The power of a brand toolkit

In today’s digital-first world, brand consistency is a non-negotiable to ensure brands stay memorable and meaningful in crowded markets. At Cargo, we work with our clients to produce appropriate brand toolkits to be implemented in their communications.

A brand toolkit is a set of guidelines which can be referred to when creating visual and written communications to ensure a brand is consistent and cohesive across all platforms. Typically, it includes essential elements of a brand’s identity including its logos, colour palettes, typography, imagery and brand voice.

By combining all these important aspects in one brand toolkit, anyone using the brand – from internal team members to external partners or clients – can ensure they maintain consistency and build a recognisable brand identity.

The rise of open-source and DIY design tools

Tools like Canva, Adobe Express and Figma templates all make it easier than ever to design in-house. Their simple-to-use nature means that both professional designers and non-designers can create polished and on-brand content efficiently, ensuring that content aligns with brand identity, and everything is streamlined in one clear document. These tools are great options if clients need results fast, prefer to use an accessible software or want the opportunity to experiment.

However, with the rise of these easy-to-navigate tools comes a challenge: design freedom without clear guidance can hinder brand consistency and in turn recognition. When visuals like colours and fonts aren’t consistent, it can make your brand harder to recognise. On top of that, if your tone of voice keeps shifting, it sends mixed signals about who you are. Add unclear messaging or photography styles into the mix, and it becomes tricky for clients, partners, or stakeholders to understand your brand personality or build any lasting recognition.

Why a brand toolkit is so important

A brand toolkit has one overarching purpose: to define and protect the visual DNA of a brand.

Teams are given the rules, assets and materials they need – including colours, typefaces, logos, templates and tone of voice – to ensure they implement and maintain a clear brand identity, allowing stakeholders, partners and audiences alike to recognise and build trust in a brand. It allows these teams to confidently create different assets without watering down the brand, working like a bridge between an agency’s creative vision, like ours at Cargo, and what the client needs on a day-to-day basis. Through extensive conversation and collaboration with clients, we are able to understand what they are looking for and provide them with the assets they need to succeed.

At Cargo, we work with several clients to create suitable brand toolkits to support their internal and external communications. We worked with IDP to support them in developing their brand toolkit to allow them to produce their own assets for different communication materials.

As an architecture practice, IDP were the perfect sort of client for a toolkit. They came to us for support, wanting to be involved in the brand process but they needed more consistency in their materials, like their proposals, brochures and portfolios. For IDP, it was less about creating one shiny “final” product, and instead, more about having the right pieces and instructions so they could build their own branded assets in-house.

They already had a strong heritage behind the brand and logo, so instead of stripping this away and starting from scratch, we built on what already existed. We refreshed the mark but also built out patterns, templates and assets so the team had everything they needed. Our team also created guidelines on how to use every aspect of the brand from type and patterns to using grids and margins to build up full editorial publications, social media posts and print ads.

Why consistency is key

On digital platforms, like websites, social media and online ads and associated visuals, millions of people see branded content every day. Audiences pick up when something doesn’t seem quite right, or when something looks “off.”

Consistency is what builds trust and recognition. Consistency is what makes your brand memorable.

If everyone has access to design tools, like Canva, Adobe Express and Figma, then being pixel perfect is what sets you apart. What makes you stand out from the crowd. Otherwise, you just blend in.

A consistent look and tone across all touchpoints – no matter which team is making them – is what keeps your brand identity strong.

Agency foundation vs. going it alone

A proper agency-led branding project gives you the solid foundation you need to position yourself as a leader in your sector and industry. It provides you with the creative direction, storytelling and design standards you need to communicate clearly and effectively with your staff internally and with your clients, partners and audiences externally.

Your brand toolkit is what makes your vision practical and something that you can use to pick up and roll out yourselves.

So, what is the power of a brand toolkit?

DIY tools only really have the power to shine when you’ve got a trusted foundation in place. With a strong agency-built brand and a toolkit to back it up, clients can create fast, on-brand, pixel-perfect materials with confidence, in the same way IDP did with the support from our team at Cargo.

In today’s digital-first world, an effective brand toolkit needs the right structure and consistency to stand out and position the brand as an expert in its field. Is your brand ready to face hundreds of potential clients? Is your brand ready to be shared with the world?