# Brand asset management for small teams [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-asset-management) Big companies buy software for this. Small teams mostly need a single home for their files, names that make sense and one person who keeps it honest. Here is a system that takes an afternoon to set up. ## The short version - Brand asset management means keeping your logos, colours, fonts, templates, photos and guidelines in one organised place that everyone uses. - For a small team, the most important rule is a single source of truth: one home for current brand files, with old versions archived out of the way. - A clear folder structure and a consistent file naming pattern solve most problems with lost or outdated brand files. - Every brand asset library needs one named owner who approves new files and removes outdated ones. - Templates are the brand assets people use most, so keep them current and easy to find. **Brand asset management** is the habit of keeping every logo, colour code, font, template, photo and guideline in one place, named clearly, with one person responsible for keeping it current. For a small team that rarely needs special software. It needs a single source of truth, a folder structure people can guess, a naming pattern, and a short routine for adding and retiring files. Get those right and nobody posts last year's logo again. ## What counts as a brand asset | Asset | Formats to keep | Used by | | --- | --- | --- | | Logos and variations | SVG, PDF, transparent PNG | Everyone | | Colour palette | A swatch file plus HEX, RGB, CMYK codes | Designers, developers, printers | | Fonts | Licensed font files and the licence | Designers | | Backgrounds and textures | High resolution files, or a link to where they live | Anyone making social posts or slides | | Templates | Social, story, slide, email, document | Everyone, most often | | Photography | Approved shoots, with credits and usage rights | Marketing, sales | | Icons and illustrations | SVG | Designers, developers | | Guidelines | A short PDF or web page | Everyone, especially new people | | Copy | Boilerplate, taglines, bios | Anyone writing about the company | Most small teams have all of these somewhere. The work is getting them into one place and keeping only the current versions there. If you are not sure what belongs in the kit itself, [what goes in a brand kit](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-kit) has the full checklist. This page is about looking after it. ## One source of truth The most common brand problem in small teams isn't bad design. It's three versions of the logo in three places, and nobody sure which is current. Pick one home for brand files, tell everyone, and treat every copy elsewhere as unofficial. That single decision prevents most of the drift that [brand consistency](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-consistency) is about. - **One home.** A shared drive folder, a cloud workspace or your design tool's brand kit. Not all three. - **Current files only.** Old versions move to an archive folder, never side by side with new ones. - **Read access for everyone.** Freelancers and partners get a view link, not an email attachment. - **Edit access for few.** One owner and perhaps one deputy can add, replace or remove files. - **A link people remember.** Pin it in your team chat and put it in your email signature for suppliers. ## A folder structure that stays tidy Folders should be guessable. If a new person can't find the reversed logo in under a minute, the structure is too clever. Number the top level so it sorts in a sensible order. ```text Brand/ 00-START-HERE.pdf (guidelines, one page summary) 01-Logo/ SVG/ PNG/ PDF/ 02-Colour/ palette.ase palette.txt 03-Fonts/ licences/ 04-Backgrounds/ 05-Templates/ Social/ Stories/ Slides/ Email/ Print/ 06-Photography/ 2026-spring-shoot/ 07-Icons/ 08-Copy/ boilerplate.txt bios.txt 99-Archive/ 2025-logo-v1/ ``` Numbered folders sort in the order people need them. The archive sits at the bottom, out of the way but never deleted. ## File names people can read A good file name tells you what's inside without opening it. Use the same order every time: brand, asset, variation, colour, size or format. Lowercase, no spaces, words joined by hyphens so names work on every system and in web addresses. ### Hard to use - `logo FINAL v3 (2).png` - `new logo white USE THIS.png` - `IMG_4471.jpg` - `template copy.pptx` ### Easy to use - `fern-logo-horizontal-colour.svg` - `fern-logo-stacked-white.png` - `fern-photo-shopfront-2026-04.jpg` - `fern-template-slides-16x9.pptx` > **Never put "final" in a file name** There is always another version. Use the folder to show what is current and the archive to show what isn't, and keep dates for photos and campaigns only. ## Templates are the assets that matter most Logos get the attention, but templates get the use. Every week someone needs a post, a story or a slide, and if a good template isn't easy to find they'll start from scratch, or from a competitor's look. Keep one template per common job, and name them by the job rather than the format. A portrait Instagram post template reading We're hiring, with a job title and closing date beneath A hiring template: the job and the date change, everything else stays. A portrait Instagram post template giving a plant care tip, Water less in winter, on the same brand background A tip template for the weekly educational post, on the same background. Good template names: *Hiring post*, *Weekly tip*, *Event story*, *Sale announcement*. Review them every quarter and retire the ones nobody uses. [Social media templates](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-media-templates) has ideas for which ones to make first. ## A simple routine for keeping assets current 1. **Name an owner** One person approves additions and retirements. On a team of three, that might be ten minutes a week. 2. **Add through the owner** New photos, templates or logo versions go to the owner, who names and files them. Nobody drops files straight in. 3. **Archive, don't delete** When something is replaced, move the old version to the archive with the date. Old work sometimes needs reprinting. 4. **Review every quarter** Open every folder, remove duplicates, check templates still match the guidelines, and update the start here page. 5. **Tell people what changed** One message in the team chat: what's new, what's gone, where to find it. ## Keeping brand assets inside your design tool The tidiest library is the one people design from directly, because nothing has to be downloaded and re-uploaded. In Gradiently, the brand kit holds logos, colour palettes, heading and body fonts and your voice, and templates sit alongside them. With Pro, team workspaces add owner, admin, editor and viewer roles, so the edit access rule above is built in, and version history means a replaced design is never truly lost. If you run more than one brand, [brands in Gradiently](https://gradiently.design/guide/brands-in-gradiently) keeps each kit separate. A [brand audit](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-audit) once a year will show whether the system is holding. ## FAQ ### What is brand asset management? It is the practice of storing, organising and maintaining a brand's logos, colours, fonts, templates, photos and guidelines in one place so everyone uses the current versions. ### Do small businesses need digital asset management software? Usually not at first. A well organised shared folder or a brand kit in your design tool, with one owner, covers most small teams' needs. ### How should I organise brand assets? Use numbered top level folders by asset type, a consistent naming pattern such as brand, asset, variation and format, and a separate archive for old versions. ### Who should own brand assets in a small team? One named person, often whoever leads marketing or design, with one deputy. They approve new files and retire old ones. ### What is a single source of truth for a brand? One agreed location for current brand files. Any copy elsewhere is treated as unofficial, which stops outdated logos and colours spreading.