At Pics.io, we are lucky to support dozens of creative teams, offering digital asset management solutions. When we chat with designers, marketing managers, or videographers, we hear a lot about the issues teams face (drowning in multiple revisions, running out of storage, finding the right version of the logo, etc.) when creating corporate designs.

在Pics.io，我们很幸运能够支持数十个创意团队，提供数字资产管理解决方案。 当我们与设计师，市场经理或摄像师聊天时，我们会听到很多有关团队在创建公司设计时面临的问题(涉及多个版本，耗尽存储空间，查找正确版本的徽标等)。

Since we understand the importance of getting branding right, in this post, we decided to share creative tips with fellow designers and marketing managers on:

由于我们了解正确建立品牌的重要性，因此在本文中，我们决定与以下设计师和营销经理分享创意提示：

• What is the brand kit?
  什么是品牌套件？
• How is it different from brand guidelines?
  与品牌指南有何不同？
• Why is it important for a company’s brand identity?
  为什么对公司的品牌形象很重要？
• What are the essential elements you have to include in it?
  您必须包括哪些基本元素？

什么是品牌套件？ (What is a Brand Kit?)

The brand kit is a resource pack that determines what design elements differentiate your company from others. It includes the following elements:

品牌工具包是一个资源包，它确定哪些设计元素使您的公司与其他公司区分开。 它包括以下元素：

• All versions of the logo
  徽标的所有版本
• Logo placement on social media
  徽标在社交媒体上的位置
• Brand fonts
  品牌字体

And sometimes:

而有时：

• Font sizes and typography. (Base fonts).
  字体大小和版式。 (基本字体)。
• The brand’s color palette.
  品牌的调色板。
• Graphic and illustrative elements.
  图形和说明性元素。
• Packshot elements.
  Packshot元素。
• Sound cues used for advertising.
  用于广告的声音提示。

Having a brand kit is convenient — you can use it both within the company and share it with external parties, such as press or partners. Some companies even distribute brand kits publicly, as these lay out the brand’s identity and can help attract more customers. Using the brand kit you can be sure that every teammate and every external partner is on the same page concerning the visual elements of your brand and where to find them.

拥有品牌工具包非常方便-您可以在公司内部使用它，也可以与媒体或合作伙伴等外部各方共享。 一些公司甚至公开分发品牌工具包，因为它们展示了品牌的身份并可以帮助吸引更多的客户。 使用品牌工具包，您可以确保每个队友和每个外部合作伙伴都在同一页面上，以了解品牌的视觉元素以及在何处找到它们。

我们所知道的品牌工具包：我们如何到达那里 (Brand Kits as We Know Them: How We Got There)

In 2020, sharing your logo, typography, and other visual elements doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary. However, the journey that got us from paper-based booklets to PDFs and open-source brand kits was long and full of milestones.

在2020年，共享徽标，版式和其他视觉元素似乎并不寻常。 但是，从纸质手册到PDF和开源品牌工具包的旅程漫长而充满里程碑。

• Paper-based brand kits became more common in the 20th century. These were huge — with 50+ pages and describe the philosophy of the brand and the reasoning behind its visual identity in huge detail. First brand books were rare even among top companies — small business owners wouldn’t be able to afford printing one.

  纸质品牌工具包在20世纪变得越来越普遍。 这些内容非常庞大-超过50页，详细描述了品牌的理念以及其视觉识别背后的原因。 一线品牌的书籍即使在顶级公司中也很少见-小企业主将无力负担印刷一本书的费用。

• PDF-based kits were the next milestone we reached when the Internet became a thing. Some companies still use them — but are these inconvenient! Developers and marketers could easily lose track of a single PDF file, designers, on the other hand, struggled to update it after new logo revisions.

  基于PDF的工具包是互联网成为事物时我们迈出的下一个里程碑。 一些公司仍在使用它们-但是不方便！ 开发人员和营销人员可能很容易丢失单个PDF文件，而另一方面，设计人员在修改了新徽标后就难以对其进行更新。

• Publicly available brand kits. In the world of corporate design, publicly available visual assets are a definition of best practices. Now companies no longer think of logos and other identity elements as something confidential — instead, they are sharing them openly to make sure designers, developers, marketing managers, and partners can easily find a needed visual online. Top-notch brands like Toyota, Google, Facebook, Instagram, and many others make it easy to access brand assets — SME owners should, too!

