BrandoLang is a high-level description language designed specifically for capturing, managing, and applying brand guidelines. It provides a structured vocabulary and taxonomy that enables brands to maintain consistency, clarity, and control over their identity across different touchpoints, whether it's for AI-generated content, design assets, or marketing materials.
By providing a unified framework, BrandoLang simplifies the process of defining brand elements such as strategy, visual identity, verbal identity, application guidelines, and AI generator rules. This makes it easier to ensure that brand guidelines are correctly interpreted and applied by both human creators and AI systems.
Brand management is a complex process that involves various elements, from visual design to tone of voice, across multiple platforms. This complexity is compounded when different teams, departments, or external partners work on brand-related tasks, leading to inconsistencies and misinterpretations.
BrandoLang addresses these challenges by offering:
- A standardised ontology for brand guidelines.
- A machine-readable format that ensures brand rules are enforced in AI-generated content.
- An easy-to-understand language that makes brand guidelines accessible to all stakeholders, from designers to copywriters and developers.
BrandoLang is built around five key components, each representing a crucial aspect of brand identity:
Brand Positioning component defines the brand's mission, vision, values, positioning, and messaging frameworks. It includes elements such as the 3Cs (Company, Customers, Competitors), ensuring that brand positioning is aligned with the organisation's strengths, customer needs, and market differentiation.
- Mission: The overarching purpose of the brand.
- Vision: The long-term aspirations and goals.
- Values: Core principles that guide actions and messaging.
- Positioning: How the brand wants to be perceived in the market.
Visual Identity covers all aspects of how the brand looks across different platforms, including logos, color palettes, typography, and imagery styles. This ensures visual consistency and recognisability across all touchpoints.
- Logos: Guidelines for using primary, secondary, and monochrome logos.
- Colours: Approved colour palettes with hex codes, RGB values, and usage contexts.
- Typography: Fonts, sizes, line heights, and usage rules.
- Imagery: Photography styles, graphic elements, and patterns.
Verbal Identity defines the brand's tone of voice, key vocabulary, and copywriting guidelines. This ensures that every piece of written content aligns with the brand's personality and communicates the intended message consistently.
- Tone of Voice: Descriptors and examples of how the brand speaks.
- Key Vocabulary: Preferred and prohibited terms to maintain consistency.
- Boilerplate Copy: Standardized phrases for "About Us" sections, product descriptions, and more.
The Application section details how brand elements are applied across different platforms and content types. This covers guidelines for social media posts, email campaigns, presentations, and more, ensuring that the brand is represented consistently.
- Marketing Materials: Rules for brochures, posters, and advertisements.
- Digital Platforms: Guidelines for website design, app interfaces, and email signatures.
- Internal Communications: Templates for employee emails, memos, and internal presentations.
As more brands leverage AI for content creation, ensuring that these systems adhere to brand guidelines is crucial. The AI Generator Guidelines provide a framework for prompt templates, quality assurance, and validation rules, ensuring that AI-generated content aligns with the brand's identity.
- Prompt Templates: Predefined instructions for generating branded content.
- Quality Assurance: Checks for tone, style, and visual consistency.
- Validation Tools: Tools and techniques to ensure content meets brand standards.
BrandoLang is designed to be both human-readable and machine-readable, allowing seamless integration into your brand management workflows. Here’s how it can be used:
Brand managers, designers, and copywriters can use BrandoLang to define every aspect of the brand, from the tone of voice to logo usage rules. These definitions are stored in a structured format (e.g., JSON or YAML), making it easy to share and implement across your organisation.
BrandoLang is composed of an index document that references multiple detailed documents covering each aspect of the brand. This structure ensures that all guidelines are organised, accessible, and easy to update.
BrandoLang can be integrated with AI content generators, design software, and content management systems to ensure that all content adheres to your brand guidelines automatically. For example, when an AI generates a social media post, it will reference BrandoLang to ensure the tone, imagery, and messaging align with the brand.
