How to Create Video Brand Guidelines
Video brand guidelines ensure consistency in your video content by defining how your brand’s visuals, audio, and messaging should look and feel. They help maintain a unified brand identity while streamlining production processes. Here’s a quick overview of what to include:
- Brand Voice & Messaging: Define tone, storytelling, and calls-to-action.
- Visual Elements: Specify colors, typography, logo placement, and video style.
- Sound Guidelines: Set rules for music, voice-overs, and sound effects.
- Standard Video Elements: Outline intro sequences, end cards, and transitions.
- Accessibility: Ensure captions, audio descriptions, and text visibility meet accessibility standards.
Core Components of Video Guidelines
Video guidelines help ensure your content stays consistent and aligned with your brand. Here’s what to focus on.
Brand Voice and Messaging
Every video should reflect your brand’s personality. Pay attention to these aspects:
- Tone and Language: Decide if your videos should feel formal, conversational, or technical.
- Storytelling Approach: Use narratives that match your brand’s values and purpose.
- Inclusion: Include instructions on addressing all audiences respectfully.
- Call-to-Action Style: Provide clear guidance on how to phrase and present calls to action.
Once your messaging is set, ensure your visuals match the tone.
Visual Elements
Your video’s look should align with your brand identity. If you already have a brand style guide, you’ll likely want to align your video guidelines to the existing brand style. Define these visual elements:
- Color Palette Usage: Specify which colors to use for graphics and overlays.
- Typography Standards: Outline font families, sizes, and text hierarchy for on-screen visuals.
- Logo Placement: Set rules for logo size, clear space, and animation.
- Visual Style: Include preferences for lighting, camera angles, and composition.
- B-roll Requirements: Provide guidelines for any supplementary footage.
- Graphics Standards: Detail animation style, lower thirds design, and icon usage.
Sound Guidelines
Audio plays a key role in how your brand is perceived. Establish standards for:
- Music Selection: Define genre preferences, tempo, and licensing needs. Try including audio samples as references of “do”s and “do not”s.
- Voice-over Specifications: Specify traits like tone, accent, and recording quality.
- Sound Effects: Clarify when and how sound effects should be used.
- Audio Mixing: Set volume levels for music, voice-overs, and ambient sound.
- Brand Sound: Include any signature audio elements unique to your brand.
Standard Video Elements
Consistency in recurring components ensures a polished look. Define requirements for these elements, keeping in mind these may vary for different video series.
| Element | Specification Requirements |
|---|---|
| Intro Sequences | Duration, animation style, and music preferences |
| End Cards | Placement of calls to action, contact details, and social links |
| Lower Thirds | Text alignment, animation timing, and font details |
| Transitions | Style, duration, and effect preferences |
Creating Video Guidelines
Start by examining your brand style guide, pulling out the key elements for video, and ensuring your team shares a clear vision.
Review Current Brand Standards
Check your existing brand style guide to make sure your video content reflects your brand’s identity. Use this as the foundation for creating videos that stay true to your brand while addressing specific platform needs.
Platform-Specific Requirements
Understand the technical specs for each platform to tailor your videos accordingly, all while staying consistent with your brand’s look and feel.
Team Input and Review
Bring in stakeholders from marketing, creative, and production teams early in the process. This ensures the guidelines are practical and align with your brand’s overall goals.
Guidelines Implementation
Guidelines Checklist
Here’s a checklist to help maintain brand consistency while keeping the creative process on track:
Pre-Production Review
- Ensure alignment with brand voice and messaging.
- Confirm visual style matches brand guidelines.
- Verify sound elements meet established standards.
- Validate all platform-specific requirements.
Production Standards
- Check logo placement and timing for accuracy.
- Apply the correct color palette.
- Use approved typography.
- Ensure music is licensed and sound effects are vetted.
- Include any required disclaimers or legal text.
Post-Production Quality Control
- Review for clarity in brand messaging.