  公开可用的品牌套件 。 在公司设计领域，公开可用的视觉资产是最佳实践的定义。 现在，公司不再将徽标和其他标识元素视为机密信息，而是公开共享它们，以确保设计师，开发人员，市场经理和合作伙伴可以轻松地在网上找到所需的视觉效果。 丰田，谷歌，Facebook，Instagram和其他许多一流品牌使访问品牌资产变得容易-中小企业所有者也应该如此！

为什么品牌套件很重要？ (Why Brand Kits Are Important?)

Designing a brand kit might seem like a lot of unnecessary hassle. However, it is one of your company’s key reference documents, something you and your partners will be relying on for years to come. It is no coincidence that all top brands have fleshed-out visual identity kits — here’s why these are important:

设计品牌工具包似乎有很多不必要的麻烦。 但是，它是贵公司的关键参考文件之一，您和您的合作伙伴将在未来几年中依赖它。 所有顶级品牌都拥有充实的视觉识别套件并非偶然，这就是为什么它们如此重要的原因：

• They promote consistency. Having a clear corporate color palette, typography, and logo placement all increase the memorability of your marketing materials. With these branded elements, a website visitor or a customer will be able to tell the company apart from others in a glance.

  它们促进一致性 。 拥有清晰的公司调色板，版式和徽标位置都可以提高营销材料的记忆力。 有了这些品牌元素，网站访问者或客户便可以一目了然地告诉公司。

• They make you ask yourself the right questions. When creating a brand kit, you will face topics like “Why did we choose this color?”, “What does this font mean to the company?”. Answering these questions helps business owners work out their positioning and set of values, improving the effectiveness of your marketing activities.

  他们使您问自己正确的问题 。 在创建品牌工具包时，您将遇到诸如“我们为什么选择这种颜色？”，“此字体对公司意味着什么？”之类的主题。 回答这些问题有助于企业主确定自己的定位和价值观念，从而提高营销活动的效率。

• They save time. At Pics.io, we are all about efficiency — that’s why we can’t help but notice the difference a brand kit makes in improving your creative team’s work. Without one, it’s harder for designers to decide on the right color palette for marketing materials, logo placement, or a packshot for a video. By creating a set of standards for creators to follow, you will have to answer fewer questions and will work more productively.

  他们节省时间 。 在Pics.io，我们全都着眼于效率-这就是为什么我们不禁会注意到品牌工具包在改善创意团队工作方面所发挥的作用。 没有一个，设计人员就很难为营销材料，徽标位置或视频包装选择正确的调色板。 通过创建一套供创作者遵循的标准，您将需要回答的问题更少，工作效率更高。

• They tell you apart from a fake. As the company becomes more popular, the risks of somebody wanting to use your name for something shady get higher. However, as long as you have a branding kit, it will be easier to differentiate a fake letter or business card from the real one. Thus, as long as all of the company’s designs are documented, calling pretenders out will be a piece of cake.

  他们告诉你除了假货 。 随着公司变得越来越受欢迎，某人想要使用您的名字来遮盖某些东西的风险越来越高。 但是，只要您拥有品牌工具，就可以更容易地将伪造的信件或名片与真实的信件或名片区分开。 因此，只要公司的所有设计都记录在案，召集假装将是小菜一碟。

品牌工具包与品牌指南：差异 (Brand Kit vs Brand Guidelines: The Difference)

Since brand kit and brand guidelines are similarly-sounding concepts, it’s easy to confuse them. Keep in mind that there is a difference between the two, however subtle it may be.

由于品牌工具包和品牌准则是相近的概念，因此很容易混淆它们。 请记住，两者之间可能会有细微的差别。

The fundamental difference between the brand kit and brand guidelines is that the brand kit speaks more for the set of visual elements of your brand, while brand guidelines are a set of standards for how your brand should communicate itself. To make it simple, a brand kit is simply a set of ready-to-use design elements. Guidelines and brand books present a detailed description of your brand. It’s worth noting that, typically, a brand kit is a part of the company’s brand guidelines deck.

