The PDF guideline is dead, long live digital guidelines: Brandpad is made for the future of design

Whether you’re a designer, project manager, copywriter, director, photographer or client (and everything in between), the limitations and frustrations of PDF brand guidelines are omnipresent. Uninspiring and incompatible with the interactive and animated standards of contemporary design, it’s safe to say that the days of PDF guidelines have come to a close. With the fast pace of the current climate and brand-to-client communications becoming ever more accessible, the staggered and static performance of keeping PDFs up to date with the latest amends not only stifles the delivery and stewardship of brands but also affects the creative process – where the result of graphic expertise and hard work culminates in a motionless, legacy file format. Months of work laid out in a few slides. Online guidelines platform Brandpad have continued to lead the way as the affordable antithesis to PDFs, however, resulting in their respectful commemoration and the celebration of Brandpad’s superior offering. “PDFs are a missed opportunity when creating a brand for the 21st century,” Brandpad’s Creative Director Nicklas Haslestad tells us, doubling down on the drawbacks of PDF guidelines. “Most clients always want to see their brand up to date,” he adds, “as PDFs – especially if printed – tend to be put in a drawer and stay there, becoming increasingly stagnant, irrelevant and non-consulted. Wasting time, money, resources and one’s sanity in the process.”