Who Should Create Brand Guidelines - Marketing or Graphic Designer?

F

Firebrand

New Member
Hi all.

I have been working as a graphic designer for a small company for around 2 years but have never had the time to create brand guidelines.

Our company have grown alot since then I have created new branding ie logos , brochures etc.

The marketing department have decided they are going to create the Branding Guidelines.

I always assumed this would be the designer job with input from the marketing department.

Any advise would be appreciated :)
 
If you were designing the branding from scratch or refreshing it then I'd say the responsibility should remain with you as the designer.

However, ultimately it is the job of the marketing guys to know the business and its market inside out, so I understand why they are taking the lead with putting guides in place for an existing brand.

I'd suggest working with the marketing team to put them together. Perhaps they think they're doing you a favour, especially if you're busy. Perhaps they need the guidelines ASAP because staff are miss-using/abusing the branding?
 
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It differs from job to job. Sometimes the marketing team will decide that they know best and steam roll ahead with producing a document that portrays the company.

You may be asked to input some logos and images for use and not for use etc.


Ultimately if you feel you can add to or add benefit to the project just request to be included in the meetings/emails etc.


It's not you against the marketing, it's you showing that you're willing to work with them, provide what's needed and help with the project.

Get the foot in the door with helping out and asking questions. Then you'll be included more from the other team.

Don't make it a you against them!
 
They should produce a brief for you to create the guidelines. The tone of voice, what the company is about, all that kind of thing - that's marketing. How you use the graphic identity, do's and dont's, colour pallette, font usage, document templates etc, that's your job.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys.

I was just a bit miffed as they were going to give a marketing girl the job of actually designing the document even though she has no design experience.

I grew a spine and spoke to them about it and they agree that I should be involved. Office politics!!

The marketing team is new. I'm used to working with other designers and programmers so it's a bit of a new learning experience for me too.

Cheers
 
Talking from experience, it doesnt matter if you write the best god damn brand guidelines ever seen, everything you do from now on will go through the hands of a dozen or so marketeers who need to prove their worth to the company on a daily basis and they WILL interfere in a attempt to achieve this.

You know that gigantic day-glo green box crammed with really big bold text looks shit, BUT marketing say the client needs a clear call to action and they know best.
 
Interesting question. We usually create the guidelines if we've designed an identity or brand. It helps build a simple set of rules to avoid breaks in the design language etc. A member of the client marketing team would be part of the creation process so they feel comfortable in what we've developed for an insiders view.

Of course, as Four Colours Pixels stated, chances are they get ignored a bit along the way but it does make policing as a whole easier especially when working with other design or creative agencies.
 
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