Brand Storytelling: The Technology of Storytelling

by: Jon Thomas

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JOE SABIA—THE TECHNOLOGY OF STORYTELLING

In less than four minutes, iPad storyteller Joe Sabia introduces the audience to Lothar Meggendorfer and explains how Lothar’s invention of the pop-up book is helping us tell stories today. He also makes me realize that I’m underutilizing my iPad.

What brands can learn from this talk

“The art of storytelling has remained unchanged…but the way in which humans tell the stories has always evolved, with pure consistent novelty,” Sabia says. Emerging technology has allowed brands to tell stories in many ways. Consider all the storytelling options available to your brand. You aren’t required to embrace and be present on all channels, but don’t limit yourself to traditional mediums because that’s all you know. There are so many tools available that are more effective and less expensive than traditional, interruptive means, and inevitably there will be even newer tools that have yet to be imagined.

Read more from Jon here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Jon Thomas, Storytelling, Technology

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Brand Storytelling: The Clues to a Great Story

by: Jon Thomas

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TED talks are a gold mine of knowledge. Because the TED website’s topics include not only technology, education and design (TED) but also business, science, activism, health, storytelling and everything in between, one can get lost on the site for days.

A number of these short talks (most are around 20 minutes) revolve around storytelling. While they don’t necessarily address brand storytelling, they do offer insights that a brand could apply to its efforts to engage audiences through its brand story. I’ve gathered four talks I found particularly useful, and I’ve included a brand takeaway for each. Enjoy Part 1!

1. ANDREW STANTON—THE CLUES TO A GREAT STORY 

Filmmaker Andrew Stanton knows a thing or two about effective storytelling and breaking storytelling conventions. But no matter the type of story, one rule remains: the storyteller has to make the audience care. Stanton draws on his experience at Pixar as well as his own life to explain what makes a good story, why the audience wants to be put to work, and the roles of drama, anticipation and uncertainty in a gripping story. If for no other reason, watch the talk to hear a great opening for a presentation.

What brands can learn from this talk

The success of a brand, at least from a marketing perspective, isn’t defined by a collection of isolated events, executions or campaigns. Instead, it is determined by how well the brand exists over the long haul—how effectively a story can be woven around the brand and told in a way that makes the audience care, propelling them forward and enticing them to “read on” (so to speak). “If things go static, stories die, because life is never static,” Stanton says.

Ensure that your brand is consistently creating content, whether it be Facebook posts, tweets, an email newsletter or videos. You’ve heard the saying “Keep your audience engaged” time and time again, but it’s imperative for your brand’s ongoing narrative. When your content ends, so too does the act of telling your brand’s story.

Read more from Jon here.

Tags: Brand, Jon Thomas, Story

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Building a Digital Footprint in 8 Easy Steps

by: Mitch Joel

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“Where do I start?” More often than not, that is the first question many professionals have when it comes to dipping their toes into the digital channels. They simply have no idea how to begin… and then what to do after that.

Here are 8 easy steps to build your Digital Footprint:

1. Create a strategy. Far too often, people will hop on to Facebook with no set plan other than, “trying it out.” There’s nothing wrong with trying out any of the many digital channels, but it doesn’t take long to jot down what you want to accomplish (and, more importantly, why you want to accomplish it) first – before filling out any online social networking profiles. If you uncover the strategy after you have already started, you may wind up having a couple of online profiles and spaces that really don’t match your strategy. If someone comes by and sees those initial forays (that you have since abandoned), it might not be the ideal first digital impression of you.

2. Choose the type of content channels and online social networks that match your strategy. All too often we see people on Twitter who would be that much more interesting if they were Blogging. There are people doing things with text that might be better suited for creating images. It’s best to focus on creating and publishing the type of content you are most comfortable with, and that you would enjoy creating the most. The amazing thing about these channels is that anyone can publish. The sad thing is, that some people forget that it’s not just text. You can create audio, video and images as well (and many combinations).

3. Digital Footprint Audit. There are tons of free tools that enable you to listen and see what is being said about you, your company, your products and services. Google News Alerts, Technorati, Twitter Search, and even doing some quick, generic searches on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft can give you the overall temperature of who is saying what. In order to best manage these many tools, you should consider grabbing all of these feeds and unifying them in one singular space. Something like Google Reader or Netvibes is a great place to start.

