unique value proposition. The brand strategy needs to resonate with all the stakeholders of the brand. And these are people like external customers, who are the people who buy your brand's products or services. The second category would be the media. The last category would be internal customers. These are the employees, the board, the core suppliers of the brand. Brand strategies are developed by people who are experienced, strategic, and creative thinkers. Huge brands usually bring in the brand strategies from outside. Therefore, these people are essentially either Independent thinkers and authorities, Strategic marketing firms, Brand Consultants. Now since we're here, let's also look at just a basic introduction to two more terms beyond brand strategy, which are called Brand Management and Brand Governance. Brand management is the combination of strategy, planning and orchestration in order to come up with new ways, new ways to delight their customers, to engage their employees, and new ways to demonstrate their competitive advantage. Now coming to brand governance, it's the interplay of a brand's behavior. It's communications, design, legal compliance, and process to ensure that there is a consistent betterment in the brand's performance. 14. Brand Archetype: Just like with people, your attraction to brands is largely determined by their personality traits. This is the reason why brands these days are creating a consistent, relatable and authentic personality for their brands. Now they do so using something called brand archetypes. Brand archetypes are a way of giving the brand a particular personality, thereby making it more recognizable and relatable to the customers. These are essentially 12 foundational personality types developed by Carl Jung, a 20th Century Swiss psychiatrist who believed that these foundational personality types are very common around the world. And we, as humans, are totally hardwired to subconsciously relate to the personality of a brand through our basic human instincts, just like the way we relate to a person with a specific personality. Now let's have a look at each of the 12 brand archetypes, starting with the first one, which is The Innocent. The innocent brand archetype is pure and simple. The human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is safety. The brand voice of such a brand is often optimistic, honest, and humble. Examples of such a brand are Dove and Coca-Cola. The second archetype is called The Everyman. The everyman brand archetype is supportive and faithful. The human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is belonging. The brand voice of such a brand is often very friendly, authentic, and humble. Examples of such a brand are, Ikea and Target. The third archetype is called The Hero. The hero brand archetype is a symbol of courage and a source of inspiration. The human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is mastery. The brand voice of such a brand is often honest, candid, and very brave. Examples of such a brand are Nike and Adidas. The fourth category, The Outlaw. The outlaw brand archetype is a rebel at heart that breaks the rules and fights authority. The human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is that of a revolution. The brand voice of such a brand is often very disruptive, very rebellious, and combative. Examples of such a brand are Diesel and Harley Davidson. The fifth archetype is called The Explorer. The explorer brand archetype is constantly driven to get going and see the world. The human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is freedom. The brand voice of such a brand is often very exciting, very fearless and daring. Examples of such a brand are Jeep and Starbucks. Next comes The Creator archetype, which is all about innovation and creativity. Similarly, the human instinct that would be associated with it is innovation. The brand voice of such a brand is often very inspirational, very daring and provocative. Examples of such a brand are Apple and Lego. The seventh archetype is called The Ruler, which is very powerful and dominating the human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is Control. The brand voice of such a brand is often very commanding. refined and authoritative. Examples of such brands are Rolex and Mercedes-Benz. The eighth archetype is called The Magician. The magician brand archetype tends to be visionary, charismatic, imaginative, and idealistic. And the human instinct that could be associated with it is power. The brand voice of such a brand is often mystical, informed and reassuring. Examples of such brands are Disney and Tesla. The ninth archetype is The Lover. The lover brand archetype is about True Romance, idealism, passion, and intimacy. Human instinct that could be associated with this is intimacy. The brand voice of such a brand is often sensual, empathetic and soothing. Examples of such brands are Chanel and Victoria Secret. The tenth brand archetype is called The Caregiver, which tends to be empathetic, nurturing, and selfless. The human instinct that could be associated with it is Service. The brand voice of such a brand is often very caring, warm, and very reassuring. Examples of such brands are the World Wide Fund, WWF, and Unicef. The next target type is called The Jester. The jester brand archetype is very light-hearted and very mischievous, but has a genuine desire to bring joy to the world. Now, the human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is pleasure. The brand voice of such a brand is often very fun-loving, very playful, and quite optimistic. Examples of such brands are Old Spice, the Dollar Shave Club. The final archetype, the 12th archetype, is called The Sage. This brand archetype is a knowledgeable and trusted source of information for others and they truly want to help. Now the human instinct that could be associated with this archetype is that of Understanding. The brand voice of such brand is often knowledgeable, assured. and guiding. Examples of such brands are Google and BBC. Now, after a look at all the 12 brand archetypes, one thing to be aware is that choosing an archetype to align your brand with is a one-shot deal. Once you have established yourself as a Rebel brand, you cannot go back on it, and become a Lover or a Magician brand. You have to stick with it. All in all, brand archetypes is a very powerful tool in order to help the brand create a personality which the customers relate to. And in this way, the brand retains their existing customers and also attracts more and more customers who are particularly attracted to that personality. 15. Brand Architecture: As companies merge with other companies or acquire new companies and products, the branding nomenclature and the marketing strategies become more and more complex. For such a brand to grow and market effectively, there is a need for bringing consistency, verbal, and visual order to all of the sub-brands and the products owned by that particular brand. This hierarchy of brands within a single company is called brand architecture. The best example of brand architecture is the company called Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google. The various subsidiaries of Alphabet, are Google Maps, Google Play, Google Earth, Google Chrome, Google Docs and Gmail. And also companies like YouTube, Android, Picasa, Fitbit, Deepmind, and Waymo. Now, a well-planned and well-executed brand architecture practice is a very powerful tool in positioning all the various brands owned by a single company clearly as subsidiaries of that major company. 