Building a Cohesive Brand System: A Guide to Consistent and Effective Branding

What is a Brand System?

A brand system is a collection of guidelines, assets, and rules that define how a brand presents itself to the world. It includes the elements that make up the brand’s identity, from its logo and color palette to its brand fonts and consistent visual language. Brand systems provide clarity for both internal teams, like graphic designers and brand managers, and external partners, ensuring that the brand remains consistent across all touchpoints, from digital experiences and printed collateral to moving images.

Why Do Companies Need a Brand System?

A brand system ensures consistency, clarity, and cohesion. Without it, a brand risks looking fragmented, which can confuse the target audience and dilute the brand’s promise. A well-designed brand system acts as a foundation for growth, allowing the brand to evolve while maintaining a consistent presence.

One good example of this is Airbnb's recent rebrand, which maintained the core elements of its original identity while refreshing its look to remain relevant and modern. By creating a comprehensive style guide and refining its brand graphic treatments, Airbnb ensured that its brand story remained consistent across platforms, leading to a more unified experience for its users.

How to Create a Brand System

1. Establish Brand Guidelines: The first step in building a brand system is to establish clear brand guidelines. These should outline everything from the primary and secondary palettes used in the brand's visuals to the consistent artwork styles iconography. A strong set of branding guidelines serves as the cornerstone for all future branding efforts.
2. Define the Brand’s Visual and Verbal Identity: A brand's visual elements include its logo, typography, color palette, and photography style. On the other hand, verbal expressions refer to the tone and messaging of the brand, including how it speaks to its audience. Both the visual and verbal aspects should align to create a cohesive and meaningful unit that resonates with the target audience.
3. Organize Brand Assets: The assets created for a brand need to be stored and organized properly. From the brand mark colors to the organized font hierarchies imagery, having a structured system ensures that brand managers and designers can easily access and use these brand assets across different platforms.
4. Build a Design System: A design system goes beyond just logos and colors. It includes the full range of elements that make up the brand’s identity, from the tone logo to the consistent experience delivered through digital experiences video and more. A strong design system should include interactive elements, which are crucial in today’s digital-first environment. It should also accommodate complex needs like data visualization, ensuring the brand can communicate effectively even with complex data.

The Core Components of a Brand System

To build a comprehensive brand system, four core components must be addressed:

1. Brand Identity: This includes the visual and verbal aspects of the brand, like its logo, color palette, and tone.
2. Brand Guidelines: Clear branding guidelines are essential to maintaining consistency. These should cover how the brand's identity should be applied across various mediums, including digital experiences and printed collateral.
3. Design System: The design system ensures that all brand assets and interactive elements are displayed consistently, providing a smooth experience for the end user.
4. Brand Strategy: The overarching plan that ties together all the brand’s identity components. A strong brand strategy helps maintain a consistent presence in the market and drives the marketing team to achieve the company's goals.

Organizing Brand Assets

One critical aspect of building a brand system is organizing all the components created. A broad set of elements, such as logos, brand fonts, graphic elements, and more, must be accessible and well-structured. Ensuring these assets are easy to locate and use helps the design team maintain a consistent experience.

Incorporating a well-planned style guide ensures that your brand's visual and verbal identity is adhered to across platforms, creating a consistent visual language. Additionally, organizing your primary and secondary palettes, brand mark colors, and other visual elements is crucial in achieving that goal.

Examples of Strong Brand Systems

Airbnb's recent rebrand offers a good example of how a company can successfully revamp its brand design while retaining the essence of its brand story. By refining its colour palette, updating its brand content, and creating a more cohesive design system, Airbnb managed to keep its identity strong while adapting to modern trends.

Another good example is Google, which uses a unified design system to create a consistent brand experience across all of its platforms. Its approach to data visualization, interactive elements, and organized font hierarchies imagery ensures that the brand is immediately recognizable.

The Role of Graphic Designers and Brand Managers

Both graphic designers and brand managers play an essential role in developing and maintaining a brand system. While the design team focuses on the brand design and visual elements, the brand managers ensure that the branding guidelines are followed across the board. This collaboration ensures that the brand's identity remains strong and consistent.

Final Thoughts

Building a successful brand in the modern world requires more than just a logo and a slogan. A strong brand system integrates many elements to form a unified, consistent experience that resonates with the target audiences. From brand guidelines and branding components to a detailed design system, a comprehensive approach ensures that your brand stands out in the commercial world while staying true to its brand's promise.

As your company grows, your brand system will need to evolve, but the key principles—consistency, clarity, and cohesion—will always remain at the core of any successful brand strategy.