Wouldn’t it be nice if we all received an instruction manual that told us how to dress well for every occasion (yes, even for the nebulous “semi-formal” events) and win social approval? While this certainly isn’t a reality, it can be for your school brand. The metaphorical instruction manual is called a style guide, and it keeps all your school branding ideas and protocols in one place, which makes it easy to access and adhere to. With a style guide on your side, your school will never be out of fashion!
At SportsGraphics, as providers of everything from stair graphics to custom wall pads, we never go forth with rebranding a school without a style guide. It’s the survival rules of sorts for the process, and any school and company, no matter how well-intentioned, would be lost without it.
Why Does a Style Guide Matter So Much in Rebranding a School? Doesn’t it Stifle Creativity?
Not at all. A style guide is typically completed after you’ve made all the decisions about your school’s new logo, colors, and graphics. If you were to create and distribute such a guide when you were in the middle of that process, imagine the chaos that would reign!
Indeed, a completed style guide contains all the specifics that everyone from t-shirt producers to media producers needs to know when they’re creating content for your school—fonts, logos, designs, and the like. The objective of a style guide is to ensure adherence to your predetermined brand identity and make it easy for your school to maintain said identity.
Style guides
● Ensure that your school stands out | Once you’ve worked out the details about how you want your school to be seen, you can fill your style guide with all the visual information needed to make that happen. This creates the means to bring your vision to life, which allows its fully realized version to shine brighter than the competition.
● Make things convenient for you | Imagine having to describe—in picturesque detail, mind you—your school’s vibe to every single relevant company you spoke to. Just writing the email would take hours and answering any situation-specific questions even longer. A style guide ensures that you have all your bases covered, which saves you time and stress.
● Tell your designers what not to do | Style guides can also contain items or constructions which must be avoided. By spelling out exactly what you want and don’t want, you set your business partners—and by proxy, your school’s brand—up for success.
Contact SportsGraphics Today for High-Quality School Branding
We’re a Clarion, Iowa provider of both school rebranding services and branded products. We can help you see your rebranding from brainstorming to seamless implementation. Give us a call now at 800-257-6405.