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if you want to know what I put in my
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client branding guidelines then this
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video is for you hey everyone welcome
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back to my channel my name is Megan if
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you have not been here before thank you
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so much for being here I want to jump
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right into this video because I have so
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much to share when it comes to branding
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guidelines for your clients let's start
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off by explaining what a branding
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guideline really is think of a branding
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guideline like the dictionary and the
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encyclopedia for your company so whether
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you are a super small business or you
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are an established really big business a
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branding guideline is super important
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the reason it's important is because it
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provides you the guide and the rules to
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how to use your logos how to use your
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colors how to use your fonts and so on
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it's like a massive packet of anything
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you need to know about how to show up
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visually now the reason a branding
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guideline is super important is because
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when it comes to the visual side of your
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business showing up consistently is the
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best way to really gain that recognition
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and just have your potential audience
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recognize who you are as a brand if you
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really think about it if you have a
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brand with neutral colors and you throw
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in pink or red or green in there without
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any sort of consistency to that your
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audience might be really confused and
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our eyes just aren't really drawn to
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something that doesn't look like it
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flows altogether so The Branding
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guideline ensures that you have the
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brand looking consistently throughout
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all the platforms and in person and just
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making sure that it looks exactly how
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the branding was meant to look now the
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interesting thing about branding
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guidelines is that everybody does it
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differently I actually just included a
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different resource for you guys on my
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Instagram and YouTube but it is called
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branding style guides.com I'll link that
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down below but this will show you how
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real big businesses are using their
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branding guidelines and what it looks
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like for them but please know when
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watching this video that my way is not
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the only way to do it it might not be
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how another creative does it but this is
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what works for me and my clients and
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their businesses okay so I'm going to
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break down the full packet my branding
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guideline packet is around 20 Pages
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depending on if the client really needs
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to know some information on like how to
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show up on social and things like that
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then I would typically add that to the
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guideline but mine is 20 pages I don't
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want it too cre czy long or too crazy
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short because I want to be able to
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explain only the things they really need
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to know and things that maybe their team
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members will need to know and that is
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another reason branding guidelines are
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important because if they do want to
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hand off the creative side of their
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business to somebody else to make
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content or keep up with their blog or
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keep up with their emails things like
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that then they'll be able to reference
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this branding guideline and know exactly
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what fonts what colors and everything
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they need to know on on how to show up
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for that specific business so let's jump
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in and break down what's in my branding
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guideline so right off the bat I have a
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really simple cover photo I know lots of
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designers that will make this cover look
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beautiful and just match the clients
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branding that they've created and you
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could totally do that but I typically
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like a really simple cover just so they
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know like what it is that they're
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looking at so we have the client's name
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and brand guide and then moving on to
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the next page page this is when I jump
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into explaining the importance of a
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branding guideline so just like how I
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explain to you guys I have a simple
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short description on why they should be
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using this and why they should bookmark
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this PDF file that I'm sending and why
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they should keep it in a really safe
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place because it's a really important
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part of the full business and the next
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page is really straightforward but this
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is a table of contents I think it's
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important for them to know which page to
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to navigate if they're interested in
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seeing just information about their logo
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logo or the colors and stuff having the
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table of contents makes it really easy
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there's also a lot of platforms that you
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can hyperlink within the PDF so if you
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wanted to have them click on that page
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and be taken to it digitally there's
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ways to do that through lots of
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different programs I'll also link those
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down below but having that table of
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contents just ensures that they know
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what they really are looking for within
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this whole packet especially if you have
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a packet that's more than like 10 pages
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then I would highly recommend commend
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making some sort of guide for them to
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know which page to find those specific
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items the next page is all about the
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brand strategy and the overall direction
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so this page is very simplified for the
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way I do my brand strategy and I can
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make a whole other video on that if you
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guys want and I do have a video already
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on my channel which I can link up above
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here but the brand strategy is basically
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just going over who the target audience
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is the mission statement and the values
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of the company so I like to have this
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all on one page I like for them to be
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able to read the mission statement and