BrandoLang uses a hierarchical taxonomy to categorise brand elements, making it adaptable to various levels of complexity. This taxonomy allows you to define brand elements broadly or in granular detail:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Strategy | The brand's mission, vision, values, positioning, and messaging framework. |
| Visual Identity | Guidelines for logos, colors, typography, and imagery. |
| Verbal Identity | Tone of voice, vocabulary, copywriting rules, and storytelling principles. |
| Application | Instructions for applying brand elements across different platforms. |
| AI Generator | Prompts, quality assurance, and validation rules for AI-generated content. |
BrandoLang is extensible. Brands can add new elements, attributes, or categories to capture any unique aspects of their identity. This means that as your brand evolves, so can your BrandoLang guidelines.
- Formats: BrandoLang supports JSON and YAML, making it easy to integrate with various tools, systems, and workflows.
- Integration: BrandoLang can be connected to your content management systems (CMS), design software (e.g., Figma, Adobe XD), and AI content generators to ensure that all outputs are consistent with your brand guidelines.
BrandoLang allows for versioning, meaning you can track changes to your brand guidelines over time. This feature is essential for maintaining consistency, especially as your brand grows or adapts to new markets.
- Explore the Taxonomy: Familiarise yourself with the core categories of BrandoLang.
- Define Your Brand Guidelines: Use the structured format to capture every aspect of your brand identity.
- Integrate with Your Workflow: Connect BrandoLang with your content creation and design tools to ensure brand consistency.
- Explore the full BrandoLang Documentation to learn more about the schema, taxonomy, and how to implement it.
- Check out our GitHub repository to access sample BrandoLang files, templates, and tools.
By using BrandoLang, you can ensure that your brand's identity is consistent, cohesive, and adaptable across every touchpoint, whether it's human-created or AI-generated content.
BrandoLang is a structured and adaptable language for defining brand guidelines, allowing brands to maintain consistency across all touchpoints, including LinkedIn posts and articles. It uses a hierarchical structure, supporting both JSON and YAML formats for easy integration with different systems.
The key components of BrandoLang syntax include Strategy, Visual Identity, Verbal Identity, Application, and AI Generator Guidelines. This guide will now include LinkedIn-specific guidelines.
BrandoLang can be expressed in both JSON and YAML formats. Here’s how LinkedIn-related elements are incorporated into the syntax, including the newly added footer image field.
{
"application": {
"social_media": {
"linkedin": {
"posts": {
"tone": "Professional, yet approachable",
"frequency": "2-3 times per week",
"image_guidelines": {
"aspect_ratio": "1200x627",
"logo_usage": "Place logo in the bottom-right corner"
},
"content_tips": [
"Include a question to encourage engagement",
"Use hashtags related to sustainability and innovation"
]
},
"articles": {
"tone": "Authoritative and insightful",
"recommended_length": "800-1500 words",
"structure": ["Introduction", "Key insights", "Case studies/examples", "Conclusion"],
"visual_elements": {
"header_image": {
"required": true,
"aspect_ratio": "1280x720"
},
"infographics": {
"usage": "Include data-driven visuals to support key points"
},
"footer_image": {
"required": true,
"aspect_ratio": "1280x300"
}
}
}
}
}
}
}application:
social_media:
linkedin:
posts:
tone: "Professional, yet approachable"
frequency: "2-3 times per week"
image_guidelines:
aspect_ratio: "1200x627"
logo_usage: "Place logo in the bottom-right corner"
content_tips:
- "Include a question to encourage engagement"
- "Use hashtags related to sustainability and innovation"
articles:
tone: "Authoritative and insightful"
recommended_length: "800-1500 words"
structure:
- "Introduction"
- "Key insights"
- "Case studies/examples"
- "Conclusion"
visual_elements:
header_image:
required: true
aspect_ratio: "1280x720"
infographics:
usage: "Include data-driven visuals to support key points"
footer_image:
required: true
aspect_ratio: "1280x300"The application section now includes detailed guidelines for LinkedIn posts and articles, with a focus on how to handle footer images.