4. Follow First. Without question, there is somebody (probably many people) already out there using all of these channels. From videos on YouTube to Blogs and Podcasts. Find out who your industry considers to be the top “voices” in the many online channels. Subscribe to their content in your reader and make it a point to read, listen and watch the content at some point everyday. By following those that are already respected, you will be better positioned to see where you can add your voice – both in their environments and on your own.

5. Add your voice. In a world where everyone can (and should) publish their thoughts, you might find it more interesting to either become a frequent commentator on the more popular spaces, or offer to become a contributor to some of the many multi-authored places online (this includes things like industry association Blogs or trade-specific publications). By adding your voice in places that are highly trafficked you can build your presence (and Google Juice) without the stress of maintaining your own. Places like The Huffington Post are prime example of non-industry specific online outlets that are highly trafficked, highly indexed by the search engines and will give you incredible visibility to new people.

6. Start your own, but have a plan. Your overall strategy (step number one) will become your lighthouse. As you fall deeper down the rabbit hole, you’ll always be able to fall back on your strategy to ensure that you are on course, but once you choose to publish your own thoughts on your own platform, you might have an easier time if you create some kind of plan to get started. Think about what goals you want your channel to accomplish, how often you will need to publish, how you will tweak the content as your community grows and what will happen if you were to stop publishing? A plan (even one that includes specific dates for when you should publish content) will help you focus, and it will also get you in the habit of contributing and publishing.

7. Stay active and aware. It’s not just about your space, and it’s not just about following and commenting in the other spaces. It’s about being aware. From Twitter to FriendFeed, there are many new types of publishing platforms being created all of the time. It’s easy to sign-up for all of them and then to forget about them. Some of the channels may not even make any sense to you at the beginning (how many people do you know that still don’t understand what Twitter is, or why anyone would care about that type of content?). It’s also easy to forget about some of the channels that are not mentioned as frequently as the ones that are currently the topic du jour. Be aware of the new and older voices and platforms that are around and the new ones that are coming out.

8. Have fun. One of the primary reasons why people abandon either their own spaces or the ones they used to actively contribute to is because they were no longer having fun with it. It became a job. The trick is to always turn your job into work that you are passionate about. If you start out with the notion that you have to create, comment and participate because it’s your job and that is what is expected of you, it’s going to get ugly fast. There are so many channels out there. Find the ones you really enjoy and create the type of content that gives you the most pleasure. Find your muse.

What are some of the other ways people can dive in and start to explore how to build their own digital footprint?

Read more here.

Mitch Joel – President, Twist Image & author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Digital, Mitch Joel

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Don’t Let the Screen Strangle Your Soul, Part 1

by: Kevin DeYoung

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The first time I really became aware of the full intensity of the problem was in a conversation with a couple students training for the ministry.

I was speaking at one of our top seminaries when after the class two men came up to me in private to ask a question. I could tell by the way they were speaking quietly and shifting their eyes that they had something awkward to say. I was sure they were going to talk about pornography. And sure enough, they wanted to talk about their struggles with the internet. But it wasn’t porn they were addicted to. It was social media. They told me they couldn’t stop looking at Facebook; they were spending hours on blogs and mindlessly surfing the web.

This was several years ago, and I didn’t know how to help them. I hadn’t encountered this struggle before, and I wasn’t immersed in it myself. Five years later: I have, and I am.

I used to make fun of bloggers. I used to lampoon Facebook. I used to laugh at Twitter. In my life I’ve never been an early adopter with technology. I’ve never cared what Steve Jobs was up to. I used to roll my eyes at technophiles.

Until I became one.

Now I have a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, a Bluetooth headset, an iPhone, an iPad, wifi at work and at home, cable t.v., a Wii, a Blu-ray player, multiple email accounts, and unlimited texting. Pride comes before a fall.

