Brand asset management and collaboration for UK businesses with Adobe Express.

Summary/Overview

Every brand has its own set of assets that make it unique. It could be a distinctive logo, a recurring jingle or an eye-catching colour scheme. These assets are a key part of your brand identity.

But it isn’t just about the type of brand assets you use and how they are created. Your assets also need to be consistently and correctly used across your business. This is where asset management and internal collaboration play a vital role.

In this article, we’ll be looking at brand assets, how to manage yours and why collaboration is essential to the branding process.

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What are brand assets?

Brand assets are the components that contribute to a brand’s overall look and feel. Most people think of visual components such as logos, icons, fonts and art styles, but they can apply to almost everything.

Think of the distinctive note played when you boot up your Apple Mac. Consider the indistinguishable tone of voice when reading content written by Innocent Smoothies. Retailer John Lewis has well-established company values that sees the same customers walk through their doors time and time again.

Whatever makes your brand distinct could constitute a brand asset. Some examples could include:

• Logos
• Icons
• Typography and fonts
• Brand tone of voice
• Sounds or jingles
• Colour palettes or themes
• Brand values
• Company statement.

What is brand asset management?

A surface level definition of brand asset management is pretty simple - you’re managing your brands assets. Realistically this means thinking about the ways you store, manage and share your materials.

Whether you’re creating a new webpage, building a new email header or designing a presentation, it’s important that the branding is consistent. Good brand asset management means that your teams can find and identify assets within your system and use them when needed.

An example of brand asset management is hosting your assets in a library that’s accessible to staff. Similarly, clear and legible naming conventions also have a role to play, so staff don’t have to waste time trying to find the right asset.

Free brand asset examples for your digital library.

Why is brand asset management so important?

Whether you’re building a business from the ground up or are expanding an already successful company, efficient asset management is an important part of your strategy. Here are some of the reasons why.

• Ensures consistency to help build your brand awareness. When building something for external use, it’s important that branding is consistent. If you’re trying to grow brand awareness, using outdated or unofficial assets can cause confusion amongst your customers.
• Make it easier for teams to collaborate. Rather than sharing files over email, in your workspace chat or via hard drives, a brand asset library allows teams to access assets in one easy to find location.
• Makes rebranding easier. If you decide to rebrand and create a new logo or swap out the font you’ve been using for the past two years, brand asset management can help. By removing old assets from your library and replacing them with new ones, all new content will automatically be built using the latest assets.
• Security measures. Keeping your information and assets in a secure place is a safe way to ensure assets don’t fall into the wrong hands. Some asset libraries will allow you to set permissions and dictate who can access files.
• Search for your assets. Efficient asset management allows you to search for files and retrieve them in seconds.

How to use Adobe Express for efficient asset management.

1. Build a Library for all of your key imagery and visual assets.

With Adobe Express, you can easily store all your brand assets in one central location. Simply head to Your Stuff on the Adobe Express homepage, then select the Libraries feature.

From here, you can choose to create your own Library or add to an existing one if its already set up. Make sure to save down the latest versions of your social banners, brand visuals, product imagery and more.

2. Create a Brand in Adobe Express for more efficient asset creation.

Then it’s time to set up your Brand in Adobe Express. This is where you can allocate all your essential branding elements, such as logos, colours and fonts.

From the homepage, select Brands and then click Create Brand. Add a name so it’s easy for your team to find when they’re creating new designs. Once its set up, you can click to apply your brand kit to any template in seconds. That way, your assets are always on-brand.

Have more than one brand within your business? You can easily set up multiple brands under different file names, so it’s easy for you to differentiate between them and manage their individual assets.

3. Upload your custom fonts and colour palettes.

Struggling to find the right font or palette for your brand? No problem. Adobe Express for Enterprise lets you upload custom fonts and colours, so you have all your unique brand assets in one place.

Select your Brand to upload your own font from your device to your brand kit for future use. You can also use the Custom Font tool to play around with the composition once it’s in the template or design.

Want to add your colour palette? You can use the Adobe Color tool to find your chosen colour swatches and hex codes. Then head to your Library to add your custom colours.

4. Share your Library with colleagues and collaborators.

Of course, we also need to make sure the rest of your business can access your fonts, colours, visuals and other brand assets. Luckily, it’s easy to share your Library and Brands with your wider team – so everyone can create from the same set of assets.

To share your Library, simply select the Share icon, then click to Invite People. Type in your colleague’s email address and set their editing permissions to maintain control of your assets.

You can follow a similar process for sharing your Brands. This time, hover over the … icon and find the option to Invite People. Again, set your permissions so they have the right level of access for what they need.

More editable brand asset samples.

5 best practice tips for asset management.

Effective asset management can take both time and effort. To help you get the most out of your asset library, we’ve put together our best practice tips and advice for asset management. Read on for more.

Introduce brand guidelines.

Brand guidelines are an easy way to ensure everyone uses your assets appropriately and they should be accessible to anyone who uses your system. Alongside appropriate uses, guidelines can also explain how teams can access assets and save new works in the asset library.

Manage your assets across their whole lifecycle.

Assets will fall out of use as you regularly update your branding. By regularly deleting or ‘retiring’ assets as they become outdated, you can reduce the chances of the wrong assets being used.

Pick asset management tools that work with your systems.

If you work with pre-existing systems, it makes sense to use asset management tools that compliment them. Adobe Express works well with industry standard software such as Adobe Photoshop or InDesign.

Don’t be afraid of change.

You may have a well-established asset management system in place but don’t be afraid to change things if you find a better system. In fact, you should hold regular audits to check you’re approaching asset management in the best way possible.

Teach your team how to manage assets.

It can be a lot of work to manage assets by yourself. Instead, consider spreading the effort across your team. Not only will this empower staff, but it means the library will be used appropriately when you’re out of office.

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Useful things to know.

What is the difference between brand assets and brand identity?

Brand identity is what makes your brand identifiable, whereas assets are tangible components that contribute to your identity. Brand assets contribute to the overall formula, but brand identity is the result.

What brand assets can you make in Adobe Express?

In Adobe Express, you can build a wide range assets for your brand or business. This includes things like logos, videos, banners, fonts, graphics and other templates for future work. You can build things from scratch or use pre-existing templates. You can also use Adobe Express to workshop the colours and designs that your business will use.

What is a brand asset library?

A brand asset library is an online directory for your brands assets. It’s a space to upload, organise and download assets. The primary difference to a standard hard drive is that asset libraries are usually hosted online and can be accessed by multiple users from multiple locations.

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