- Confirm visual elements are consistent.
- Standardize audio levels.
- Implement accessibility features as needed.
This checklist helps bridge the gap between planning and production while keeping everything on-brand.
Production Flexibility
While the checklist is essential, creativity often demands adaptability.
“First things first–we’ll take the time to understand your brand, discover your vision, and discuss your project. After all, this is your story, not ours.” –Tribe Pictures
To strike the right balance between consistency and creativity:
- Core Elements: Identify the non-negotiable aspects of your brand.
- Flexible Components: Highlight areas where experimentation is encouraged.
While creative freedom is important, accessibility and inclusivity should never be overlooked.
Making Videos Accessible
Guidelines ensure quality, but accessibility ensures that your content connects with everyone.
Follow these accessibility practices:
| Accessibility Feature | Implementation Guide | Quality Check |
|---|---|---|
| Closed Captions (Toggle on/off) | Use proper timing and correct file format for each video player | Verify accuracy and synchronization. |
| Open Captions (Always on) | Use high-contrast colors, readable fonts, and proper timing. | Verify accuracy and synchronization. |
| Text Visibility | Maintain a high-contrast ratio. | Test readability across various devices. |
Additional tips for accessibility:
- Provide captions in multiple formats and offer full transcripts.
- Test videos on different devices and platforms.
- Add alt text for thumbnail images.
- Keep audio levels consistent throughout the video.
These steps help ensure your videos are inclusive and resonate with a broader audience.
Guidelines Management
Keeping video brand guidelines up-to-date is essential for maintaining their relevance and effectiveness. This requires regular reviews and input from your team.
Update Schedule
Brand guidelines should grow alongside your video production needs. Set up a clear review cycle:
| Review Type | Frequency | Focus Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Check | Monthly | Technical specs, platform requirements |
| Core Review | Quarterly | Visual elements, messaging consistency |
| Full Audit | Annually | Comprehensive assessment, industry trends |
Each review should address these focus areas to ensure the guidelines remain practical and aligned with your goals.
When revising guidelines, consider:
- Technical Updates: Adjust specs as platforms and tools evolve.
- Brand Adjustments: Reflect any changes in overall brand strategy.
- Industry Trends: Stay aligned with new video production standards.
- Team Feedback: Resolve recurring challenges in production workflows.
Keep track of updates using version control and maintain a change log for transparency.
Collecting User Input
Beyond scheduling updates, continuous improvement relies on gathering and analyzing feedback.
Here’s how to refine your guidelines effectively:
Production Team Feedback
Hold regular sessions with your team to uncover:- Technical issues impacting quality
- Workflow obstacles slowing production
- Sections of the guidelines needing clarification
- Creative possibilities that fit brand parameters
Audience Response Tracking
Measure viewer engagement to gauge success:- Monitor video completion rates
- Analyze platform-specific engagement metrics
- Review audience comments and direct feedback
Implementation Review
Assess how well guidelines work in practice:- Note successful adaptations
- Identify common deviations and areas needing support
- Highlight time-saving strategies used by the team
Document all feedback and changes thoroughly. This ensures a clear record for future updates and helps refine the guidelines over time.
Finally, share examples of successful implementations and creative solutions with your team. This fosters consistency and inspires better video content aligned with your brand.
Conclusion
Video brand guidelines are key to maintaining consistent and effective visual storytelling. When carefully crafted and regularly updated, they help uphold brand consistency, protect your reputation, and even impact your bottom line.
Good video guidelines strike a balance between technical accuracy and creative vision. They simplify production workflows and improve brand communication, making them an essential tool for any team.
To keep these guidelines relevant, they should grow alongside your brand. Regular updates, team input, and tracking performance are all necessary steps to ensure they remain useful and effective.
“Great filmmaking moves people. It sparks new ideas and spurs needed action. And mediocre productions, well…they hurt your bottom line and tarnish your reputation.” [1]
