Throughout my tenure, at Committee for Children (CFC) I was tasked with developing the standard usage of our new brand standards for both CFC and our product, Second Step (SS). I worked directly with the Director of Creative to develop single-sheet quick guides for both brands. This served as an “at-a-glance” guide for our marketing, policy & advocacy, and public relations teams. In doing so, I determined nomenclature for each logo to avoid confusion in the future. Additionally, I established color ratios to emphasize which brand colors we should lead with, and which should be secondary.

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For our creative teams, I developed a detailed brand standard for both brands using the online tool Frontify. Although Frontify is not my favorite tool for branding, it did allow in-depth instructions on how to use our logos, fonts, colors, print, and digital collaterals. The focus was on consistency to strengthen our branding. As our company continued to grow, both in revenue and in employees, it became more important for us to maintain uniformity within the brand. Additionally, I worked directly with our legal team to ensure all logo marks adhered to our trademark and copyright rules.

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After establishing the initial brand standards, I delegated the maintenance to my Art Director. Additionally, I had her focus on establishing the templates of our print collateral to further unify our brands. Perhaps, more importantly, was establishing a specific look and name for each of our print pieces so we could ensure our current and future designers know which templates in which to turn. This was beneficial for our marketing team as well to make it easier for them when the different types of collateral were displayed at a trade show booth.

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Consistency is required in establishing a strong brand foundation. As the company and world continue to grow, this upfront foundation will allow for the brand to grow and develop over time in a way that is new, but still true to the original.

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One last note: although consistency within a brand is a must, especially in the early days, it is important to know when it’s ok to break the rules. You can break brand rules on special occasions, such as campaigns or when the company is showing support for a cause. Many members of my previous teams have been experts in branding, but my goal is to make them masters, with the key difference being this: experts know all of the rules, whereas masters know when it’s ok to break said rules