The Evolution of Brand Bibles: Adapting to Digital Platforms
Brand bibles had long served as the ultimate guidebook for everything related to a brand’s identity.
These bibles came in thick printed manuals or plain static PDF files. However, as we move into a digital-first landscape (not to mention the rapid technological advancements!), these documents have to adapt to meet new demands.
Join us as we explore the evolution of the brand bible—how it transformed from physical books to digital guides and why it’s important to adapt it continuously to keep pace with the ever-changing branding landscape.
What Is a Brand Bible?
A brand bible is a comprehensive document that provides clear directions on the visual identity, tone of voice, or overall “style” of a brand.
They typically include key elements such as:
- Logo – Specifies how the logo should look across various mediums. Also includes any logo variations and their usage.
- Color Palette – Details the official brand colors to be used, down to the specific hex codes and the specific acceptable color combinations.
- Typography – Shows the approved fonts and their usage in different contexts.
- Imagery / Photography Style – Lists the rules on the specific art style or photography style to be used.
- Brand Voice – Specifies the approved language, tone, diction, slang (if any) to be used on any written materials.
A brand bible goes further than a simple guide. It’s not enough to just attach an image of your logo design and call it a day.
It should state clear instructions—whether you can use a specific color as a background color, whether you can resize it, the required spacing between the elements, and so on.
Take a look at how Netflix does theirs:
It’s very detailed, right? Your brand guide should also be the same.
Here is another example from Slack, this time focusing on brand voice:
Having clear guidelines like these can help brands maintain a cohesive identity. Whether it’s new employees, an influencer you are collaborating with, or a journalist writing a piece about you, they’ll all clearly understand how your brand should come across just by reading your guide.
Limitations of Brand Bibles in the Pre-Digital Era
Brand bibles of the past faced significant limitations.
First is their static nature. Most brand bibles used to exist as printed books. This makes it difficult to modify and update, as any changes require a lengthy revision process. Imagine just needing to change your color palette from #DC143C to #DC144C and needing to rebind a whole book! 😟
The second one is distribution. Since brand bibles were often confined to internal teams, external partners or collaborators sometimes received outdated or incomplete guidelines. Some of them don’t even get a brand bible at all.
This is understandable since it is difficult to mail a copy of your physical guidebook to every partner you will work with. However, this will obviously result in inconsistencies in branding.
Lastly, traditional brand bibles were not designed with digital platforms in mind. They used to contain just the necessary information for the brand since brands would only appear in limited places like TV, radio, or magazines.
However, technological advancements come with new platforms. Brands now need to consider how to translate their identity into social media, email marketing, mobile apps, and websites and meet these platforms’ specific requirements.
In social media alone, what works for Facebook won’t work for LinkedIn. This means you need specific guidelines for each social media app. That’s like 7x more work than before!
The Digital Transformation of Brand Bibles
Technology and digital media have changed how consumers interact with brands.
Here are some quick stats for you:
- Sixty-four percent of the world is now online.
- There are 5.16 billion internet users in 2023 compared to just 400 million back in 2000.
- People spend over six hours a day just browsing the internet, with 94% of that time spent on social media.
- And speaking of social media, 60% of people now have an account on these platforms compared to just 0.4% in 2000.
As you can see, brands must have a strong online presence. If they don’t, they are basically invisible to the eyes of their audience, who spend a huge percentage of their time online.
The shift to mobile-first experiences has also influenced branding. Mobile devices now account for over half of global web traffic. This means brand elements, such as logos, typography, and colors, must be optimized for smaller screens without losing their identity.
With people’s shift to digital media, it only made sense that brand bibles would also turn digital. People wouldn’t expect to see a physical brand book anymore. Instead, they would expect a dedicated brand guideline page on your website or a downloadable PDF file at a minimum.
The content of the brand bible also has to adapt to digital changes. It now needs to include digital platforms like social media and adhere to specific web rules like web-safe fonts or responsive designs.
Branding is also faster-paced than before. To stay relevant, brands usually have to follow trends or experiment with a new platform. This means their brand bible needs to be updated more frequently. Thankfully, digital bibles, unlike traditional physical guidebooks, allow these real-time edits.
Popular Digital Brand Bible Formats
Digital brand bibles can be seen in different formats, such as:
Web-Based
Brands host their brand bibles on a specific page on their website or even get a dedicated URL for it. This makes their brand bible easily accessible to their team or partners worldwide. As this is cloud-based, brands can also easily edit and update when needed.
