Editorial
Practical notes on brand guidelines, logos, colors, type, and sharing a brand with clients and teammates.
Brand portal governance is the set of roles, rules and reviews that keep a portal's files and access trustworthy. Here are the six pillars, a RACI matrix and a charter template.
A CMS publishes your website. A brand portal keeps the current guidelines and approved brand files for everyone who uses them. Here is how they differ and fit together.
An intranet keeps employees informed. A brand portal gives everyone who makes branded work, agencies included, the current guidelines and files. Here is how they differ.
Brand assets are the elements people recognize your brand by. Here are the five types with examples, how they differ from brand identity, and the approved files each one needs.
What to put in brand guidelines: logo, color, type, imagery, voice and real applications, with a completeness test for each section and a worked example of a guide that still left gaps.
How to keep one current version of your brand guidelines: version numbers, a named owner, review and approval, a readable changelog, archives and a 7-step release workflow.
How to share brand assets with your team, agencies and partners: curated packets, share links, permissions, formats and expiry, with a packet-by-audience checklist.
What marketing and brand teams actually gain from a brand portal: fewer asset requests, current approved files, controlled partner access, faster rollouts, and clearer ownership, with a one-week request log.
An 8-step system for organizing logos, templates, photos and video, from inventory to tags, versions, rights and an owner, with one launch set worked end to end.
Eight setup steps in order, from scope and asset audit to access, pilot and upkeep, with an owner and a done-when point for each, plus build vs buy.
A sample folder tree you can copy, plus the rules that keep it clean: numbered folders, source files apart from exports, one archive and clear owners.
A six-phase process for turning a static PDF brand book into an online guide people open from one link, with every rule next to the file it describes.
A simple seven-part order for naming logos, images and templates, plus the formatting rules and a ready-to-copy template, so anyone on your team can find the right file.
Most brands don't break because of bad design but because old files keep circulating. Here is how to share brand guidelines so your team, agencies and partners always use the current version.
A brand portal is one online home for a company's approved logos, colors, fonts, templates and brand guidelines. Here is what it is for, what goes inside and who uses it.