I was born in 1977 so I can remember life before the digital revolution. In college we had to go to a computer lab to get on the internet, which wasn’t a big deal because nothing happened on email and I didn’t see anything interesting online. By the time I was in seminary, however, things had changed. Email was a vital way to communicate and the internet was how my friends and I were getting our news (and doing Fantasy Football). But even then (in the late 90s and early 2000s) life was far less connected. I only got an internet connection in my room part way through seminary–one of those loud, lumbering ack-ack dial-up monstrosities. I didn’t have a cell phone in high school, college, or graduate school. As little as four or five years ago I didn’t do anything on my phone and barely accessed the internet at home. I’m not suggesting those days were purer and nobler, but my life felt less scattered and less put upon. Something has changed. A lot, actually.

What Are the Threats?

Much has been written and will be written about our insatiable appetite for the screen. I’ll leave it to others to decide if Google makes us stupid and whether young people are more or less relational than ever before. Let me simply suggest three ways in which the digital revolution, for all its benefits, is also an accomplice to our experience of being hassled, frazzled, and crazy busy. For if we understand the threats, we may have some hope of finding a way forward.

First, there is the threat of addiction. That may sound like too strong a word, but that’s what it is. Could you go a whole day without looking at Facebook? Could you go an afternoon without looking at your phone? What about two days away from email? Even if someone promised there would be no emergencies and no new work would come in, we’d still have a hard time staying away from screen. The truth is many of us can’t not click. We can’t step away, even for a few hours, let alone a few days or weeks.

In his bestselling book The Shallows, Nicholas Carr reflects on how his attitude toward the web has changed. In 2005—the year he says the “Web went 2.0″—he found the digital experience exhilarating. He loved how blogging junked the traditional publishing apparatus. He loved the speed of the internet, the ease, the hyperlinks, the search engines, the sound, the videos, everything.

But then, he recalls, “a serpent of doubt slithered into my infoparadise” (15). He realized that the Net had control over his life in a way his traditional PC never did. His habits were changing, morphing to accommodate a digital way of life. He became dependent on the internet for information and stimulation. He found his ability to pay attention declining. “At first I’d figured that the problem was a symptom of middle-age mind rot. But my brain, I realized, wasn’t just drifting. It was hungry. It was demanding to be fed the way the Net fed it—and the more it was fed, the hungrier it became. Even when I was away from my computer, I yearned to check e-mail, click links, do some Googling. I wanted to be connected” (16).

I’ve noticed the same thing happening to me for the past few years. Unless I’m really in a groove, I can’t seem to work for more than twenty minutes without getting the urge to check my email, glance at a blog, or get caught up on Twitter. It’s a terrible feeling. In a postscript to The Shallows, Carr explains that after his book came out he heard from dozens of people (usually by email) who wanted to share their own stories of how the Web had “scattered their attention, parched their memory, or turned them into compulsive nibblers of info-snacks.” One college senior sent Carr a long note describing how he had struggled “with a moderate to major form of Internet addiction” since the third grade. “I am unable to focus on anything in a deep or detailed manner” the student wrote. “The only thing my mind can do, indeed the only thing it wants to do, is plug back into that distracted frenzied blitz of online information.” He confessed this, even thought he was sure that “the happiest and most fulfilled times of my life have all involved a prolonged separation from the Internet” (226). Many of us are simply overcome—hour after hour, day after day—by the urge to connect online. And as Christians we know that “whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19).

Read Part 2 here.

Read more from Kevin here.

Tags: Attention, Brand, Kevin DeYoung, Social Media

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How to Create a Content Calendar and Engage More People in Your Church

by: Tim Peters

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One of the best ways to connect with your church throughout the week is with social media.  Statistically, over half of your congregation will spend some portion of their week actively engaged on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

But connecting with your audience through social media requires consistent and compelling content.  And not just any content. Your content must be emotional, intelligent, shareable and intentional.  But developing content that is both creative and inspiring takes dedicated time and resources, as well as a considerable amount of effort on your part.

The best way to create emotional and inspiring content is by developing a Publishing Schedule. Developing a publishing schedule helps you plan, produce and publish compelling content that clearly articulates the vision of your church.

Without one, your content quickly becomes redundant, outdated, and unnecessary, and you end up with content no one cares about.

