Graphic system guide: an essential tool
18.03.2021
Do You Know What the “Brand Identity Bible” Is?
The graphic system guide is the collection of graphic language rules for an organization. We’ve often talked about brand identity as the most powerful tool for building credibility and making a brand familiar to the public. But how is brand identity designed? The answer is: by first designing a visual identity, consisting of graphic rules and color combinations. The purpose of this “bible” is to guide the graphic designers and creatives within an organization throughout the design process.
Not Just Rules, but Brand Storytelling
The graphic system guide should always also include the brand’s story; the graphic development, logo changes over time, and references to the brand’s history, which intertwine with the organization’s journey. It’s a storytelling with geometric features and an emotional profile that tells the organization’s story through its visual identity. Often, the brand’s “bible” is also browsed by those who aren’t exactly industry professionals: in fact, it’s often a piece of graphic design work that becomes a collector’s item, sought after by designers and collectors worldwide.
Graphic System Guide: Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn…
Soon, Standards Manual will reopen to the public, the bookstore where designers from around the world purchase design publications for their personal collections. Among the many publications is a collection of brand manuals from some of the most famous American government organizations. A deep dive into graphic design that’s recommended not only for those in the industry but also for those who love art and graphics. Currently, it’s possible to buy from the online shop, but visiting the bookstore remains an experience worth having.
How to Create a Graphic System Guide
In detail, this tool consists of an initial section dedicated to the brand’s history and the organization’s graphic design, with particular reference to the historical evolution of the visual image. The core of the “Graphic Bible” focuses on the study of language, color choices, and the design of distinctive graphic marks. It’s essential to analyze and design all possible variations of logos, icons, and graphic signs. Specifically, it’s important to highlight both the correct uses and those that are considered inconsistent with the organization’s image. As for colors, all variations of the logo’s colors are provided, along with the allowed, recommended, and those considered inconsistent color combinations. Finally, the last section is dedicated to the use of the brand in coordinated image tools, both physical and digital.
Digital Rebranding: The Case History of Mastercard
Digital evolution has led many international brands to reassess their visual image to adapt it to the web. Mastercard is an example of how a brand can evolve over time to align its image with the new omnichannel communication of the modern market. Mastercard’s rebranding translates the idea of a “technology-driven company focused on the future and people” into a graphic sign. In this sense, the graphic system guide should be seen as a continuously evolving tool, a starting point for the visual design of an organization, not as a final destination. The “graphic bible” is, in fact, the past, present, and future of the organization’s visual identity.
If you liked this article, you might also be interested in “Create Graphic Design Consciously: Use Lettering.”