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also see who this mission statement is
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targeting so I have a super short
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sentence mission statements in general
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are usually just one to two sentences
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long um and then the target audience
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sentence is just a quick description on
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whether it's male female both doesn't
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matter age whatever it is I have a short
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description on that and then I also have
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a bulleted Point list of the values that
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we really want to pay attention to when
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thinking about The Branding moving on to
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the next page this is the mood board the
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mood board is just a big collage of
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images and ideally the photography that
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the client has gone to get after
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receiving their branding it's always
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nice to have a moodboard with actual
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photos that the client can use but
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typically this mood board is just
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inspiration images so if they wanted to
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hand this branding guideline off to a
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photographer they would be able to know
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the overall Vibe and color palette to
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pay attention to but the mood board like
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I said it's just that collage of images
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to not only know the inspiration know
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the photography to go after know the
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textures know the overall vibe that we
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want to make sure that we're portraying
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throughout the branding and the next
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item is going into the color palette so
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I like to just have a page with the
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color palette alone and describing how
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these colors will make your audience
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feel and then we move on to the next
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page with more of the details on the
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color codes as well as where to use
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these colors I have added this into my
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process because I have found that a lot
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of clients don't know where to use that
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bright color and sometimes they might
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overuse one of the colors that should
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just be used as like an accent color so
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I do like to explain to them how and
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where they should be using those colors
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as well and then the next page is also
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about colors but this is showing the
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example color combinations so if I have
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a client that did branding and website
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with me this is always fun to show them
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how all the colors and the vibe and the
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mood board really is displayed
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throughout the website so typically I
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would go and get a screenshot of the
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website and add that onto this page but
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this page can also be something that you
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create either like a simple kind of
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website header or showing how the color
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combos can be used on social media
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whatever you want to do on this page I
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would get creative with it and just show
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them how they can be using their
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branding in a real life form and then we
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get into the logos
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so I like to display the primary logo
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first with a button to go and download
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those logo files so I typically will use
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the primary logo in the color that I
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feel they will be using the most often
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whether that's black or white or maybe
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they're one of their primary colors from
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the color palette but I display that
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alone on a page and then I also show it
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in a framework to show them the spacing
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that should go around the logo when
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they're using it because we have to put
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ourselves in the mind of the client
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clients they don't know that sometimes
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the text should not be right up against
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the logo there should be a good amount
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of space around it so that the viewer
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can really take that artwork and the
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logo in and not be super overwhelmed so
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I like to show them the primary logo in
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that framework with other color
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variations of it and then I also give
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them a simple description on what the
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primary logo is all about where it
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should be used and why we have these
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different variations I do the same thing
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for the secondary logo and the submark
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so those pages look all very similar
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with different descriptions on the
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secondary logo where to use it and the
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submark logo and where to use that and
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if you're completely new to branding and
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you're learning the variation
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differences primary logo is typically
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what is used on large scale when there's
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a lot of space that they can be putting
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it on that's typically when I would use
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a primary logo so sometimes that is like
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a store signage or sometimes that is
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like a profile picture photo if they
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really want to have the full brand name
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in there and then the secondary logo is
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just a shorter like smaller version of
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the primary logo doesn't always have to
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be shorter but typically that is just
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pulling some elements from the primary
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logo and making it in a smaller format
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so that it can still get the point
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across of what the brand is what the
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brand name is but maybe not using the
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element maybe just using text and just a
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really simple way of displaying the
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brand and then we have the submark which
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is one of my favorite logo variations to
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design that's typically the element
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alone that's always my goal with logos
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is to make the element so stand out so
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much that they don't even need any text
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around it I want it to be so
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recognizable like Nike that's why I love
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the submark logo it really steps me out
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of my comfort zone and it's one of the
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most fun in my opinion to design so
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after we display all the logos and the
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different descriptions of each then I
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have a page that shows them all the
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different color variations of the logos
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and what that looks like on different
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backgrounds of the colors so it's like
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that color combination page but