In my research, I found a formula created by Russell Sparkman of Fusionspark Media, used to develop a publishing schedule. The formula is 1-7-30-4-2-1.

I am adapting the formula to 1-7-30 for the sake of simplicity.

Here is a breakdown of the formula:

1 = Daily, 7 = Weekly, 30 = Monthly

This formula determines what content you will publish daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. Keep in mind that whatever content you publish must reinforce and advance a Big Idea or theme.

1 = Daily 

• Twitter Tweets (3-5 Times)
• Facebook Updates (2-4 Times)
• Respond to Twitter, Facebook and Blog Comments

7 = Weekly

• Blog Posts (2-3 Times)
• Short Video (1 Time)
• Update and Edit Website Pages (1 Time)

30 = Monthly

• ENewsletter
• Video Interview
• EBook

This formula might appear overwhelming at first glance.  Maybe you’re thinking, “There’s no way I can accomplish all of this!”  But start where you are, keeping in mind your resources and your target audience.

Content Ideas –

• Devotional eBook Series – Write, design and send eBooks on spiritual subject matter or a book of the Bible
• Short Videos – Interview staff members on why they love their role or brief updates from the Senior Pastor
• Blog Posts – Select a theme and write a series of blog posts.  Write posts on event highlights, life-change stories, sermon notes, book recommendations, devotionals, etc.
• eNewsletter – Switch up layout and flow of eNewsletter and give the reader value with free downloads, resources, etc.

Remember, your key messages are too important not to communicate them consistently, concisely, and with incredible clarity.  Social media is a valuable tool for communicating the mission and vision of your church.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Social Media, Tim Peters

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Jesus and Bad Advertising

by: Steven Furtick

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I was on a road trip about a year ago and my son Elijah needed to use the bathroom. There was a gas station that said “clean restrooms,” so we pulled in.

But the restrooms were filthy. Pee and trash everywhere. It was disgusting. Elijah looked at me and said,  “why does it say clean restrooms when these aren’t clean?” I said, “I guess they lied to us.”

Not too long after this, Elijah and I were in a nice hotel and we went into the restroom and it was super clean. He said to me, “Daddy, does this restroom have a sign that says it has clean restrooms?” It didn’t. Then he responded, “Why do some restrooms say they’re clean and they’re not, and then other restrooms are clean and they don’t say that they are?”

I don’t know.
And I also don’t know why this same dynamic continually plays itself out in the Church either.

The Church is fond of saying that the world offers everything but has nothing. And that’s true. But from my experience, the Church offers everything but doesn’t know how to really advertise it. Either corporately or individually.

People come into our worship experiences and hear us say Jesus is great, but then they see us celebrate Him with mediocrity.
People look at our lives and hear us say we’re Christians, but then they see very little difference in us that would compel them to want the supposed hope and joy that we have.

I’m tired of the world selling their product so well when their product can’t do anything for anybody. But I’m equally tired of the Church having something that can do everything for everybody but we make it look like it can’t do anything for anybody.

I believe the most important message in the world deserves the best presentation. That’s why I’m so adamant about the Church being known for excellence. And that’s why I’m also so adamant about people living up to their full potential in Christ. It’s not that we’re trying to impress people with how great we are. It’s that we’re trying to impress into people how great Jesus is.

Some people might respond by saying that Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. In fact, by presenting the gospel with excellence, we’re taking away from it. We’re stealing glory from God. Making people love the messenger rather than the message.

They probably should have told that to Moses when he was making an ornate Tabernacle.
To Paul when he presented the gospel with skill at Athens.
And to Apollos who was a skilled orator and was used by God powerfully.

Of course Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. But I also don’t think He wants us to make Him look bad either. Or neglect to reflect how great He is.

We’ve got the greatest message in the world.

Let’s not make it harder than it has to be for people to realize how great it is.

Read more from Steven here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Steven Furtick

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Church Communication Hero: Martin Luther King, Jr.

by: Kevin Hendricks

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Martin Luther King Jr. is perhaps the greatest champion for social change in 20th century America. He was also a Baptist minister.

He led a congregation, like many of you.

He sat through church business meetings, like many of you.

He worked to share the story of the gospel with his community, like many of you.

