Guide
What's in a brand identity package?
AiThrive Solutions · Updated
The short answer
A brand identity package is the set of decisions and files that make a business look like itself everywhere. It covers a logo and its variations, a colour palette, typography and guidelines that explain how to use them. A complete package also includes the assets you use every day, such as social media templates and a website.
What does a brand identity package include?
The exact list varies, but a package worth paying for gives you these five things:
- A logo, with variations for different places: the full version, the mark on its own, a one-colour version and a version that still reads at small sizes.
- A colour palette, with exact codes for screens (HEX and RGB) and for print (CMYK), so every printer and designer gets the same colours.
- Typography: the typefaces for headings and body text, and how to use them.
- Brand guidelines: a short document that shows how to use all of the above, with examples of what to do and what to avoid.
- Ready-to-use assets: the things you need on day one, such as social media templates, a business card, a letterhead and a website.
Is a logo the same as a brand identity?
No. A logo is one part of it. A brand identity is the whole system around the logo: colours, type, spacing, photography style and the way you write.
A logo on its own leaves every later decision to whoever happens to make the next poster, post or signboard. That is how businesses end up with five slightly different blues and a different look on every platform. The identity system is what keeps everything consistent without you having to check each piece.
Why should the website be part of the same package?
For most customers, your website is the first place they check whether you are real and worth contacting. If it looks different from your signboard, your Instagram and your visiting card, it raises a small doubt at exactly the wrong moment.
Designing the website together with the identity means it uses the same colours, type and tone from day one. It also costs less than redesigning a website later to match a new brand.
How long does a brand identity take?
For a small business with a clear brief, it is a matter of weeks rather than months. The work itself is rarely what slows a project down. Decisions are. Projects move fastest when one person on your side can approve each stage.
A typical order is: understanding the business, logo directions, refining one direction, the colour and type system, guidelines and assets, then the website.
What should you own at the end?
Before you sign off, check that you have all of the following, in your name:
- Logo files in vector format (SVG, AI or PDF) as well as PNG, in every variation.
- The colour codes and typeface names written down in the guidelines.
- The source files for the guidelines and templates, not just exports.
- The website's domain and hosting registered to you, with login details you control.
If any of these stay with the designer, you will have to go back to them every time something needs to change.
How do you know if your business needs one?
A few signs that it is time:
- Your work is better than the way your business looks online.
- Your logo, website and social media look like they belong to different businesses.
- You have to explain what you do before people take you seriously.
- You are about to print signage, open a new location or start running ads.