品牌工具包与品牌指南之间的根本区别在于，品牌工具包更多地代表了品牌的视觉元素，而品牌指南则是品牌如何进行自我沟通的一组标准。 为简单起见，品牌工具包只是一组现成的设计元素。 指南和品牌书籍详细介绍了您的品牌。 值得注意的是，通常，品牌工具包是公司品牌指南中的一部分。

Let’s take a look at the several other distinctions between brand kits and brand guidelines.

让我们看看品牌工具包和品牌准则之间的其他几个区别。

品牌剖析 (Anatomy of a Brand)

Now that you understand why the brand kit is important for businesses, let’s take a look at what elements you should add to your brand.

既然您已经了解了品牌工具包为什么对企业很重要，那么让我们看一下您应该在品牌中添加哪些元素。

There are no set-in-stone brand kit components — some companies have more than others depending on the range of their marketing activities. Besides, the brand kit is in most cases the part of brand guidelines, as a result when any member of the company or external partner uses its elements, he/she has to follow certain guidelines. Below we describe several popular elements of the brand kit, as well as brief guidelines on how to apply them in marketing activities

没有固定的品牌工具包组件，有些公司的营销活动范围要比其他公司多。 此外，在大多数情况下，品牌工具包是品牌准则的一部分，因此，当公司或外部合作伙伴的任何成员使用其元素时，他/她必须遵循某些准则。 以下我们描述了品牌工具包的一些流行元素，以及在营销活动中如何应用这些元素的简要指南

1.主要徽标和所有可能的变化 (1. Main logo and all possible variations)

The logo is the most important part of a brand’s visual identity. Attaching a memorable image to the company’s website, marketing materials, and products helps prospective customers remember the brand and differentiate it from competitors.

徽标是品牌视觉识别中最重要的部分。 在公司的网站，营销材料和产品上附加一个令人难忘的形象，可以帮助潜在客户记住该品牌并将其与竞争对手区分开。

Since there are different logo placement types (as a favicon, a watermark, an element of website design, etc.) brands rarely have a single logo for all marketing purposes. Some, like LinkedIn, have multiple design variations in different languages and dimensions.

由于存在不同的徽标放置类型(例如收藏夹，水印，网站设计的元素等)，因此品牌很少会为所有营销目的使用单个徽标。 某些应用程序(例如LinkedIn)在不同的语言和尺寸上具有多种设计变体。

Here are the details about the company’s logo you should add to the brand kit:

以下是应添加到品牌工具包中的公司徽标的详细信息：

• Logo colors plus CMYK & RGB tags. You can add alternative palettes as well (LinkedIn, for instance, has black and white logos, other than the main design). The typical brand kits include colored versions of the logo and black&white versions.
  徽标颜色以及CMYK和RGB标签。 您还可以添加其他调色板(例如，LinkedIn除了主要设计外，还具有黑白徽标)。 典型的品牌工具包包括徽标的彩色版本和黑白版本。
• Logo variations for different placements (specify which design fits which type of materials) — in most cases brand kits include vertical and horizontal versions of the logo.
  不同位置的徽标变化(指定哪种设计适合哪种类型的材料)-在大多数情况下，品牌工具包都包含徽标的垂直和水平版本。
• Download links to high-resolution logo versions in different formats (PNG (for web), TIFF (for printing). vector SVG (for web), and EPS (for printing).
  下载指向不同格式的高分辨率徽标版本的链接(PNG(用于Web)，TIFF(用于打印)，矢量SVG(用于Web)和EPS(用于打印)。
• Scaling and clear space requirements — the size of the logo in marketing and printed materials and the spacing between the design and the main content of marketing materials.
  缩放和清晰的空间要求-营销和印刷材料中徽标的大小以及设计与营销材料主要内容之间的间距。
• Trademarking specifications (if any).
  商标规格(如果有)。

2.品牌调色板 (2. Branded color palette)

The background colors or font colors of your marketing materials shouldn’t be random — make sure a user can easily associate them with the brand. Once you choose the palette that sets your company apart from others, include these colors to the brand kit.

