Brand Identity Design: From Strategy to Visual System · Consistency across channels · lesson 15 of 18 · 7 min

Co-branding, partnerships and creator collaborations

When two brands meet

Collaborations — sponsorships, creator partnerships, co-branded products, events, charity campaigns — put your identity next to someone else's. Done well, they transfer trust and reach. Done badly, they confuse audiences or make one brand look subordinate.

Types of partnership and visual hierarchy

| Partnership | Typical visual relationship | |---|---| | Equal co-brand (joint product) | Both logos at equal visual weight, separated by a divider or "×" | | Sponsor of an event or creator | Host/event brand leads; sponsor shown as "Presented by" or "In partnership with" | | Endorsed sub-brand | Sub-brand leads; parent brand endorses ("by Brand") | | Creator paid partnership | Creator's style leads; brand appears naturally, with clear disclosure | | Supplier/client showcase | Client logos in a consistent monochrome grid, with permission |

Co-branded lockup rules

Define how your logo appears alongside others:

Equal optical size (not identical measurements — wordmarks and symbols need visual balancing).
Clear space between logos at least equal to your standard clear-space rule.
Separator: a vertical line, "×", or "+" — defined in guidelines.
Color: when backgrounds conflict, use one-color versions of both logos.
Order: often the host or lead partner first (left in LTR layouts, right in RTL layouts); agree this in writing.

Permission and legal basics

Never use another brand's logo without permission in a way that implies partnership, endorsement or affiliation. Showing client logos in a portfolio typically also needs permission (and may be restricted by NDAs).
Follow their guidelines — partners have their own logo usage rules.
Contracts should cover logo usage, approvals, content rights, duration and what happens after the partnership ends.

Creator partnerships: authenticity plus compliance

Brand teams often over-brand creator content, which makes it feel like an ad and can underperform. Best practice:

Brief creators on key messages, claims and do/don'ts, then let them create in their own style.
Use the platform's branded-content or paid-partnership tools where available, plus clear labels in the content.
Follow disclosure rules in each market — for example the FTC's Endorsement Guides in the US, the CAP Code and ASA guidance in the UK, the UAE's media regulations on advertising by influencers (including licensing requirements for influencers), and Saudi Arabia's rules for advertising by social media influencers. Rules evolve; check current requirements.
Agree usage rights: can the brand reuse the content as ads (whitelisting/"Spark"-style ads), on its website, for how long, in which territories?

Protecting your identity in partnerships

As a brand or creator, provide partners with:

Partner kit
- Logo files (full color, one color, reversed) + lockup examples
- One-page usage rules (clear space, don'ts)
- Approved descriptions of the brand (short and long)
- Approved imagery or headshots
- Approval contact and turnaround time

Worked example: a creator × brand collaboration

A UK-based fitness creator partners with a sportswear brand for a limited capsule collection.

Product labels: equal co-brand lockup — creator wordmark × brand logo, balanced optically, one-color on fabric tags.
Launch content: creator's own filming style and captions; sportswear logo appears on product naturally; "Paid partnership" label and "#ad" at the start of captions.
Brand's channels: brand-led layouts with creator's name as "designed with"; creator approved all uses.
Contract: 12-month usage rights for paid ads in agreed markets; approvals within 48 hours; logo usage ends after the capsule sells through.

Common mistakes

Using partner logos without permission or outside their guidelines.
Unbalanced lockups that make one partner look less important unintentionally.
Over-branded creator content that feels like a banner ad.
Missing or hidden disclosure.

After the partnership ends

Plan the end of a collaboration at the start. Contracts should state when each party must stop using the other's logo, whether existing content can stay online, and whether paid ads featuring the creator must be switched off by a certain date. Keep a simple register of active partnerships, their usage rights and end dates, and review it monthly. This prevents awkward situations where a former partner's logo remains on your website or an ad keeps running after the rights have expired.

Hands-on: build a partner kit and co-brand lockups in Figma

Create a component Lockup/Equal with an auto-layout row: your logo, a separator (vertical line or ×), the partner logo slot. Set the gap to your clear-space value on both sides of the separator.
Create Lockup/Presented-by: the host brand large, then "Presented by" in your label style, then the sponsor logo slot at a smaller defined ratio.
Add variants for light, dark and one-color backgrounds.
Optical balancing: place both logos, then scale the partner logo until they look equal (compare visual weight, not bounding boxes). Note the final ratio in the kit.
Publish and export a partner kit folder.