16. Brand Advertising: Brand advertising is a type of strategy that develops brand recognition and builds customer loyalty. The purpose of brand ads is to capture the people's attention, establish a consistent brand identity, credibility, and awareness as well. In general, advertising is any paid communication specifically intended to inform or influence one or more people. Now there are about five different types of advertising, based on the advertising medium that's used. The first type of advertising is called print advertising, like newspapers, magazines or flyers and brochures, etc. The next category is broadcast advertising, like television and radio advertisements. The third category of advertising is called outdoor advertising, which includes billboards, banners, vehicle wraps, etc. Now comes the type called digital advertising. These are essentially the advertisements displayed over the Internet on social media or any of the digital devices. Now this final category is called product or brand integration, which are essentially the product placements in entertainment media, like inside a TV show or a YouTube video. 17. Brand Endorsement: Brand endorsements are a form of advertising that uses famous personalities or celebrities. These celebrities command a high degree of recognition and they act as the brand's spokesperson and validate the brands claim by extending their own personality, their own status, and popularity to the brand. Now since we have looked at brand endorsements, let's look at another related term called brand ambassador. A brand ambassador is essentially a person employed by the brand to represent its product or service in a positive light, helping to increase the brand's awareness and build up the brand trust with the customers. In the previous definition of brand endorsements, the celebrity who's representing the brand, is actually called the brand ambassador. 18. Brand Licensing: Brand licensing is the act of seeking new distribution and promotional channels for a brand's intellectual property assets. Famous brands use this strategy to generate extra revenue from royalties on sales of products bearing their brand's logo, name, tagline, and other legally protected assets. For example. Now with the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the ever-growing team of cool superheroes. The true fans are ready to buy anything with the picture or an illustration of a Marvel superhero on it. Now for example, these t-shirts here clearly have the Marvel logo, as well as the superhero as well, which are both legally owned by Marvel, which is a subsidiary of Disney. So, Disney earns a percentage of every single sale of that t-shirt as a royalty for letting the t-shirt brand use their assets. Now there are various other benefits associated with brand licensing as well, and some of them are listed below. The first advantage is it increases the awareness of the brand. It also helps attract new consumers to the brand. It helps the brand build a competitive advantage over the other similar businesses in the market. It also helps build stronger relationships with the customers. Moreover, brand licensing increases the market share of the licensee as well, which is the company to which the brand has licensed its assets. 19. Brand Guidelines: The whole purpose of branding is to have consistency and clarity for effectively communicating what the brand believes in and successfully promoting their products. Now to ensure this consistency and demonstrate what the company truly is, what it does, and what it stands for. A set of rules and guidelines need to be maintained. Now this set of clearly defined rules and guidelines and standards on how to communicate your brand is known as brand guidelines. A brand is comprised of a wide range of departments and stakeholders. Anyone who's interacting with the brand or is representing the brand in some way, needs to be given access to the brand guidelines. These categories of people include internal employees like management team, the marketing team, design team, customer service, the legal department, the sales team, and human resources. And anyone else who's gonna be responsible for creating a presentation related to the brand. The second category of people are external creative partners, like branding firms, design firms, advertising agencies, technologists, architects, writers, co-branding partners as well. Now, for a better understanding, let's look at what an interesting brand guidelines document looks like. And what is the content to be included in the brand guidelines. For this, let's look at the brand guidelines of a company called Discord, an instant messaging and digital distribution platform. Now right from the first looks of it, it's clear that it carries the brand personality and is going to be an interesting ride overall. We begin with the content page here, highlighting all that's included in the document. We are first introduced to the brand, its mission, its vision, its positioning, and the tone of voice. Then we move on to the identity design part, starting with the brand's logo, the brand icon, and its variations. The wordmark, some logo placement rules as well. Next we look at the brand colors and their usage guidelines in detail. Then comes the typography section of the identity, which talks about the typeface used. The type style used. Some usage guidelines for headlines and some rules for using the body copy as well. After the identity system, we'll look at some examples of their brand collaterals to look at how these guidelines could be used to come up with effective and consistent communication for the brand. The brand guidelines document ends with some miscellaneous information like whom to contact in case you have some questions. Now, while these are pretty much the essentials of any brand guidelines document, each brand has its own set of additional elements and information that needs to be included. Depending on various factors like the industry it belongs to, or even the overall size of the brand. 20. Class Project: Now that we have had a look into the world of branding, I'd like you to work on a fun project. For this project, choose a brand of your choice. Then collect information about the brand like their mission, vision, archetype, and every other non-visual elements of the brand. Then gather a few examples of their visual design assets like brand collaterals, social media posts, advertisements snippets, etc., in the same document. This will help you make an analysis of the branding of that company. You'll be able to analyze whether their marketing communication, their visual language, and the messaging are on point with how they want their customers to perceive them or not. If you wish, you may take this a step further by suggesting a few more ideas and strategies for that brand to improve its branding. 21. What Next?: Do share your class project and feel free to reach out to me either here or through my website or any social networks that I'm active on. I've mentioned all of those links on my profile. I love teaching on topics like branding and logo design. So if you're interested, please check out all the courses that I have published already and do follow me to stay updated about all the new course releases. This is a really great platform to learn any amazing skill. No matter if you're a beginner or an experienced professional, do checkout all the amazing courses taught by extremely talented people. I'll see you on a different course. Till then, Bye-bye and happy learning.