2018
Brand Guide
Brand Development by CoLAB Creative Group, LLC
Table of Content
2018
Brand Guide Brand Overview 3 4 5 6 8 10 11 12 14 16 17
Xactly What You Need Target Segment Our Voice Color Palette Fonts, Texture & Shapes Bookkeeping Imagery Training & Education Imagery Tech & Communication Imagery Logo Usage & Clear Space Approved Logo Signatures Logo Usage & Clear Space
Brand Assets 18 Brand Application - Primary Flyers / Postcard Retractable Banner Facebook Branding Website Design Video Promo
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Xactly What You Need
Being Xact! There is one key component that all businesses should have, Xact Numbers! Bookkeeping affects all businesses no matter if you are a start-up or an established business. It should be a part of your tasks that can help you grow your business and hit your financial goals.
Xact Solutions Xact Numbers offers financial solutions that assist business owners with their bookkeeping and budgeting for their personal goals. This guide will give you the instructions on how to communicate verbally and visually to each target audience.
Our Xact Mission Our mission is to assist in the growth and financial freedom of solo-preneurs and small businesses owners through education and tracking of your financial affairs. 3
Target Segment
Start-up Entrepreneur
Busy Entrepreneur
Established Businesses
You finally take the leap into Entrepreneurship and you begin to get all the things you need to start your service or launch your product. You begin to look at all the money it takes to operate. You also see how much money you can make once you start spreading the word.
You finally start gaining momentum in your business! However, you take a look at your to-do-list and it continues to get longer and longer. You are now putting more hours into working on everything but the part you enjoy, the reason you started the business in the first place. After weeks of processing new orders and making sure your team has everything they need, you start to look at your bookkeeping to-do-list and you tell yourself, “I will knock that out over this weekend.”
Just another day at the office. You check your investments, you meet with your staff to go over updates for the upcoming week. You follow up with customers to make sure everything is going well. Your business is a well-oiled machine. The missing link is a phenomenal bookkeeper to manage your expenses and income.
Your first year looked pretty good, and you take your spreadsheet to your tax professional to begin filing your taxes. And SURPRISE, SURPRISE! They tell you it is going to be an additional cost to categorize all of the expenses you tracked. Not to mention you didn’t pay out any sales tax for this year because you didn’t know your products and services were taxable items and you didn’t track your mileage. You start to see that the costs begin to rise along with your blood pressure. The tax professional recommends that you should work with a bookkeeper to help you get organized to maximize your deductions and make sure you understand what is taxable and what isn’t.
The weekend is here and your family already has plans for you. You try to work on your books before bed, but now you find that you are too sleepy and you are making mistakes. So you close your computer and put it way until Monday. Monday comes and now you are back at it again with not enough time to enter your expenses, pay your vendors and file your quarterly taxes (federal, sales, payroll – just to name a few).
You begin to look for someone you can hire directly, but soon realize that the cost would exceed your current payroll budget. So you decide to look for a business that offers bookkeeping services and additional added services that you may need in your business. What a great feeling you get when you are working with someone that already understands and knows what your business needs when it comes to finances. You begin to write out what you need in a bookkeeper: basic bookkeeping skills, to pay taxes, process payroll, send/print reports, collections, and are reliable and honest.
Our Voice
Xact Communication When communicating to our audience, we will first identify which target segment they would fit in. We would address the business owner with the terminology they will understand to better connect with them. All written and verbal communication will be expressed in a professional manner. Our staff members will discuss the process and carefully plan your next steps to meet your personal goals. This will be done in a personal consultation or via online. The client must feel confident in the plan you create for them. You must show that you are up-to-date with technology used in the financial industry. All staff should be friendly and approachable by any business owner. Below are additional describing words that can be used to describe your brand.