市场营销资料的背景颜色或字体颜色不应是随机的-确保用户可以轻松地将其与品牌相关联。 一旦选择了使您的公司与众不同的调色板，就将这些颜色添加到品牌工具包中。

Take a look at how Adobe lists all colors the company uses for marketing and advertising. To make sure your brand kit is just as convenient for designers, add the following about the company’s corporate color palette:Color names, CMYK and RGB tags

看一下Adobe如何列出公司用于营销和广告的所有颜色。 为了确保您的品牌工具包对设计人员同样方便，请添加有关公司公司调色板的以下信息：颜色名称，CMYK和RGB标签

• Specifications which colors can be used as background.
  可以将哪些颜色用作背景的规范。
• Example of the uses of corporate colors in promotional materials.
  在宣传材料中使用公司色彩的示例。

Making sure the colors read the same across media is key to having the brand kit appear cohesive. After you have established a primary color palette you can also include the secondary palette. The secondary palette is what compliments and supports your primary brand palette. It provides a set of colors that can be easily paired with your brand’s palette. Depending on the look and feel of the brand you’re trying to achieve, you can combine different colors and choose the combination perfect for the overall distinction of your brand.

确保颜色在各种介质上读取相同，这是使品牌工具包看起来具有凝聚力的关键。 建立主要调色板后，您还可以包括次要调色板。 次要调色板是对您主要品牌调色板的补充和支持。 它提供了一组可以轻松与您品牌的调色板配对的颜色。 根据您要实现的品牌的外观和感觉，您可以组合不同的颜色，并为您的品牌的整体差异选择完美的组合。

3.版式 (3. Typography)

Other than sharing images, your marketing materials contain at least a few paragraphs of copy. Rather than settling for a standard font like Georgia, make typography a part of the brand’s visual identity.

除共享图像外，您的营销材料还包含至少几段副本。 字体排版不是品牌像佐治亚州的标准字体，而是品牌视觉标识的一部分。

Add all fonts and styles to the brand kit so that designers know how to style and format copy. Take a look at the way Cisco lays out the brand’s chief typography styles.

将所有字体和样式添加到品牌工具包中，以便设计师知道如何设置样式和格式。 看看思科布置该品牌主要字体样式的方式。

To make sure you don’t miss a thing when explaining the brand’s typography, here’s a structure for this part of the brand kit:

为确保您在解释品牌的版式时不会错过任何内容，下面是品牌工具包这一部分的结构：

• All font variations (bold, light, regular).
  所有字体变体(粗体，浅色，常规)。
• Link to the font pack.
  链接到字体包。
• Cyrillic and Latin typography versions, the fonts for digits, and special characters.
  西里尔字母和拉丁字体版本，数字字体和特殊字符。
• Font size and color.
  字体大小和颜色。

4.图形和插图元素 (4. Graphic and Illustrative Elements)

In this section of the kit, you can include information about the type and style of images associated with the brand. If certain kinds of photos are preferred, include that information here. You can also include a grid of examples of the kinds of photos to include. You can also include styles of illustrations or artwork as well. If the brand has a hand-drawn feel, include how the illustrations paired with the logo should also have a hand-drawn feel, for instance.

在工具包的此部分中，您可以包括有关与品牌相关的图像类型和样式的信息。 如果需要某些类型的照片，请在此处包括该信息。 您还可以包含要包含的照片种类的示例网格。 您还可以包括插图或艺术品的样式。 如果品牌有手绘的感觉，请举例说明与徽标配对的插图也应具有手绘的感觉。

灵感来自前三的品牌套件 (Top 3 Brand Kits to Take Inspiration From)

When designing a brand kit, it’s helpful to draw inspiration from the way large-scale companies are guiding designers, partners, and press. To make sure you are never out of creative ideas, take a look at these brand kit examples:

在设计品牌工具包时，从大型公司指导设计师，合作伙伴和媒体的方式中汲取灵感很有帮助。 为确保您永远不会失去创意，请查看以下品牌工具包示例：

1. 中 (1. Medium)

The platform explains its identity in a concise blog post that takes about three minutes to read back-to-back. Here, you can find the rules on logo usage, as well as the corporate color palette. The post covers the dos and the don’ts of featuring the brand’s visual elements online and is very comprehensive.

