What Brand Packages Should Look Like

Now it can be very confusing to properly understand. What a branding package is? Also how much to charge a client for it. But don’t worry because today’s post is going to explain every single thing. You need to be aware of when you’re creating a branding package and making money by sending them to clients.

Before we talk about what branding packages are. We need to know the different situations when a client might need one. Now the first obvious scenario is when a brand wants a fresh update or a rebrand. One notable and successful rebrand was the English football premier league rebrand. It was so good and it was so successful and it appealed to the modern times.

Another scenario is when the company is new and they need a total brand identity created from scratch. The third scenario is when an existing brand wants to launch a huge marketing campaign. They need a branding team to roll out that campaign and one such instance of this is the Nike JUST DO IT roll out.

Each of these three scenarios will call for a slightly different branding package. But let’s take a look at what might be included into every branding package. How many times am I going to say brand new package.

Of course, every brand needs a logo. As a brand designer it’s wise to create a logo paper and this shows every single detail of the logo on one sheet. We want to show the client the white space of the logo. I.e the clear space around it that is called the safe zone. Also suggests the absolute minimum size that the logo can be used in.

It’s also handy for the client if you stipulate the logo fonts used and also the color palettes. The branding package should include logo variants. So we have the stacked version the horizontal and vertical black and white and so on. All of this should be contained neatly and laid out on one sheet.

The logo files themselves will be packaged separately. But if you are working on a brand new brand. Then you might even have to generate their brand name. And this was the case for me when I was working on the iron Grip Jiu Jitsu branding projects. Of course, you’re going to discuss with the client what they need from you in the initial discussions. Then you can draw up a tailored brand package suggestion with a quote. More about the money side of things later.

Now we mentioned color when looking at the logo design. But you’re going to want to include a totally separate section in the brand new package. That relates to the brand color palette. I can emphasize enough how important color is to a brand.

Research shows it’s the most memorable aspect of any brand in the minds of the consumer. A lot of brands have primary color palettes and then secondary color palettes. So for Starbucks the primary main palette is green and white.

However, their secondary palette contains two shades of green white, and then black. Often the primary color palette is for the logo and then the second palette will be for things like the website or print materials.

The color palettes are decided based on color psychology and a whole lot of research on the branding designers parts. In the actual branding package, you should back up and reinforce the reasoning for the chosen colors.

Why they will appeal to the consumer and then show RGB-CMYK and hex versions of the colors also possibly Pantone. One huge part of the branding package is the style guide. The style guide can be thought of as a kind of a rule book created by the designer or the branding team. This rule book if you will is going to help the client to remain consistent with how the brand is perceived and engaged with the target audience.

It also tells future designers how to create media for the brand. It’s why that’s when you sometimes design something for some clients. They will tell you only to use specific fonts or colors and at certain sizes and so forth. The style guide will also include some information on the brand’s mission their voice in their niche sector and the overall brand vision. An example here would be Apple. They want to produce high-quality and desirable tech products that are minimal and clean. Apple speaks with authority and are cutting edge modernity in their new sector.

The style guide will also speak about things to avoid when using aspects of the brand package. Such as distorting logos changing icon colors or transparency and so on.

Often a brand will have a primary font and then a secondary font. This would apply to the logo their website posters brochures and so on. It could be that something like Basement Grotesque is the primary font. Seen on the main logo type and headings. Then Aileron is used with a tagline and body text. Again this is all established by the designer and mentioned in the style guide. As you can see a little of the branding package is not what you actually create.

But it’s to do with laying down rules and creating a strict vision or direction for the brand. This is very very important to remember. But let’s talk about physical deliverables. When talking to a client initially you should ask what physical items they require from you. Maybe it’s a business card a brochure a poster letterhead and so on.

These are the physical deliverables that are commonly included into a branding package. But of course, it’s based on a case decay situation every brand and every situation is going to be different. From there you have the digital deliverables. These are things like the website, email templates, social media artwork and other graphics.

So let’s talk brass tax, how much should all of this cost. That is like asking how long is a piece of string. So you first need to establish exactly what your client needs from you. When you know what’s going to be included into the branding package. You can estimate to yourself the amount of hours it should take for you to work on every single thing.

When you know roughly how many hours it’s going to take. You can then add on maybe 10 to compensate for unforeseen problems. You can then apply your hourly rates, on how much you value one hour of your time.

So an example would be that say the brand package is going to take you roughly 80 hours. We can then add on eight hours, so a total of 88 hours. You might consider your time worthy of 30 dollars per hour. So that equates to 2640 dollars for the package. It would then be wise to round that figure up to something like 2700. But of course, this all depends on your hourly rates and the specific brand package needed.