| Key | Parent Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
social_media |
application | Object | Guidelines for all social media channels. |
linkedin |
social_media | Object | Specific guidelines for LinkedIn posts and articles. |
posts |
Object | Rules for creating LinkedIn posts. | |
posts.tone |
posts | String | The tone to use for LinkedIn posts. |
posts.frequency |
posts | String | Recommended posting frequency for LinkedIn. |
posts.image_guidelines |
posts | Object | Visual guidelines for images used in LinkedIn posts. |
posts.image_guidelines.aspect_ratio |
image_guidelines | String | Required aspect ratio for LinkedIn post images. |
posts.image_guidelines.logo_usage |
image_guidelines | String | Instructions for logo placement in LinkedIn post images. |
posts.content_tips |
posts | Array of Strings | Tips for creating engaging LinkedIn post content. |
articles |
Object | Guidelines for writing LinkedIn articles. | |
articles.tone |
articles | String | The tone to use for LinkedIn articles. |
articles.recommended_length |
articles | String/Number | Suggested word count for LinkedIn articles. |
articles.structure |
articles | Array of Strings | Recommended structure for LinkedIn articles. |
articles.visual_elements |
articles | Object | Visual guidelines for images used in articles. |
articles.visual_elements.header_image.required |
visual_elements | Boolean | Whether a header image is required for LinkedIn articles. |
articles.visual_elements.header_image.aspect_ratio |
visual_elements | String | Aspect ratio for header images. |
articles.visual_elements.infographics.usage |
visual_elements | String | Instructions for using infographics in LinkedIn articles. |
articles.visual_elements.footer_image.required |
visual_elements | Boolean | Whether a footer image is required for LinkedIn articles. |
articles.visual_elements.footer_image.aspect_ratio |
visual_elements | String | Aspect ratio for footer images. |
The ai_generator section can include prompt templates specifically for generating LinkedIn posts and articles, ensuring AI-generated content adheres to the brand’s visual and verbal guidelines, including details about footer images.
| Key | Parent Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
prompt_templates |
ai_generator | Object | Templates for generating branded content. |
linkedin_post |
prompt_templates | Object | Template for generating LinkedIn posts. |
linkedin_post.tone |
linkedin_post | String | Tone to be used for LinkedIn post prompts. |
linkedin_post.prompt_example |
linkedin_post | String | Example prompt for AI to generate a LinkedIn post. |
linkedin_article |
prompt_templates | Object | Template for generating LinkedIn articles. |
linkedin_article.tone |
linkedin_article | String | Tone to be used for LinkedIn article prompts. |
linkedin_article.prompt_example |
linkedin_article | String | Example prompt for AI to generate a LinkedIn article. |
ai_generator:
prompt_templates:
linkedin_post:
tone: "Professional, yet approachable"
prompt_example: "Write a LinkedIn post about our recent sustainability achievement, emphasizing the positive impact we've had on the environment."
linkedin_article:
tone: "Authoritative and insightful"
prompt_example: "Create a LinkedIn article that explores the benefits of eco-friendly packaging, providing data-driven insights and examples. Include suggestions for header and footer images."The updated structure ensures that LinkedIn-specific guidelines, including footer images, are clear and actionable for both human creators and AI systems. This makes it possible to maintain brand consistency across all LinkedIn content.
- Use the Footer Image: Include a footer image in your LinkedIn articles as specified, ensuring it matches the required aspect ratio (e.g., 1280x300).
- Visual Consistency: Ensure header and footer images are cohesive and reinforce the brand’s visual identity.
- Provide Value: For LinkedIn articles, make sure the content is informative and offers valuable insights to your audience.
By incorporating these LinkedIn elements into your BrandoLang schema, you ensure that your brand maintains a consistent and professional presence on LinkedIn, capturing the attention of your target audience.
Here’s the BrandoLang Taxonomy Overview page adapted into British English, inspired by the FidesLang taxonomy guide. This version focuses on how BrandoLang organises and categorises the various elements of brand guidelines, ensuring consistency, clarity, and ease of implementation across different touchpoints.