Brand Description Accurate Clear Communication Competent Dependable
Timely Efficient Flexible Reasonable
Thorough Trustworthy
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Color Palette
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Red: action, power, energy, speed, passion, desire, strength, courage, attention getting, motivating, stimulating, energizing, driven and determined exciting, warm, spontaneous, assertive and confident Green: growth and vitality, renewal and restoration, self-reliance, reliability and dependability, being tactful, emotionally balanced and calm, nature lover and family oriented practical and down to earth, sympathetic, compassionate and nurturing, generous, kind and loyal with a high moral sense, adaptable and flexible, encourages ‘social joining’ of clubs and other groups, a need to belong
PRIMARY COLORS
PRIMARY
C: 100 M: 57 Y: 1 K: 0
Color Palette
Blue: loyalty, trust and integrity tactful, caring and concerned reliability and responsibility, conservatism and perseverance, idealistic and orderly authority, devotion and contemplation, peace and calm
SECONDARY
C: 100 M: 0 Y: 100 K: 0
TERTIARY COLORS
C: 0 M: 73 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 6 M: 99 Y: 100 K: 1
C: 100 M: 76 Y: 35 K: 24
Orange: adventurous, risk-taking, vibrant, stimulating to the senses, affordable warm, sociable, optimistic, enthusiastic, cheerful, self-confident, independent, extroverted and uninhibited, creative flair, warm-hearted, agreeable and informal 7
Fonts, Texture & Shapes
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Grids and diagnol lines will be used as background texture. The angle will match the green slanted rectangle in the logo symbol. The background grid should be set to multiply blending mode between 20% - 43% opacity
Fonts, Texture & Shapes
Texture
Shapes These shapes can be used as a background design, content identifiers, or content reveal elements separately or together in all marketing collateral. The colors must coincide with the correct target segment.
Fonts Myraid Pro A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Museo 500, 700 & 900 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 9
Bookkeeping Imagery 10
Realistic images that shows the different areas of bookkeeping you do. These images are relatable to the small one-man/woman business owner to small business with a team. Since your personality is approachable we don’t want to use too many upscale corporate images.
Training & Education Imagery
Realistic images that shows group and one-on-one training to teach entrepreneurs the basics of bookkeeping. These images can be professional to casual attire to represent small businesses. Depending on the audience you will be addressing will determine the images that best fit the design. The graphic images of the gears, targets and direction can be used for mixed audience. The expression to these images is to convey direction, accuracy or a working process. 11
Tech & Communication Imagery Realistic images that shows the ease of communication between you and the client; the business owner and their data, and easy accessible on mobile devices.
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In these images we want to convey to your audience that you have clear & easy communication and it is accessible at anytime. This can be displayed for all target segments.
Tech & Communication Imagery 13
Logo Usage & Clear Space
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The logo symbol can be used separetly from the logo signature at the discreation of the designer.
X
2X 2X
The logo signature uses solid colors. The width of the green diagnol rectangle in the logo symbol determines the spacing between each design element.
8X
2X
The primary logo should be used on all marketing material that allows for the clear space around the logo. See approved logos on the next page to determine which logo color scheme will be used for each target segment.
.5X
Logo Usage & Clear Space
Primary Logo
X
The logo signature and symbol minimum height is .25in.
Minimum Size
Logo Symbol
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Approved Logo Signatures
One Color Logo Signature: Used on black and white documents. The logo signature can also be used on apparel and any merchandise that requires a one or two color imprint. Use appropriate brand colors when used. Download: AI | EPS | PNG (RGB) | JPG (CMYK)
Download: AI | EPS | PNG (RGB) | JPG (CMYK)
Primary Logo Signature: This logo signature is used on most marketing material that talks about Xact Numbers as a whole, meaning all services & products offered. The primary logo can be used with or without a tagline. This logo signature should be placed on a light color background or white for the best contrast. Be sure to adhere to the clear space when other text is used.
Primary Logo Signature Reversed: This logo signature is used on marketing material with a dark background. When using this logo do not use backgrounds that causes legibility issues due to contrasting colors. The same rules apply as above when using this as the reverse primary logo signature.
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Download: AI | EPS | PNG (RGB) | JPG (CMYK)
Logo Usage & Clear Space
Download: AI | EPS | PNG (RGB) | JPG (CMYK)
Coaching and Training Logo Signature: Used for marketing pieces that advertise coaching services and training workshops. This color scheme represents the educational sectioin of the brand. This will allow your audience to identify the area of your business they are in. With these marketing pieces, orange now becomes the secondary color. The primary color will still be blue. All other rules will apply the same as the primary logo signature.
Corporate Logo Signature: This logo signature is used on corporate and enterprise based marketing. When sending out special invitation, corporate ads to upper mid to large size businesses, this logo will be used. The darker blue color represents the professionalism, which becomes the primary color. Red is now used as the secondary color, which conveys action, energy, and confidence to get the job done. The corporate marketing will have a very clearn logo and clear visibility of the logo with minimal design elements in the background. All other rules will apply the same as the primary logo signature.
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Brand Application - Primary
Business Cards
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Brand Application - Primary
Flyers / Postcard
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Brand Application - Primary
Retractable Banner
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Brand Application - Primary
Facebook Branding
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Website Design
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Video Promo 23
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www.xactnumbers.com