The thing about brand guidelines is they devolve design decision-making to a ‘manual’, an inanimate object only capable of producing inanimate outcomes. So the question is where is the designer in this?
The thing about brand guidelines is they devolve design decision-making to a ‘manual’, an inanimate object only capable of producing inanimate outcomes. So the question is where is the designer in this?
I quite enjoy working with brand guidelines. It depends just how prescriptive they are and indeed restrictive (especially if they don’t quite strike a chord with you) but my experience is that they can have the opposite effect and actually free you up to explore the concept behind the design while the fundamentals are taken care of.