The BrandoLang Taxonomy provides a comprehensive and structured way to define, manage, and implement brand guidelines across all content, design, and communication channels. It offers a standardised vocabulary for describing the various aspects of a brand's Strategy, Visual Identity, Verbal Identity, Application, and AI Generator Guidelines. This taxonomy ensures that everyone—whether human creators or AI systems—has a consistent understanding of the brand's requirements.
BrandoLang's taxonomy is designed to be flexible, hierarchical, and extensible, allowing brands to define elements at different levels of detail and adapt as their brand evolves.
The BrandoLang Taxonomy serves as the foundation for defining and enforcing your brand guidelines. It enables:
- Consistency: Ensures all brand-related elements are structured and communicated uniformly.
- Scalability: Provides a system that can grow with your brand, allowing you to add new categories, elements, or guidelines as needed.
- Interoperability: Ensures that your brand guidelines can be integrated with various content creation tools, AI systems, and design software.
The BrandoLang Taxonomy is divided into five core categories:
This category covers the fundamental aspects of your brand’s identity, including the mission, vision, values, positioning, and messaging frameworks. It defines how your brand wants to be perceived in the market and what it stands for.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
mission |
String | The brand's overarching purpose and goals. |
vision |
String | The long-term aspirations of the brand. |
values |
Array of Strings | The core principles that guide the brand's actions. |
positioning |
Object | How the brand differentiates itself in the market. |
messaging_framework |
Object | Guidelines for the brand’s key messages, taglines, and storytelling. |
Visual Identity focuses on how the brand appears across different platforms, including logos, colours, typography, and imagery styles. This section ensures a cohesive visual representation of the brand.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
logo |
Object | Guidelines for logo usage, including variations and placement. |
colours |
Object | The official colour palette with hex codes and RGB values. |
typography |
Object | Fonts, sizes, and styles for headings and body text. |
imagery |
Object | Photography and graphic styles that represent the brand. |
Verbal Identity encompasses the brand's tone of voice, vocabulary, boilerplate copy, and storytelling guidelines. It ensures that the brand's personality is communicated consistently in all written and verbal communications.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
tone_of_voice |
Object | Descriptors and examples of how the brand speaks. |
key_vocabulary |
Object | Preferred and prohibited terms. |
boilerplate_copy |
Object | Standardised text for use in specific contexts, such as "About Us" sections. |
storytelling_guidelines |
Object | Principles for how the brand tells its story. |
The Application category defines how brand elements are used across different channels, including social media, marketing materials, internal communications, and more. It ensures that the brand is applied consistently, no matter where it appears.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
social_media |
Object | Guidelines for applying the brand on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. |
marketing_materials |
Object | Instructions for applying brand elements in brochures, flyers, and adverts. |
digital_platforms |
Object | Guidelines for web, app interfaces, and other digital media. |
internal_communications |
Object | Templates and styles for internal emails and documents. |
This section provides rules for AI-generated content, ensuring that any content produced by AI tools aligns with the brand's identity. It includes prompt templates, quality assurance checks, and validation rules.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
prompt_templates |
Object | Predefined prompts for generating brand-compliant content. |
quality_assurance |
Object | Rules for ensuring that AI-generated content meets brand standards. |
visual_rules |
Object | Guidelines for AI-generated imagery, including colour usage and logo placement. |
BrandoLang is designed to be extensible, meaning you can add new categories, elements, or rules as your brand evolves. For example:
- If your brand develops a unique packaging style, you can add a
packagingcategory under theapplicationsection. - You might want to add an additional content type under Verbal Identity for press releases or podcast scripts.
This flexibility ensures that your brand guidelines remain relevant and comprehensive as your brand grows and adapts to new opportunities.
The BrandoLang Taxonomy can be integrated with various content creation and management systems, AI tools, and design software, ensuring seamless enforcement of brand guidelines across your organisation.
- Formats: BrandoLang supports JSON and YAML, making it easy to work with across different tools.
- Integration: You can integrate BrandoLang with tools like Adobe XD, Figma, content management systems, and AI content generators to ensure consistent brand representation.
