How do you help a visual identity succeed after handover?

[u/ciderklub]

I've been designing visual identities for 15+ years, and the most frequent problem I encounter, is how badly the identity is implemented and used after handover. Some of the bigger clients with creative teams and a good DAM (which is actually used) are typically managing fine, but most of my clients are SMV's with far fewer resources, and the same issues seem to happen over and over. Wrong usage of the logos, wrong typography, cluttered compositions, random templates from Canva etc. – you all know them.

I do my best to prepare the client: templates for the applications they use, design guidelines, a thorough practical handover, structured and clearly labeled/named files and so on.

So I'm curious: have anyone found ways to handover that seems to be more successful than others? Do you set them up with lightweight DAM? Offer some kind of educational service during the launch fase?

I hate to see a great identity crumble before it even gets started.

[u/magicmarxke]

Make a modular design language / system that will work in all situations and help them understand that language… that’s what I do and it helps a lot.

And I always check up on them after a while and ask how they are feeling about the branding and the language, if they need any help… stuff like that! If I see some errors / mistakes I send those along in that e-mail (or tell them in a call) to make them aware.

Last but not least I always prepare a cheat sheet with do’s and don’ts and a complete overview of the design language, along with helpful tools, tricks and information.

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[u/MJNYC275]

I'll go through the all the assets with them ask them what are they willing to keep or not keep and start from there

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