If you are thinking about hiring a brand designer, you might be wondering what to expect when it comes to the delivery of brand assets and what you’ll get at the end of the process.
If you’ve found a good designer, they will outline what is included in your digital package in detail along with an outline of what the entire process will look like from discovery call to delivery. You should be able to feel a level of security and assurance about what you will get and when you’ll get it.
What is a digital brand asset?
A digital asset is any file created for your brand that you’ll use across your business — from your logo files to your website and marketing materials.
Examples of this are:
- logo files
- brand photography files
- product packaging digital file
- digital pattern and template files
- business website and domaine
- business card files, brand stationery template files, brand brochure files
Variations From Designers
Before we get into the details, it’s important to understand that not all designers offer the same deliverables.
I talk a little more about this in my Brand Identity for First-Time Entrepreneurs blog post.
The questions you will want to ask and gather information about are questions like:
- Does this designer only offer logo design?
- Will they provide me with multiple file formats?
- What would I be getting besides the logo files?
- Do they provide a style guide or guidelines document?
- Do they offer patterns or templates?
Certain digital assets that a designer offers may come at an extra cost or can be included in a digital package. Those assets represent hours of work for a brand designer to put together, but they will also likely save you hours of time yourself when you utilize them to their full potential. Let’s jump into what each of those parts of your logo package actually are and what you, as the business owner, will do with them.
Digital Assets in Your Brand Package
Logo, logo marks, word marks and logo variations
Your logo can be made up of a few different elements. Your brandmark is the symbol that represents your brand and often is accompanied by your wordmark. A wordmark is usually your business name in the chosen or designed font. Sometimes your brandmark includes your wordmark within the design. Ideally, each of these should be recognizable as your brand when they stand on their own or in different orientations.
The standard versions and orientations of your logo should include (but is not limited to):
- A full, detailed version that includes the brandmark and wordmark
- A vertical and horizontal version
- Brandmark-only version
- Wordmark-only version
- A black, white, grayscale, or monochrome version of each of the versions listed already, or most of them
The Starbucks logo here includes their logomark (the siren) and their wordmark (“Starbucks Coffee”). This is an older version when their name was included in the design.
Now their brand and logo are so iconic that they don’t even have their name in the logo design. They’ve included a tagline with this logo design instead, but it is still recognizable.
Here is their wordmark only. Each of these represent their brand properly, aside from one being old.
File Formats
Your logo will be used in a lot of different mediums, not just digital. Each platform it appears may have different file format and size requirements. Your logo package will likely include a file format of each version of your logo in each of the following:
JPG – for many different applications including social media, website, packaging, and printed materials.
PNG – for places where you’ll need a transparent background.
PDF – ideal for print applications where scaling without quality loss is important, such as signage.
SVG – ideal for scalable “cut” applications and brand merch like stamps, paper die cuts, tshirt iron ons, etc.
WebP – this is a file with size optimization for web applications. It saves space on your site for faster page speeds.
Ai (Adobe Illustrator source files) – sometimes professional print services will request the source files from the program your logo was designed in.
Color Variations
To be compliant with accessibility laws and for adequate visibility your logo will need to have enough contrast in color within the logo itself and between the background it is placed on.
A professional brand designer should also consider accessibility, ensuring your colors meet contrast standards and remain usable for people with visual impairments.
The color variations you are likely to receive in your brand package can include:
- A full color version for most uses.
- A color version with inverted, darker or lighter colors compared to the original for use on varying background colors.
- A black and white version for monochrome and simple applications.
- A white version for monochrome applications on dark backgrounds.
Where to Use Your Logo
Your logo needs to work across a wide range of real-world applications, from large-scale signage to tiny digital icons.
You can read more about brand identity on How to Craft Your Business’ Brand Identity.
Here are some of the places your brand and logo might need to show up and the logo version you will need:
- A 6 foot display window or a delivery van that needs a logo that is large and detailed.
- A favicon for your website that is 50 pixels in height and width.
- Printed company stationary with an all black logo.
- Packaging with a dark or light background with a logo inverted to grayscale or white.
- Your website where you need extra color contrast with logos in multiple color versions.
And each of these have to represent your brand and business to the best of their ability.
The Other Files in Your Digital Package
At the very least your designer should include a style guide to go with your logo, which will give you basic instructions on how to use your digital files.
The other things that your designer might create for you (often at an extra cost) might be:
- An image and photography guide
- Patterns and extra graphics
- brand guidelines document
- extra definitions and elements for the brand identity
- File use guide for the different file types
- Marketing templates
What is a brand guidelines document?
A brand guidelines document acts as the instruction manual for your brand and digital assets. It will inform the user:
- How to use your new assets, colors and typography for consistent brand visuals.
- How to NOT use your logo.
- Where to acquire your font and any royalty images.
- What your brand colors are with hex codes.
- How to take photos for your brand and stay visually consistent.
- The story and symbolism behind your logo.
- How your logo might look in the real world with logo mockups.
- What your brand should sound like in written communication like marketing emails, social media captions and comments, ad copy, website copy and content marketing material.
- What your company mission, values and vision are.
This brand guidelines document could contain a few of these elements or all of them. How many elements defined will come down to what your designer offers and how thoroughly designed and detailed you want your brand to be.
Who will use the brand guidelines document?
Anyone you hire as an employee for your business should read your brand guidelines document, but especially your marketing team and anyone you hire for any visual design work. Your graphic designer, packaging designer, website designer, and social media graphic designer will all need to know the parameters for how to visually present your logo and brand in a consistent way.
Now you know what to expect when your logo and brand design is complete. By understanding what’s included in a brand package, you’ll be better equipped to choose the right designer and to use your brand assets with confidence once they’re delivered.
Explore my brand design services over on my “services” page.
Ready to take the next step and hire a designer? Fill out my inquiry form on my contact page.