It’s somewhat revisionist and a little demeaning to call his work marketing, but in some small ways it was. He shared a message with his community and nation that ultimately spoke of the gospel story of freedom and redemption. He obviously didn’t use postcards and Facebook and sermon graphics, but he did use marches and rallies and non-violent protest.

More the rest of the story here.

Read more from Kevin here.

Tags: Brand, Communication, Jr., Kevin Hendricks, Martin Luther King

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The Biggest Church Website Needs for 2013

by: Justin Wise

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We asked a simple question: What is something you will need on your church website in 2013?

Hundreds responded and we picked the ones most indicative of the overall themes. Here is what church and ministry leaders from across the country will be implementing on their websites in the next year:

Content Organization  

Investing in finding out what catches someone who is looking at your site for the first time. Josh S.

Organization of our voluminous materials for every audience! Olga D.

A system in place to help people understand how to mature through the different steps and programs available. How to effectively reach people through the web. Carlos B.

Better content management, for site to be relevant representation of church. Shawnte M.

Information architecture to prioritize the pages and information. David E.

Getting information up front and easy to find—and everyone wants their information up front! Heidi H.

Multimedia

Sermon-specific media player. Joel N.

More photos, content, interactivity. Joshua M.

The ability to easily share site pages via Twitter or Facebook. Sam J.

Video capability for streaming our services. Mike K.

Video archives of our Sunday messages. Rick C.

More video/graphic content; less text. I guess I’ll know more after we read this white paper 🙂 Ben C.

Interpersonal Buy-In

We’ll be concentrating on getting ministry staff buy-in for help in generating fresh, engaging, content. Gail H.

Building a volunteer database for maintenance. Especially for keeping track of people with some tech and design savvy. John S.

More stories of life change. Julia H.

Online giving and better intra-church communication. Sarah E.

Building a Professional Website

Integrating our various forms of communication (we use EMMA for our e-newsletter, CCB for congregation info management, Tumblr for our blog, WordPress for our website, and most of our current information (including photos, etc.) is on Facebook. Steve P.

Moving from ‘home-made’ to a professional website. Joe F.

A way to capture and tell stories better. Krista W.

Researching how to direct people to the site, successfully convey the vision of the ministry to them through the site, and keep them engaged in the content of the site in a simple, clear, and effective way. Eric M.

Conclusion

The emerging themes are clear: Content organization and governance, increased multimedia, buy-in from other leaders, and building a professional website are the top priorities for church leaders in 2013.

Did you see anything on this list you’d like to implement in your own context?

Read more from Justin here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Justin Wise

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Designing Style Guidelines for Brands and Websites

by: Kat Neville

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A website is never done. Everyone has worked on a project that changed so much after it launched that they no longer wanted it in their portfolio. One way to help those who take over your projects is to produce a style guide.

Edward Tufte once said: “Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.” Although there’s no stopping some clients from making their website awful, by creating a style guide, you’re effectively establishing rules for those who take over from you.

WHY CREATE A STYLE GUIDE?

• You’ll have an easy guide to refer to when handing over the project.
• Makes you look professional. They’ll know you did everything for a reason
• You maintain control of the design. When someone does something awful, you can refer them to the document.
• You avoid cheapening the design, message and branding.
• Forces you to define and hone your style, making for a more cohesive design.

(Smashing’s note: If you are looking for a good book on mobile, this is the one. Our brand new book on best design and coding practices for mobile, Responsive Web design and UX design for mobile. Get your copy now!)

Branding Guidelines: What To Include?

STRATEGIC BRAND OVERVIEW

This should be short and sweet. In as few words as possible, make clear the vision for this design and any keywords people should keep in mind while designing. Most people will probably flip straight to the picture pages, but they may read a few sentences here.

See Kew’s branding guidelines.

Kew uses strong photography in its “brand essence” message, with a few paragraphs that both inspire and define the brand. Even if you read only the first sentence, you get a sense of what it’s trying to do. While Kew has quite a few of these message pages, they are intertwined with beautiful photography that themselves define the photographic style and primary message.

LOGOS

For print and Web, most brands revolve around the logo. Make sure you provide logo variations and clarify minimum sizes.

