Presented by Brandpad: how to create successful brand guidelines, with Koto, Barkas and SDG

Hello, and welcome back to The Finishing Line, presented in collaboration with the digital brand guidelines platform Brandpad. Over the course of six articles, we are talking to the creative industry’s finest about what is often seen as one of the most challenging, fiddly, frustrating and complicated elements of brand design: getting it over the line. For part four, we’ve spoken to designers and directors at the London office of branding studio Koto, Oslo’s renowned creative agency Scandinavian Design Group (SDG) and Copenhagen and Stockholm-based design practice Barkas to discuss the creation of successful brand guidelines. What’s there to consider? How do you keep them up to date? Keep reading to find out. “Creating simple to navigate, clever understanding of the brand is key,” Barkas’ Partner & Digital Director Didrik Persson tells us, “that way anyone can get the idea of the brand before they jump into very specific rules,” discussing the best practices behind making digital brand guidelines as accessible as possible. “We find that it’s most important to communicate the essence of the brand in a digestible way,” he adds, considering that – no matter the size or scale – multiple hands, eyes and minds will work with the brand assets handed over by a studio. “Considering the audience of the specific guidelines is key to the success of a brand guideline document,” Creative Director at Koto, Joe Ling, agrees. “It’s easy to create a beautiful document full of vibrant brand applications for the internal team,” he suggests, “but how useful is that to the printer making a run of 100 ‘Kiss my SaaS’ slogan t-shirts for an upcoming tech conference,” looking to prioritise who really needs what. “The beauty of digital guidelines,” such as online platforms like Brandpad, Ling adds, “is the ability to tailor content to specific users by including an interactive facility,” enabling users to access the information they need easily in one single space.