Picture this: You’re building your dream business. You have all your paperwork in order and just want to get started on the actual fun part of doing your thing… BUT, you know before you can do that your business needs a brand identity, also known as branding. That’s where a brand kit comes into play.
What is a branding kit?
A brand kit actually has many names – you may have heard it called a brand identity kit, brand guidelines, branding kit template or any number of variations of similar terms.
Popularized by Canva, the term brand kit refers to a collection of visual elements that can help you create a cohesive and consistent visual brand identity. Canva uses their brand kit tool to help you pre-load all of your brand assets into Canva so you can access them quickly and easily while building your designs.
Brand kits have found a niche outside of the realm of Canva too! A brand kit might also refer to a downloadable guide or zip file that a business provides to someone who intends to use their brand assets to ensure they use them appropriately.
Lastly, the term brand kit could identify any ready-to-go, pre-built brand assets that someone can purchase and have personalized for them or put together on their own – whether they are for Canva or not.
No matter what you call it or how it’s made, the intention of a brand kit is the same across all industries and niches – to create a visual brand identity that is consistent.
What is included in a brand kit?
A brand kit can have several different elements included and not all of them necessarily have to be created in (or for) Canva. Typically the most common elements you will see in a brand kit are:
- brand guide (or brand guidelines) – a document that tells you how to use your brand assets
- logos – including primary logos and alternate logos (or secondary logos)
- brand color palette – including hex codes and CMYK values
- brand fonts – including font files or font suggestions
- icons – including custom or styled icons
- photo inspiration – usually in the form of a moodboard or a curated stock photo library
- templates – such as for business cards or social media graphics
Sometimes, a brand kit will also include brand messaging. What’s included in a brand kit is really up to the creator (whether that’s you or someone else) and what they think will help you the most to create brand consistency and brand recognition with your marketing materials.
How to create a brand identity kit?
You can create your own brand kit by simply pulling together all your brand assets into an organized space. There are several different options of how and where you can do this:
Canva
This is easy to do with Canva since they are already have a tool created just for this purpose. If you don’t have a Canva account, you can create one for free. Then navigate to the Brand Kit tab to get started uploading your brand assets.
If you have a free Canva account, you will be limited in the number of colors and logos you can add. You also will not be able to upload any custom fonts. If you have a Canva Pro account, you will be able to upload multiple logos, colors and fonts. You will also be able to create multiple brand kits.
Hubspot
If you are looking to get your brand up and running super fast, Hubspot has a fun new brand kit generator. With this nifty free tool, you can create your color palette, logo and choose your fonts, all-in-one! Just enter in your business name, answer a few questions, and then you can generate some quick logo ideas. Choose your favorite and then you can download all your brand assets for future use.
Adobe Creative Cloud
If you’re an Adobe user and don’t want to create a Canva account, you can use Creative Cloud Libraries to keep your brand assets organized all in one place. This also allows you to easily import your asset libraries across programs and share with other Adobe users or members of your team.
Website
You could also share your brand kit by creating a page or subdomain on your website that’s dedicated to identifying your core brand visuals. This is done by many large corporate brands who are featured in the media frequently and may need to share their brand assets often, such as Apple. Sometimes in this context, a brand kit, might also be called a media kit or press kit and also include background of the company, staff bios, social media stats and more.
Local File Storage
Or you can simply create a designated spot on your computer to organize all of your brand assets and files so they are quickly accessible. Create a folder called Brand Assets on your computer that contains all of the critical brand elements inside organized into their own sub-folders. If you plan to share your brand kit with others, you will want to make sure to zip (compress) all the files into a single package that you can easily hand-off.
What if you don’t have any brand assets to organize? I’m glad you asked!
There are a few different ways you could get your hands on brand visuals for your business including:
- making your own brand assets
- hiring a brand designer or agency
- purchasing a pre-made brand kit
If the last option sounds most appealing to you, keep reading 😉
7 brand kit examples to inspire your brand identity:
Not everyone can afford a fully custom brand design and most people didn’t go to design school to know how to design a brand themselves. So what do you do if you need a brand quickly that looks polished and professional, all for a budget-friendly price? You need a brand kit!
K Design Co Semi-Custom Brand Kits
We designed these brand kits are made with you in mind. With six ‘personas’ to choose from there is something for every brand, from the cool and collected to the bold and bright. Each brand kit even includes a set of social icons and customizable social templates.
With Faith and Love Semi-Custom Brands
With Faith and Love also has some beautiful brand kit options. Choose a template and answer a quick questionnaire and receive your semi-custom brand within two weeks. They only use the same templates up to five times to stay unique.
Macaron and Mimosas Brand Kits
The standard definition of a brand kit, these collections are affordable, offer fun designs, and a quick turnaround. Check out their Pinterest for examples of their product in action.
Her designs are so dainty and sweet and are only sold once! The perfect option if you don’t want to go all in on a full branding package, but want/need a little more personalization.
Super cute and simple brand kits that are customizable in Canva – score! These brand kits even come with a video tutorial on how to update them yourself.
Effie and Design Semi-Custom Brands
Each of her designs are equally elevated, chic, and modern, but all have a completely different look and feel. There is no bad choice here.
Samantha Madeo Premade Brand Kits
Samantha offers timeless and luxury feminine brand options for those looking for strategic branding that is subtle and sophisticated.
Do these brand kit examples inspire you to have a cohesive brand identity? Check out all our brand kits in the shop.
Or if you’re done with your branding and ready to move on to the next step – AKA your website – we can help you there too! Shop our Showit website templates or start here by gathering some website inspiration.
Rachael is the founder of Planned in Pink where she assists small business owners with digital marketing strategies and implementation. She is also a bullet journalist and reader!