See Cunard’s branding guidelines.

Cunard provides many variations on its minimum sizes. Because its crest can be displayed either on its own, with the name or with the tagline, specifying minimum sizes is important for legibility (for example, if the logo with the tagline is too small, it will be illegible).

See Think Brick’s branding guidelines.

Provide logos with different colors, and specify which colours are allowed. Think Brick gives designers a lot of options with its design. The point is to allow flexibility while maintaining consistency.

SHOW EXAMPLES OF WHAT AND WHAT NOT TO DO

You’re a professional, and you know better than to mess around with logos. But many others will try and think they’ve done a good job. They are so wrong. You must make clear what they can and cannot do with a design.

See I Love New York’s branding guidelines.

I Love New York has done a great job defining all the things you shouldn’t do with its logo. It has also produced a beautiful (though bit wordy) document.

SPACING

Many non-designers underestimate the need for white space. Include a spacing reference, especially for the logo. Rather than specifying inches or centimeters, use a portion of the logo (a letter or a shape) to set the clearance. This way, whether the logo is big or small, the space around it will be sufficient.

See BlackBerry’s branding guidelines (PDF, 2.2 MB).

BlackBerry not only explains its spacing policy, but also uses the capital B in the logo to define the clearance.

COLORS

Always include color palettes and what the colors should be used for. And include formats for both print and Web: CMYK, Pantones (if they exist) and RGB (or HEX). Always include a CMYK alternative for Pantones because sometimes matching is hard (especially when Pantone printing is not possible). Specify primary and secondary colours and when and where to use them.

See Channel 4′s style guide.

Channel 4 shows all of its Web and print colors, and it displays the swatches below an image that helps to define its color palette.

See the New School’s branding guidelines.

The New School is clear about its primary colors and defines them for both print (Pantone and CMYK) and Web (RGB). Its brand guideline document is beautiful, too.

See Christopher Doyle’s Personal Identity Guidelines.

Okay, so this one isn’t a traditional branding guideline, but rather a personal identity guideline. Here Christopher Doyle shows off some alternative color palettes. He does a fantastic job of mocking branding guidelines; well worth a look (and chuckle).

FONTS

You’ll need to define the typefaces to use: sizes, line height, spacing before and after, colors, headline versus body font, etc. Make sure to include Web alternatives for non-Web fonts.

See Yale’s typeface.

Yale has its own typeface, which it provides to its designers.

See Yale’s Visual Identity page.

On the typeface section of its website, Yale also details when fonts should be used. It has a specific Web font section, detailing which fonts to use there.

LAYOUTS AND GRIDS

By setting up templates and guidelines for grids, you encourage best practices and promote consistency. In Web, preparing some generic templates can curb excessive creativity with the layout.

See the Barbican’s branding, print and Web guidelines.

For its website, the Barbican has set up building blocks that are both flexible and ordered—meaning they’re likely to remain in a grid.

TONE OF VOICE

A huge component of a brand’s personality is the copy, and defining the tone is a great way to keep a brand consistent. When multiple people are writing the copy, the brand can start to sound like it has multiple personalities.

See easyJet’s branding guidelines (PDF, 2 MB).

easyJet has a well-defined personality, both verbal and written, and it gives examples for both.

COPY-WRITING GUIDE

For those who require clients to write their own copy but want to maintain consistency, a copy-writing style guide can be helpful. Copy-writing is one of those things that most people register subconsciously. When reading, your brain automatically looks for consistency and patterns, and poor copy-writing can ruin the reading flow.

See CAN’s branding guidelines (PDF, 845 KB).

CAN wants its number formats to look the same. On another page, it defines which spelling variants to use, reminds people of common mistakes and more.

IMAGERY

Many designers have established a particular tone in their photographs and images. Show your clients examples, and explain why they are good choices. Show them in the context of your design, and explain why they were chosen for that context.

See Zopa’s style sheet (PDF, 3.7 MB).

Zopa has done a fantastic job of making its illustrated style clear. Its online style guide is very good, and it offers further tips on how to construct pages around its illustrations in the online style sheet.

BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

Show a few examples of what the logo, photography and text look like together and the preferred formats.

See Skype’s branding guidelines.

Skype has done a fantastic job of showing how it want designers to use its illustrations and photography. It has examples of the subtle differences between good and bad usage. The whole guide is beautiful and well worth a look.

Web Guidelines: What To Include?

Many people create branding guidelines but forget to include important style guides for the Web. Just like branding guidelines, Web guidelines keep everything consistent, from button styles to navigation structure.

BUTTON HIERARCHY

You’ve carefully decided what all the buttons are for and meticulously defined their states. Unfortunately, the in-house designer hasn’t applied your hover states or has created their own, and they look terrible.

Create a page that shows what all links do (including the buttons), the appropriate behavior of each and when to use them (with examples of appropriate usage). If one button is dominant, make clear the maximum number of times it should be used per page (usually once at most). Define the hover, disabled and visited states for all buttons.

Gumtree.

Gumtree has worked hard to define all button states, especially custom buttons (for example, Post an Ad has a + sign in front of it). These were defined for the Gumtree redesign, which is now live.

ICONS

Defining size and spacing and where to use icons is another great way to promote consistency. If icons should be used only sparingly, make this clear.

See ZURB’s icon sizes.

Here, the ZURB agency defines icon sizes and when to use them, and it provides clients with an online source from which to download them. ZURB also defines badges and explains their purpose. It believes that its guidelines are best shared online.

NAVIGATION (LOGGED IN/OUT STATES)

On the Web, good consistent navigation can make or break a website. New pages are often added to a website after the designer is done with it. Have you left some space for this? Doing things like letting people know what to do with new navigation items and showing logged-in states make for a cleaner website.

See the BBC’s Global Experience Language.

This is one of the most beautiful guidelines I’ve seen. BBC shows what to do with long user names, how much space everything should have and more.

BASIC CODING GUIDELINES

There’s no way to make someone else code like you, but you can offer others basic guidelines that will minimize the damage, such as:

• CSS class naming conventions
  Should they use .camelCase or .words-with-dashes?
• JavaScript integration
  Are you using jQuery? MooTools? How should new JavaScript be integrated?
• Form styling
  Include the code, error states and more so that they understand what style conventions you expect.
• Doc type and validation requirements
  Do you allow certain invalid items? Do you expect the CSS and HTML to validate?
• Directory structure
  Make clear how you have organized it.
• Accessibility standards
  Should people include alt tags? Is image replacement used for non-standard fonts?
• Testing methods
  Which standard should they test with? Do you have staging and production websites?
• Version control
  What system are you using? How should they check in new code?

How To Format

Some branding guidelines have been turned into beautiful books:

See the Truth brand guidelines.

This beautiful example, which was designed to go with a brand redesign, shows just how beautiful branding guidelines can be.

But this requires a substantial budget and a reprint every so often. For most companies with tight budgets, this is not practical. On the Web especially, content is constantly being refined and styles for elements are not set in stone.

Here are a few good practices for formatting your guidelines:

• Include a cover
  This should include an example of best practices for the logo.
• Make it beautiful
  Even if it won’t be printed as a book, you can still make sure the branding guidelines appeal to the viewer. After all, you’re trying to inspire them to use your designs to the highest standards!
• Include contact details
  For when they have questions, so that you can prevent bad decisions from being made.
• Make it easy to access and open
  Usually this means putting it online or in PDF format. Don’t make it too big; use images sparingly.
• Make it printable
  For international companies especially, keep margins big so that the document can be printed in both A4 and US letter sizes. If it’s online, make sure your print style sheets render the document as expected. Don’t do white text on a black background, either: you don’t want the client to have to buy a new ink cartridge every time they print a copy.
• Make it easy to change
  Updating, adding new pages and making changes should be easy, because it will happen!
• Create a mini version
  Make a short handy guide that has just the basics, in addition to the full version. Both will get used in different instances.
• Provide print templates whenever possible
  Things like letterheads, business cards and envelops should have their own templates. While guidelines will help people put things in the right spot, they usually won’t help them get the right resolution or color format.

Here’s a useful template for a one-page branding guideline.