该平台在一篇简洁的博客文章中解释其身份，该文章大约需要三分钟才能连续阅读。 在这里，您可以找到徽标使用规则以及公司调色板。 这篇文章涵盖了在网上展示品牌视觉元素的作用和不应该，并且内容非常全面。

2. Netflix (2. Netflix)

The world’s leading streaming platform shares its brand kit publicly as well. Here, designers can get pointers on how to use corporate symbols and logos in their work. Other than that, you can download and explore the brand’s high-resolution assets.

全球领先的流媒体平台也公开共享其品牌工具包。 在这里，设计师可以获取有关如何在工作中使用公司符号和徽标的指导。 除此之外，您还可以下载和探索品牌的高分辨率资产。

3. 松弛 (3. Slack)

The Slack brand kit is one of the good examples of the simple and clear visual elements pack. Whether you are a manager or a designer, this one is definitely worth checking out. You’ll find out their logos, fonts, icons, images, and other visual elements.

Slack品牌工具包是简单清晰的视觉元素包的很好的例子之一。 无论您是经理还是设计师，这绝对值得一试。 您会发现它们的徽标，字体，图标，图像和其他视觉元素。

您应该在哪里存放品牌工具包？ (Where Should You Store Brand Kits?)

Creating a brand kit is not easy — there are dozens of elements to keep track of. That’s why business owners and marketing teams need a way to organize their visual assets comfortably.

创建品牌工具包并非易事-要跟踪许多要素。 这就是为什么企业主和营销团队需要一种舒适地组织视觉资产的方法。

At Pics.io, we noticed that using digital asset management makes the world of difference when working on brand kits. Here’s how our photo and video management platform helps teams keep track of brand kit elements:

在Pics.io，我们注意到使用数字资产管理在制作品牌工具包方面与众不同。 这是我们的照片和视频管理平台如何帮助团队跟踪品牌工具包元素的方法：

• Centralized hub. The main advantage of DAM is that it provides a centralized hub where all teammates can easily find up-to-date branding materials (logos, typography…).

  集中式集线器 。 DAM的主要优点是，它提供了一个集中式的中心，所有队友都可以在其中轻松地找到最新的品牌资料(徽标，字体等)。

• Intelligent tagging — if you don’t remember file names, find photos based on what’s in the fame.

  智能标记 -如果您不记得文件名，请根据成名信息查找照片。

• Custom websites — share brand kit elements with teammates, partners, and press in just a few clicks.

  自定义网站 -与队友，合作伙伴共享品牌工具包元素，然后单击几下。

• Collaboration-friendly platform — approve of logos, images, and other assets in teams.

  易于协作的平台 -批准团队中的徽标，图像和其他资产。

• Version control — track and approve revisions of your designs.

  版本控制 -跟踪和批准设计的修订。

• Auto backup — you will not have to worry about your teammate accidentally deleting a file.

  自动备份 -您无需担心队友意外删除文件。

Finding a new home for your visual assets and brand kit materials has never been easier. Just incorporate the digital asset management solution into your workflow.

为您的视觉资产和品牌工具包材料寻找新家从未如此简单。 只需将数字资产管理解决方案纳入您的工作流程即可。

Although branding kits are an extremely important document for business owners and marketing teams, a lot of creators still ignore them. Since offering designers, marketers, partners, and presses your company’s design elements will cut feedback loops and improve brand awareness, take your time to create a detailed identity kit. Granted, it takes a lot of effort — yet, at the end of the day, the pain is worth the gain!

尽管品牌工具包对于企业主和营销团队而言是极其重要的文档，但许多创建者仍然忽略它们。 由于为设计师，营销人员，合作伙伴和媒体提供了您公司的设计元素，因此可以减少反馈循环并提高品牌知名度，因此，请花一些时间来创建详细的标识套件。 当然，这需要付出很多努力-但是，归根结底，痛苦是值得的！