Articles: visual identity

Identity shows up here in everyday situations: someone hunting for the right logo file before sending a job to print, someone else wanting a leaflet and a cover to look like they belong together. It is rarely a full rebrand. More often it is a handful of decisions plus the discipline to keep them.

Where to start on a small budget

A new logo is not the first step. Usually it is enough to settle a few things and stick to them everywhere.

• Two or three colours - written down once and used on everything, from a card to a cover.
• One typeface - a second only where it genuinely earns its place.
• A repeatable layout - the logo always in the same spot, the footer always the same.
• One home for files - a folder with the logo, photos and templates, named so anyone can find them.

Where consistency shows most

Several articles deal with business printing: presentation folders, letterheads, covers and printing on discs. These are the pieces a client holds during a serious conversation, and they are the first place any drift becomes visible. There is also a guide to transparent backgrounds in a logo and to which file to hand a supplier so the mark can be enlarged without going soft.

Sound gets its own thread here - music chosen for a brand can become as recognisable as a colour or a symbol. If you are only starting to tidy things up, begin with the file folder and the list of colours. Everything after that goes faster, and each new print job takes less of your time.