Visual Assets

If your designer delivers a single JPG logo on a white background, you have a problem. That file is essentially useless for most real-world applications. You cannot place it on a coloured background without the white box showing. You cannot scale it up for signage without it pixelating. You cannot send it to a printer for embroidery or engraving.

A proper logo delivery includes multiple file formats, each designed for a specific use case. At minimum, you need SVG (scalable vector — this is the master file that can be resized infinitely), PNG with transparent background (for digital use — websites, presentations, social media), EPS or AI (for print production — your printer will ask for this), and PDF (a universal vector format that anyone can open).

Beyond formats, you need colour variations. A full-colour version for standard use. A single-colour (mono) version for embroidery, engraving, or single-colour print. A reversed (white) version for dark backgrounds. And ideally, a black version for fax, stamps, or low-fidelity reproduction.

A brand colour is not one value — it's a system. The same coral that looks perfect on screen will print completely differently if you only specify the Hex code. Every colour in your palette needs to be defined across multiple colour models: Hex and RGB for digital, CMYK for print, and Pantone (PMS) for exact colour matching on merchandise, signage, and premium print work.

Your colour system should have hierarchy. Primary colours carry the brand — these appear on the logo, key touchpoints, and hero elements. Secondary colours support and extend the palette for layouts, backgrounds, and sectioning. Accent colours create emphasis — call-to-action buttons, highlights, notification states. Without this hierarchy, designers and marketers end up using brand colours at random, and consistency breaks down.

Accessibility matters here too. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text. If your brand blue doesn't meet contrast requirements against white, you need to document which combinations work and which don't. A good brand guide includes an accessibility matrix showing every colour pairing and its pass/fail status.

Finally, document tints and shades. A 10%, 20%, and 50% tint of each primary colour gives designers flexibility for backgrounds, hover states, and subtle layering without going off-brand. These should be specified as exact values, not left to guesswork.

Typography is where most brand packages fall short. You get told "use Montserrat" with no further guidance. No weights specified, no size hierarchy, no line-height recommendations. The result is that every document, website, and presentation ends up looking slightly different.

A complete typography specification defines at least two typefaces — a heading font and a body font — and explains when to use each. It specifies the weights available (Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold) and which weight applies to which context. It includes a type scale: a system of sizes from small captions through body text to display headings, with consistent ratios between each step.

Font licensing is the part nobody wants to talk about. Many premium typefaces require separate licences for web use, desktop use, and app embedding. If your designer specifies a typeface, make sure the licence covers your actual use cases. A brand guide that recommends a $500/year web font without mentioning the cost is setting the client up for a surprise.

Fallback stacks matter for web. When your brand font fails to load — and it will, sometimes — what should the browser display instead? A specified fallback stack (e.g., "Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif") ensures the page still looks intentional rather than broken.

This is the deliverable most clients never think to ask for, and the one that makes the biggest difference to how a brand actually feels in the real world. Without photography direction, every team member picks stock photos based on personal taste. The result is a visual identity that looks like five different brands stitched together.

A photography style guide defines the look and feel of imagery across all touchpoints. It covers composition preferences (close-up vs wide, centred vs rule-of-thirds), lighting direction (natural vs studio, warm vs cool), colour treatment (saturated vs muted, high contrast vs soft), and subject matter guidelines (what to show, what to avoid, how to represent people).

The gap between stock photography that works and stock that doesn't comes down to authenticity. Generic handshake photos, forced smiles in meeting rooms, and perfectly diverse groups pointing at laptops — these don't build trust. They signal "we couldn't be bothered." Good imagery direction specifies the difference: natural moments, real environments, genuine expressions. It gives whoever is selecting or commissioning photography a clear filter.

Illustration style and iconography deserve the same treatment. If your brand uses icons, specify the style — line weight, corner radius, fill vs outline, grid size. If you use illustration, define the style boundaries. A mood board is one of the most effective specification tools here: a curated collection of reference images that captures the feeling you're after, annotated with what works and why.