PARTNER KIT — [brand] v1
/logos     (primary, horizontal, symbol; full color, white, black; SVG + PNG)
/lockups   (equal, presented-by, in-partnership-with; light/dark/one-color)
/rules.pdf (clear space, minimum sizes, don'ts, approval contact, turnaround)
/creator-brief.pdf (handle to tag, tone, do/don't content, claims allowed/banned,
                    disclosure: paid partnership tool + "Ad" first + on-image label,
                    AI rules: no AI-generated results/testimonials)
/examples  (approved co-branded posts)

Disclosure essentials for creator partnerships (check each market's current rules)

US: the FTC's Endorsement Guides expect clear and conspicuous disclosure of material connections (payment, free products, family ties).
UK: the ASA/CAP rules require ads to be obviously identifiable — "Ad" or "#ad" up front is the common approach.
UAE and Saudi Arabia: regulators have specific rules and licensing or permit requirements for influencer advertising; confirm current requirements before campaigns.
Everywhere: use the platform's paid-partnership tool as well as caption and on-image disclosure; never fake testimonials or use AI to simulate results.

Before/after: a creator × brand collaboration

| | Before | After | |---|---|---| | Visual | Creator told to "use our brand colors" — looked like an ad, performance dropped | Creator's style leads; brand appears naturally via product, handle tag and one brand color accent | | Disclosure | "#sp" at the end of the hashtags | Paid partnership tool + "Ad" first + small on-image label | | Logo | Stretched logo from a screenshot | Approved lockup from the partner kit | | Afterwards | Old campaign assets still used by the creator a year later | Contract defines usage period; assets archived after it ends |

Summary

Choose the right visual hierarchy for the partnership type, define co-brand lockup rules, get permission and contracts in place, balance authenticity with clear disclosure in creator work, and supply partners with a simple kit.

Video lecture: Co-branding, partnerships and creator collaborations

Lecture coming soon · 11 chapters · about 8 minutes. Read the full transcript below.

Co-branding and partnerships
Why rules matter
Partnership types
Lockup rules
Permissions and law
Worked example 1: a café × bakery box
Worked example 2: a creator campaign
Watch me do it: a partner kit
Protect your identity
Common mistakes
Recap and try this now

Lecture transcript

Co-branding and partnerships

Picture two logos side by side on a poster. One is huge and bold. The other is tiny and squashed into a corner. Without reading a single word, you know which brand thinks it's more important, and the smaller partner probably isn't happy about it. Collaborations, like sponsorships, creator partnerships, co-branded products and events, put your identity right next to someone else's. Done well, they transfer trust and reach. Done badly, they confuse audiences, damage relationships, or break advertising rules. In this lecture, you'll learn the types of partnership and their visual hierarchy, co-branded lockup rules, permissions and legal basics, creator partnerships and disclosure, and how to build a partner kit. By the end, you'll handle any collaboration confidently.

Why rules matter

Why does co-branding need rules? Because the relationship between two logos is itself a message. It says who leads, who supports, and whether this is an equal partnership or a sponsorship. Without rules, every partner improvises, and you get stretched logos, clashing colors and confused audiences. Think of a wedding invitation with two families' names on it. The order, the size and the wording are chosen carefully, because they signal respect and roles. Co-branded lockups work the same way. They're diplomacy, expressed in layout.

Partnership types

Here are the main partnership types and their visual hierarchy. An equal co-brand, like a joint product: both logos at equal visual weight, separated by a divider or a multiplication sign. A sponsor of an event or creator: the host or event brand leads, and the sponsor appears as presented by or in partnership with. An endorsed sub-brand: the sub-brand leads, and the parent brand endorses it, as in by brand. A creator paid partnership: the creator's style leads, the brand appears naturally, with clear disclosure. And a supplier or client showcase: client logos in a consistent one-color grid, used with permission. Here's the key idea. Decide the relationship first. The layout follows.

Lockup rules

Now co-branded lockup rules. Equal optical size, not identical measurements, because a wide wordmark and a compact symbol need visual balancing. Clear space between logos at least equal to your standard clear-space rule. A defined separator, like a vertical line, a multiplication sign or a plus. When backgrounds conflict, use one-color versions of both logos. Define order: often the host or lead brand comes first, or reading order follows the primary market's script. And never recolor, stretch or redraw a partner's logo. Ask for their approved files and their guidelines, and respect them, just as you want yours respected.

