For the past week, I have been doing contracting work for Forsythe Technology.  Much of the information I am working with is the company’s proprietary intellectual property and I cannot reveal the contents or provide visuals for reference.  Suffice it to say, I am converting PowerPoint presentations to reflect updated corporate branding.  It has been a great experience and refresher in just how seriously companies need to be taking their branding and image.  Building out graphic standards through media such as PowerPoint ensure uniformity in the imagery a company conveys, both internally and externally.

Every brand should be as clearly defined as possible; most often, this is accomplished through a graphics standards or brand standards manual.  Often very lengthy and comprehensive documents, these manuals detail everything from fonts and colors to logo placement and treatment.  Most companies, both for-profit and nonprofit, have some version of a graphic or brand standards manual.