This is evident in companies like Duolingo, Snapchat, Moleskine, Oatly, and Sonos. They offer clear and detailed guidelines, all placed in layouts that fit their brand identity.
For instance, Oatly’s brand bible highlights their bubbly and animated persona:
While Moleskin’s look is very refined and sophisticated, which is in line with its brand identity:
Some companies also use the dynamic format to make more visually engaging brand bibles. You can see it on Instagram’s:
Or this sleek and beautiful guide from Uber:
Brands can also place their guidelines on a downloadable PDF file. These are also editable and accessible anytime, anywhere.
Here is a sample from the American Red Cross. Their one-page PDF file succinctly summarizes their brand identity and guidelines:
While this one is from Dove, they offer a more comprehensive and detailed guideline, complete with specific scenario examples:
Some brands go the extra mile and create interactive PDFs. These could include clickable links, embedded videos, or flip animations.
An example is Glossier:
Brand Management Platforms
Some brands make use of brand management platforms. Those are centralized hubs where all assets, guidelines, and templates are stored in one place.
These can be tools like Frontify, Brandfolder, or Bynder. If you don’t have the resources to use these tools, you can also upload all your brand assets on cloud drives like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Essential Components of a Digital-Ready Brand Bible
You may now know the basic elements of a brand bible, but there are some extras that you can add to ensure that it’s optimized for everything digital.
Some examples are:
Responsive Logo Design
Each digital platform has a specific logo size requirement. Instagram sizes will be different from Facebook or Snapchat sizes, and vice versa.
The device you’re viewing online content will matter, too—as you’re either browsing on your small mobile phone, on your big desktop screen, or your tablet. If you are just using one size, your logo will look pixelated or weirdly zoomed in.
That’s why there’s now a need for responsive logos. These logos are coded to automatically adjust their size to fit the size and resolution of the screen you are viewing it on. This ensures that you maintain your brand integrity no matter where people see your brand logo.
Web-Safe Typography
You may already have created a beautiful custom typography for your brand, but is it optimized for online viewing?
One thing to consider is web-safe fonts. These are your default fonts, like Arial, Verdana, or Tahoma. They come pre-installed on devices and can be viewed by just about all types of devices and browsers.
Using fonts like these ensures that your online text will appear as intended. You won’t need to worry about your website header suddenly looking wonky or having a huge chunk of your blog article missing because your font didn’t load.
These fonts are also accessible, making them legible for people with visual impairments. This ensures that your brand can be more inclusive for your audience.
Of course, this doesn’t mean saying goodbye to your custom typography. You can still use those for your logo or designs, as they are typically saved as images. But for text-based use, such as on your website, blog articles, or emails, it’s best to use web-safe fonts.
And yes, this means you need guidelines for which web-safe font to use in your brand bible!
Digital-Friendly Colors
Your color palette also needs to be digital-friendly.
These include using high-contrast colors or ones that fit WCAG guidelines. Meeting these guidelines means your content will be readable regardless of visual impairments or screen resolutions.
You must also have separate guidelines for your RGB and CMYK color palette. RGB is used for digital media, while CMYK is for print.
Guidelines for Social Media and Online Content
As social media has become integral to branding, companies must establish clear rules for maintaining their identity across various platforms.
This includes rules in post formatting, image filters, overlay styles, aspect ratio, intro and outro, etc.
A defined brand voice can also help maintain a consistent image across platforms. Make sure this rule covers everything from your post captions to your video scripts.
Another important aspect to add is the management of user-generated content. Brands must list best practices for moderating content created by customers and influencers while ensuring it aligns with their identity.
Multimedia Integration
Since your brand bible is now digital, you can fully use it by adding audio, video, and interactive elements.
This makes your brand bible more interactive and dynamic for anyone who views it. It can also help make your brand story come across clearly since you have elements to enhance your storytelling or add clearer context.
Conclusion
The shift from physical brand bibles to digital ones reflects the evolving nature of branding in our fast-paced digital landscape. If you don’t embrace and adapt to these changes, you will be left behind.
But don’t worry as BrandCrowd is here to help! We have customizable templates for any of your digital needs—from website builders, Facebook Covers, email signatures, and more. You can also tap into our creative community at DesignCrowd and ask for a graphic designer who can build your brand bible from scratch.
You can also check out Design.com’s multitude of AI design tools, like an AI logo generator or AI poster generator for your marketing collateral.
We hope this article has helped you understand the ins and outs of digital brand bibles. Till next time!