LENGTH

Remember, people should be able to follow branding guidelines. A 100-page book will engage none but the most diligent designer. Many believe that a concise three-page overview is best for daily use, with a more in-depth 20-page document for more complex tasks. Less is more, usually!

See the BBC’s branding guidelines and poster.

The BBC has created a detailed 38-page guideline. But it has also produced a beautiful poster for quick reference. It’s a brilliant idea, and it keeps the guidelines at the front of mind.

Resources

• The Web Style Guide, 3rd Edition
  A comprehensive guide for the Web.
• Corporate Brand Guidelines
  A list of design guidelines. Some are old but still useful.
• Brand Identity
  A great article from Computer Arts magazine on building your brand identity
• 20 Top Tips for Designing Effective Brand Guidelines, from Saatchi
• The Corporate Identity Manual (Brand Style Guide)

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Brand Guidelines, Kat Neville

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Six Tips for Using Instagram in Your Church

by: Jon Thomas

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Instagram is a pretty big deal.

It’s not breaking news but something I thought about as I was going to bed last night. I was about to fall asleep when I realized I hadn’t checked my Instagram feed. I reached from my bed, grabbed my phone and scrolled through the square, filtered photos of people, buildings, foliage, workouts, posters and, of course, food. I commented, Liked and even searched through a few hashtags to find fellow Instagrammers who share my passions.

For the better part of the last decade, I haven’t checked a social media platform not named Facebook or Twitter daily until now. Instagram has quickly become one of the top three social networks, and since photos are more personal than a 140-character statement, it has the potential to connect brands with fans on a deeper level than Twitter.

Instagram is a channel that brands soon won’t be able to ignore, and innovative brands are already making waves on the platform.

Here are a few tips for steering your brand’s journey on Instagram:

1. EMPLOY USER-GENERATED CONTENT

If you can motivate your fans to submit photos of their own, like pictures of them using your product or just living your brand story, add them to your Instagram stream. Sharpie does this well, often featuring works of art created with its pens and markers.

2. OFFER A GLIMPSE INTO YOUR HUMANITY

While Instagram can be a place to feature your products in action, consider using it exclusively as a place where your brand’s fans can get a glimpse behind the scenes. Feature photos of faces and places they never get to see. Show them that your brand is more than just the product or service you sell. The Boston Bruins have done a great job of this, especially while the league is in a lockout. The team often shares photos of their fans, the players, and the organization’s philanthropic endeavors.

3. PRODUCT IN ACTION 

There’s no hard data to back this up, but I’d bet that Instagram features more photos of food than any other subject. Outback Steakhouse and other restaurants have used Instagram as a place to find photos of all their dishes in their filtered glory. There’s a thin line between sharing great content and being overly promotional, so be considerate when sharing photos of your product in action.

4. CONSIDER USING TEXT, BUT NOT TO BRAND OR COPYRIGHT

Overgram and other apps allow you to add text to your Instagram photos. Add a hashtag, give credit for user-generated content, or just add creative copy that will resonate. But use it for good, not evil, and not on every photo. It’s not a place to stamp your brand mark or try to copyright your images. In fact, doing this will make it very unlikely that the photo will be shared with your audience’s audiences.

5. DEDICATE DESIGN RESOURCES

Instagram has challenges that other social channels do not. The app is purely mobile, so the photos have to be at least published, if not taken, from a phone. Make sure your Instagram community manager knows the brand’s tone of voice well enough and has an eye for photography so he or she can capture the right kinds of photos.

6. HASHTAGS

The best way to find users with a common interest is through hashtags. This is a feature that quickly caught on because of its popularity on Twitter. Are you a sneaker brand? Check out #kicksoftheday. Instagram will even help you with similar suggestions and sort them by popularity. Create your own hashtag, like Tiffany’s did with #TrueLovePictures, to activate fans on Instagram.

Remember, there’s a risk and reward here. Instagram isn’t the best social network to help you drive traffic to your site or be a conduit for e-commerce as well as Twitter or even Facebook will. It’s this inability to “sell,” however, that allows Instagram users lower their guard and embrace the brands that use the platform well.

See more from Jon here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Jon Thomas

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