Permissions and law

Let's cover permission and legal basics. This is general information, not legal advice. Get written permission before using another brand's logo, and follow their guidelines. For client showcases on your website, get permission to display client logos, especially for work under confidentiality agreements. Put the partnership in a written agreement that covers logo use, approvals, the usage period, territories and what happens when the partnership ends. And for creator partnerships, disclosure is a legal and platform requirement in many markets. The FTC in the US expects clear and conspicuous disclosure of material connections. The ASA in the UK expects ads to be obviously identifiable. And the UAE and Saudi Arabia have specific rules and permit requirements for influencer advertising. Check current requirements before every campaign.

Worked example 1: a café × bakery box

Worked example one, simple. A café and a local bakery launch a joint pastry box. It's an equal co-brand. The designer builds a lockup: café logo, a thin vertical line, bakery logo. The bakery's wordmark is wide, and the café's is compact, so she scales them until they look balanced, not until the boxes match. Clear space on either side of the line equals each brand's own clear-space rule. On the kraft box, which is brown, both logos switch to one-color black. The order follows the market: the café first, because the box is sold in its shop. Both brands approve the lockup in writing. It looks like a genuine partnership.

Worked example 2: a creator campaign

Worked example two, a business scenario with illustrative details. A sportswear brand in Riyadh hires a fitness creator for a campaign. The first brief said: use our brand colors and logo prominently. The creator's post looked like a corporate ad, and her audience ignored it. For the next campaign, the brand flips the approach. The creator's style leads. The brand appears naturally, through the product, a handle tag and one accent color. The disclosure is clear: the paid partnership tool, ad at the start of the caption and a small label on the image, following the rules for advertising in Saudi Arabia. There's a rule that no AI is used to simulate fitness results. And the contract defines a six-month usage period. Engagement and trust both improve.

Watch me do it: a partner kit

Watch me do it. I'm building a partner kit in Figma. I create a component called lockup equal, with an auto layout row: my logo, a vertical line separator and a placeholder slot for the partner logo. I set the gap on each side of the separator to my clear-space value. Next, I create lockup presented by: my logo large, the words presented by in my label style, and a smaller slot for the sponsor, at a defined ratio. I add variants for light, dark and one-color backgrounds. Then I test optical balance with three different partner logo shapes, and note the scaling guidance. Finally, I export a partner kit folder: logos, lockups, rules, a creator brief and approved examples.

Protect your identity

Let's protect your identity in partnerships. Give partners a kit instead of letting them grab your logo from a screenshot. Set an approval step, and state the turnaround time, so partners don't skip it to meet deadlines. Keep an exceptions log when a partner's rules conflict with yours, like a sponsor that requires its logo in a specific position. And plan the ending. When a partnership ends, the agreement should say whether old co-branded content can stay up, when co-branded materials must stop being used, and who archives the assets. Otherwise, you'll find last year's campaign still circulating two years later.

Common mistakes

Common mistakes. Letting the bigger brand overpower the smaller one when the partnership is meant to be equal. Matching bounding boxes instead of visual weight. Recoloring or stretching a partner's logo. Displaying client logos without permission. Forcing creators into a corporate look. Hiding disclosures in hashtags. Using AI to simulate testimonials or results. And forgetting what happens when the partnership ends. A partner kit, written agreements and a clear approval step prevent almost all of these.

Recap and try this now

Let's recap. Decide the relationship first: equal co-brand, sponsorship, endorsement, creator partnership or showcase. Then apply lockup rules: optical balance, clear space, a defined separator, one-color versions and respect for partners' guidelines. Get written permissions and agreements that cover approvals, usage periods and endings. For creators, let their style lead, disclose clearly according to each market's rules, and never fake results. Try this now. Create a partner kit for your brand, and mock up two co-brand lockups: one equal partnership and one presented by sponsorship, following your clear-space rules.

Key takeaways

Decide the partnership type first — equal co-brand, sponsorship, endorsement, creator partnership or showcase — and let the hierarchy follow.
Co-brand lockups need optical balance, clear space, a defined separator and one-color versions; never alter a partner's logo.
Get written permission and agreements covering approvals, usage periods, territories and endings.
In creator partnerships, let the creator's style lead and disclose clearly (platform tool, 'Ad' up front, on-image label) per each market's rules.
Give partners a kit with lockups, rules, a creator brief and an approval contact.

Try it

Create a partner kit for your brand and draw (or mock up) two co-brand lockups: one equal partnership and one 'presented by' sponsorship, following your clear-space rules.