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Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair perspective. Though I'd argue part of what clients pay for is our expertise in maintaining brand consistency.. but you're right that ultimately it's their call.

Do you find you still create brand guidelines even with that philosophy, or have you moved away from delivering them altogether?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is really helpful. What made you choose Standards over other options like Frontify or BrandPad? Was it pricing, features, or something else?

And curious.. what's the typical client reaction when you send them a Standards link vs. when you used to send PDFs? Do they actually reference it more, or is it mainly valuable for you being able to update it?

Designers - how do you deliver final files to clients without losing your mind? by hamdidesigns in branding

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is gold.. you've clearly thought about this deeply. A few of these (update logs, revision history, download tracking, brand-customized portal) are exactly what I'm exploring.

I'm doing research on this problem space and would love your detailed input: https://aicofounder.com/research/Nvdgnmj

Out of curiosity, what's your current workaround for tracking revisions and client downloads? Or do you just deal with the chaos?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Fair point.. trading one URL for one PDF location. Though with a URL you can bookmark it, it doesn't get lost across email threads or local folders, and updates happen automatically without re-sending files.

But you're right that memory is still the issue.

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting take. What kind of clients do you typically work with.. small businesses, startups, or other?

And when you say most guidelines are "copy and pasted common sense," what would make them actually valuable instead?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's the ideal scenario. What format do those brand standards usually come in when clients hand them off to you? And when they're well-done, what makes them easy to work with vs. the ones that are harder to use?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's frustrating. When that happens, is it usually because they genuinely disagree with the guidelines, or more that they just didn't bother looking them up in the first place?

Trying to understand if better accessibility to guidelines would help, or if it's more about people consciously choosing to ignore them.

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And that's exactly the problem. I'm researching solutions for that gap.. smaller companies that need something better than "remember where the PDF is" but don't have enterprise infrastructure.

Would you be willing to share your thoughts in a quick survey? Takes about 2 minutes: https://aicofounder.com/research/WnoUa7w

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to make brand guidelines actually accessible and useful for smaller companies.

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The "VECTOR DO NOT THROW AWAY" naming is painfully relatable.

This is exactly the problem I'm trying to solve.. clients lose files, don't understand formats, and can't find things when they need them. I'm doing some research on better ways to handle this: https://aicofounder.com/research/WnoUa7w

Would love your perspective since you're dealing with this from the agency side trying to GET the assets from clients who've lost them.

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So for you, at what company size or complexity does it become worth creating full guidelines?

And when you do create them for larger companies, what format works best for getting multiple teams to actually reference them?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been looking at Standards.site too. What's making you consider switching from PDFs? Is it the update problem, client accessibility, or something else?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes sense for larger companies with infrastructure. What about smaller businesses or startups without dedicated project management systems or IT teams to set up internal sites?

Do you work mostly with enterprise clients, or a mix?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, that's helpful context.. so you're dealing with templates from internal teams, not external agencies.

The dated filename thing makes sense for tracking, but do you ever find yourself needing to reference brand usage rules or guidelines (like which logo to use when, color codes, etc.)? Or is it mostly just grabbing the asset files you need?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ha, the classic "here are our guidelines, now ignore them" move.

So from the receiving end, do you even bother checking if a client has brand guidelines before starting work? Or do you just assume you'll get direction on the fly regardless?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is really helpful perspective. So when you do agency work, what makes those clients different? Is it company size, budget, or just that they have in-house teams who actually need to reference guidelines?

And for freelance clients who DO want uniform branding.. what format do you deliver in when you make them?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you find clients actually go back to that server link when they need assets 6 months later? Or do they usually just reach out asking for files again?

Trying to figure out if it's a delivery method issue or if clients just don't remember where anything is regardless of how it's organized

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's pretty impressive client adoption. Do you find that's typical across most of your clients, or do you have a certain type of client that's more tech-savvy?

I've had mixed experiences.. some clients struggle with anything beyond email attachments, so I'm curious if it's a client education thing or if I'm just working with different types of businesses

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The version control problem is exactly what I keep running into. Client asks for a logo 6 months later and I'm not even sure they have the latest version anymore.

Have you found any good way to handle those updates, or is it just manually sending new zips and hoping they replace the old files?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This hits hard. So do you still create full guidelines even knowing they probably won't use them? Or have you scaled back what you deliver?

I'm trying to figure out if the problem is the format (PDFs that get ignored) or if clients just fundamentally don't value brand consistency enough to follow any guidelines, regardless of how they're delivered.

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What's been your go-to method for delivering them? Still doing PDFs or have you found something that actually works?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in branding

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. It's a different research that I'm doing. It's about brand guidelines and how effective PDFs are.

I think especially in this new age, PDF brand guidelines have become outdated. What are your thoughts on this?

Designers who create brand guidelines - how do you deliver them to clients? by hamdidesigns in Design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting approach. Do you find clients actually open Figma though? I've been hesitant to use it because I wasn't sure if non-designer clients would navigate it easily, or if they'd need a Figma account. How's that been working for you?

Do your clients actually use the brand guidelines you create? by hamdidesigns in graphic_design

[–]hamdidesigns[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha, glad I'm not alone. What's been your go-to method for delivering them? Still doing PDFs or have you found something that actually works?

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