Corporate design: what does it include?

The building blocks

Logo: Main logo and variants
Colours: Primary, accent and neutral tones with values for print and web
Typography: Typefaces and sizes
Imagery: Style of photos and graphics
Layout: Grid, spacing, structure
Applications: Letterhead, business cards, website, vehicle

Why it is worth it

A consistent appearance creates recognition and trust and saves time, because not every measure has to be decided afresh.

Corporate design in everyday use: an example

Suppose a tax advisory firm has its letterhead, website and business cards designed by three different providers. Each chooses its own blue, a different typeface and its own spacing. Individually, each piece looks tidy; together they give the impression of a company that cannot make up its mind. With a corporate design, you fix colour values, typefaces and spacing once. Whoever later creates a poster or a presentation does not have to decide again, but simply applies the rules.

Corporate design, corporate identity, brand: where the difference lies

Corporate design concerns appearance. Corporate identity goes further and includes the company’s behaviour, communication and attitude. The brand is the image that forms in customers’ minds. Good design can make an attitude visible but cannot replace it. The exact difference is explained in Corporate identity and corporate design.

What belongs in a compact set of rules

Minimum size and clear space of the logo, plus examples of incorrect use
Colour values in the colour spaces you need, and permitted combinations with sufficient contrast
Typefaces with a note on licensing and a substitute typeface for office programs
Rules for images: mood, crop, editing
Templates for the ten most common documents

Deciding how extensive it needs to be

A sole trader often manages with one page: logo, two colours, two typefaces, a few rules. If the team grows or several service providers work with your look, a more detailed manual is worthwhile. Too many rules do harm if nobody reads them; if in doubt, the rule is: better a few rules that are actually applied.

Step by step: how a corporate design comes about

Clarify the foundation: Target audience, positioning, desired impression. Without this basis, taste decides in the end.
Develop or revise the logo: with variants for different places of use.
Define colours and typefaces: including a contrast check for good legibility.
Define the imagery: with examples of suitable and unsuitable motifs.
Design the applications: first those that customers see most often, usually the website, business card, letterhead and quotation.
Document the rules and pass them on: briefly and with examples.

Reviewing your existing look: questions for taking stock

Place your business card, quotation, website and vehicle lettering side by side. Are colour and logo the same everywhere? Do the typefaces look like they belong together? Would a stranger recognise that it is the same company? If not, the cause rarely lies in the logo, but in missing rules. Often it is then enough to unify things rather than start from scratch.

Typical mistakes

Colours chosen only on screen, so they differ in print
Too many typefaces, so the pages look restless
Text in light colours on a light background, hard to read and barely usable for people with poor eyesight
Rules not passed on to everyone who creates material

You will find more on choosing colours under Colour palette.

Design guidelines

A compact set of rules helps you and your service providers to apply the brand correctly, even when several people are working on it.