- Define Your Guidelines: Start by populating the BrandoLang taxonomy with your brand's specific elements, from mission and values to colour codes and tone of voice.
- Implement in Your Workflow: Integrate BrandoLang with your existing workflows to ensure all brand-related content adheres to the guidelines.
- Adapt and Evolve: As your brand grows, update the BrandoLang taxonomy to reflect any changes or new elements.
Here’s how the taxonomy might look when applied to different brand elements:
strategy:
mission: "To empower individuals to lead a sustainable lifestyle."
vision: "To be the global leader in eco-friendly solutions."
values:
- "Sustainability"
- "Innovation"
- "Transparency"
positioning:
statement: "We are the leading provider of high-quality, eco-friendly products."
3Cs:
company:
strengths: ["Innovative design", "Eco-friendly materials"]
customers:
target_audience: ["Eco-conscious consumers"]
competitors:
main_competitors: ["Green Living Co.", "EcoStyle"]{
"visual_identity": {
"logo": {
"primary_logo": {
"file_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/brand-assets/logo-primary.png",
"clear_space": "10px around the logo"
}
},
"colours": {
"primary": {
"name": "Eco Green",
"hex_code": "#34A853",
"rgb": "52, 168, 83"
},
"secondary": {
"name": "Earth Brown",
"hex_code": "#8D6E63",
"rgb": "141, 110, 99"
}
}
}
}The BrandoLang Taxonomy is a powerful tool for maintaining a consistent and cohesive brand identity across all channels and content types. Its structured, hierarchical approach makes it easy to define and enforce brand guidelines, ensuring that every piece of content—whether created by humans or AI—aligns with your brand’s values, tone, and visual identity.
The BrandoLang Manifest acts as a centralised file that provides an overview of all the brand guideline documents, assets, and resources that make up your brand's identity within the BrandoLang framework. It essentially serves as a table of contents or an index for your brand's guidelines, helping you keep track of where each component is located, how they are related, and how they can be accessed. This makes it easier for both humans and AI systems to find, reference, and apply the appropriate brand elements.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of how the BrandoLang Manifest works, what it should include, and how it integrates with your brand guidelines.
The BrandoLang Manifest is a master document that lists all the individual brand guideline documents and resources, ensuring that every aspect of your brand is clearly organised and easily accessible. The manifest is typically stored in JSON or YAML format and contains metadata about each resource, such as its title, description, file type, URL, and how it fits within the brand's overall structure.
- Centralisation: Provides a single, comprehensive reference point for all brand guidelines and assets.
- Clarity: Helps keep track of all documents, ensuring that nothing is overlooked or misused.
- Integration: Facilitates integration with content management systems, design tools, and AI generators, enabling them to access the latest brand guidelines seamlessly.
- Scalability: Makes it easy to expand your brand guidelines as your organisation grows or as new elements are added.
The BrandoLang Manifest is structured as a top-level index document that references all the individual brand guideline documents. Here’s a breakdown of the key elements included in the manifest:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
brand_name |
String | The name of the brand. |
version |
String | The version number of the manifest (e.g., "1.0"). |
last_updated |
String (Date) | The date the manifest was last updated. |
documents |
Array of Objects | A list of all the brand guideline documents and assets. |
Each entry in the documents array should include:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
id |
String | A unique identifier for the document or asset. |
title |
String | The title of the document or asset. |
description |
String | A brief description of what the document covers. |
category |
String | The category it belongs to (e.g., "Strategy", "Visual Identity"). |
file_type |
String | The type of file (e.g., "PDF", "JSON", "YAML", "PNG"). |
s3_url |
String | The URL where the document is stored (e.g., on AWS S3). |
last_modified |
String (Date) | The date when the document was last modified. |
keywords |
Array of Strings | Keywords related to the document’s content for easy search. |
{
"brand_name": "EcoFriendly Co.",
"version": "1.0",
"last_updated": "2024-10-01",
"documents": [
{
