TIL brand guidelines aren't just corporate fluff like I thought

I used to think brand guidelines were just stuffy rules that marketing guys made up to justify their jobs. Last year I worked on a side project rebranding a local coffee shop in Portland called Bean & Vine. The owner wanted a new logo and color scheme so I just threw together something that looked cool. It bombed hard. Customers didn't recognize the shop anymore and sales dropped like 15% in two months. That forced me to actually dig into what brand consistency means. I realized the guidelines aren't about control, they're about making sure people can actually identify you across different places. Now I follow them even for small gigs. Has anyone else had a similar wake up call where strict branding rules ended up saving your work?

1 comments

1 Comment

phoenix_adams601mo ago

Yeah 15% drop in two months isn't a small dip though.