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specifically for the logo designs I like
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to show them this because I want them to
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know that maybe a yellow logo might not
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look good on a green background and just
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making sure that they know the color
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combinations to use when they receive
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all of these logo design files and then
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the next page is the logo designs in use
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I have found that typically showing them
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how the logo will look like on their
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social media profile
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or maybe it's a business card or
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something just showing them how that
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logo will look in use is super helpful
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for them to know exactly how to be
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sizing it and how to be displaying it
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and like I mentioned the color combos
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and all of that so I'm showing you guys
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some example clients but this example
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client I did create her some Instagram
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highlights as well that was part of the
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package so I just felt it made the most
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sense to show the logo design in use on
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a social media platform like her hers I
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just simply go screenshot it and I
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design that profile photo for her and
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those Instagram highlights and it always
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helps them so much and I love when I get
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to see the clients using what it is that
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I showed them how to use it's super
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rewarding to see them actually putting
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The Branding guideline into real life
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use the next page is to show them
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another example of how the logo can be
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used so this is typically when I will
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display an image of the logo in a mockup
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so it's always the best when a client is
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like local to me I will typically take
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my camera down there and get a real life
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photo of what it looks like on print
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materials or on the sign outside so I'll
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include some pictures here to show you
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like what that looks like if I were to
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take my own photos of the logo and use
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but I will usually mock this up super
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easy way to do it I have a whole video
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on mockups go check that out but
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basically I will just show them how the
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logo will look printed and that always
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helps them visually understand
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understand how the logo should be sized
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and displayed when it is on a real
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printed out material and then the next
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page is all about the fonts so
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typography is a very important part of
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branding and I plan to make this part of
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my branding guideline much more in depth
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but for now this page typically seems to
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work totally fine all I do is I show
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them what heading font to use what
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subheading font to use and which body
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paragraph font to use um but basically I
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will show them what that looks like
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using their fonts that I've chosen and I
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also have a button for them to go and
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download those fonts as well or maybe
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purchase the fonts which is something I
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do let them know in the beginning that a
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lot of these fonts might require a
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license so I like to include that
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documentation for them but this page
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will just show them the fonts to use as
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well as the sizing of those fonts
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whether it's desktop or mobile so this
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helps them understand like how to use
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the fonts in their social media or
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whether it's in the website and things
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like that I just like for them to see
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the sizing and how that should look and
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also one of the reasons I want to expand
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on this in my branding guideline moving
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forward is because I want them to pay
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attention to the color contrast because
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for ADA compliance it's really important
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to make sure the sizing of your fonts
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and the colors are readable for everyone
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even the disabled so super important to
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pay attention to that and that is
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something I really want to start
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including in my branding guideline and I
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recommend you guys do too and the last
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page is typically a brand pattern so
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whether I've designed a brand pattern or
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brand icons I like to display this all
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on top of a color from their color
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palette or maybe a photo that they've
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received in their photography but
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basically I will just display that
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pattern and I'll have a button for them
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to go and download those illustrations
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to use in their own time so those are
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all the pages I use in my brand branding
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guideline like I said it's about 20
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Pages including the front and back and
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the back is typically just a closing
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image with their logo but I love
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designing the brand guideline I will say
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it is timec consuming because I like to
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make sure they have all the information
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on the colors the sizings the
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combinations of all of this and really
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how to use that in their own business
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and I always deliver the sping guideline
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through email and a Google Drive I like
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to let my client know that they should
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download this Google Drive all the
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folders in there within the next 3
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months because at the end of the year I
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typically clear out my Google Drive and
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start fresh so it's always important for
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them to make sure they download all that
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and have it bookmarked for safekeeping
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if you want to learn more about logo
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design and how to really set up a full
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custom branding process I have courses
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that are available at my website I
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always have them linked down below I
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have a branding course a logo course all
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the things and I'm rolling out some
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updates with them so if you've been
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interested in learning more definitely
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check those out but thank you guys so
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much for watching this video If you
00:15:10
enjoyed it I would appreciate it so much
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you gave it a thumbs up subscribe down
00:15:15
below and I'll see you in my next
00:15:25
[Music]
00:15:27
one
