How to design merch your customers will keep
June 26, 2025
Too often, Brand Guidelines (or a Style Guide) are used in one of two ways:
1️⃣ A must-not-be-deviated-from-under-any-circumstances document, or
2️⃣ Sent to suppliers and never/rarely looked at.
A much better way is to think of them as a recipe for baking a ‘Brand’ cake. Some examples of ingredients are fonts, colours, tone of voice and photography.
If you’re lucky, it also includes examples – think of these as photos of the finished recipe.
Throw the ingredients together willy-nilly and you *might* be able to eat the cake.
Combine them in the right quantities, bake at the right temperature, for the right amount of time, and voila!
1. Read the descriptions, plus the explanatory text.
2. Pay particular attention to the page of ‘Do’s and Don’ts’.
2. Look at the examples of work already produced – these have already been approved, so by using these as your guide, you know you‘re on the right track.
Put your ‘cake’ next to other company collateral. Do they seem to be from the same recipe book?
For the 2024 President’s Dinner event at State Library Victoria, we created two visual concepts.
This is the concept that didn’t make the cut, and we share some of the additional printing and finishing details.
Sometimes it can be hard to think of Christmas Cards (especially when the holiday season is months away). So we present a few ideas to get your creative minds sparking…
We have 3 rules when designing merch / swag / promotional gifts: 1. Sustainable
2. Usable
3. Quality
Whatever the brief is, it’s exactly the same. Every project. Every time. Every design. It‘s just one word.
You never know where inspiration comes from : behind-the-scenes at a design project combining the vintage aesthetic of pre-1800 Japanese rare books, with a modern twist.
Whilst we can’t claim to be experts, we know a thing or two about branding events. Here are 3 simple ideas to help you make your budget $$$ go far.
Email hello@brandbyname.com.au
or call +61 3 8658 7744
105 Wellington St,
St Kilda VIC 3182
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