"id": "strategy",
"title": "Brand Strategy Guidelines",
"description": "Defines the brand's mission, vision, values, and positioning.",
"category": "Strategy",
"file_type": "JSON",
"s3_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/strategy.json",
"last_modified": "2024-09-28",
"keywords": ["mission", "vision", "values", "positioning"]
},
{
"id": "visual-identity",
"title": "Visual Identity Guidelines",
"description": "Guidelines for logos, colours, typography, and imagery styles.",
"category": "Visual Identity",
"file_type": "PDF",
"s3_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/visual-identity.pdf",
"last_modified": "2024-09-28",
"keywords": ["logo", "colours", "typography", "imagery"]
},
{
"id": "verbal-identity",
"title": "Verbal Identity Guidelines",
"description": "Details on the brand's tone of voice, vocabulary, and storytelling guidelines.",
"category": "Verbal Identity",
"file_type": "JSON",
"s3_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/verbal-identity.json",
"last_modified": "2024-09-29",
"keywords": ["tone of voice", "vocabulary", "storytelling"]
},
{
"id": "social-media",
"title": "Social Media Guidelines",
"description": "Best practices for using the brand on social media platforms.",
"category": "Application",
"file_type": "YAML",
"s3_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/social-media.yaml",
"last_modified": "2024-09-29",
"keywords": ["social media", "LinkedIn", "Instagram", "Twitter"]
},
{
"id": "ai-generator",
"title": "AI Generator Guidelines",
"description": "Guidelines for AI-generated content, including prompts and quality checks.",
"category": "AI Generator",
"file_type": "JSON",
"s3_url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/ai-generator.json",
"last_modified": "2024-09-30",
"keywords": ["AI", "content generation", "quality assurance"]
}
]
}brand_name: "EcoFriendly Co."
version: "1.0"
last_updated: "2024-10-01"
documents:
- id: "strategy"
title: "Brand Strategy Guidelines"
description: "Defines the brand's mission, vision, values, and positioning."
category: "Strategy"
file_type: "JSON"
s3_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/strategy.json"
last_modified: "2024-09-28"
keywords: ["mission", "vision", "values", "positioning"]
- id: "visual-identity"
title: "Visual Identity Guidelines"
description: "Guidelines for logos, colours, typography, and imagery styles."
category: "Visual Identity"
file_type: "PDF"
s3_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/visual-identity.pdf"
last_modified: "2024-09-28"
keywords: ["logo", "colours", "typography", "imagery"]
- id: "verbal-identity"
title: "Verbal Identity Guidelines"
description: "Details on the brand's tone of voice, vocabulary, and storytelling guidelines."
category: "Verbal Identity"
file_type: "JSON"
s3_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/verbal-identity.json"
last_modified: "2024-09-29"
keywords: ["tone of voice", "vocabulary", "storytelling"]
- id: "social-media"
title: "Social Media Guidelines"
description: "Best practices for using the brand on social media platforms."
category: "Application"
file_type: "YAML"
s3_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/social-media.yaml"
last_modified: "2024-09-29"
keywords: ["social media", "LinkedIn", "Instagram", "Twitter"]
- id: "ai-generator"
title: "AI Generator Guidelines"
description: "Guidelines for AI-generated content, including prompts and quality checks."
category: "AI Generator"
file_type: "JSON"
s3_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecofriendlyco/brand-guidelines/ai-generator.json"
last_modified: "2024-09-30"
keywords: ["AI", "content generation", "quality assurance"]- Access and Retrieval: Use the manifest as a central reference point for accessing all brand-related documents, ensuring that you always work with the most current versions.
- Automation: Integrate the manifest with AI generators, design tools, and content management systems to automate brand consistency in all outputs.
- Version Control: Regularly update the manifest whenever brand guidelines change, and maintain version control to keep track of how the brand evolves over time.
The BrandoLang Manifest is a vital component of your brand management process. It ensures that all brand elements are organised, accessible, and integrated, providing a streamlined approach to maintaining brand consistency. Whether you're working with AI-generated content, marketing materials, or design assets, the manifest ensures that everyone involved has access to the right guidelines and assets, making it easier to maintain a unified brand identity.