The short version: most CI/CIS projects fail not because the design looks bad, but because the tender never said what had to be delivered, nobody checked at acceptance, and nobody owned it after handover. This is a working tool for the procuring side (government bodies, schools, hospitals, foundations), not a design textbook. Six stages; at each stage you ask one question, look at what the supplier hands over, and watch for the signals that something has gone wrong. It is drawn from Hand-Heart Design Firm’s work on public-sector projects for the National Central Library, Tainan Public Library Main Branch, the National Palace Museum Southern Branch and others.
This checklist is written for the procuring side, not as a design textbook. You do not need to understand design — only what to ask and what to look at in each stage.
Why eighteen checkpoints
Quality counts as quality only when a third party can verify it
Hand-Heart believes good design sits at the intersection of philosophy, science and aesthetics, which correspond to character, quality and taste. The reason this checklist exists is simple: if only the designer gets to judge the quality of a design, that is not quality, only a claim.
Science → quality
Six stages, eighteen checkpoints, and every one of them is something you can put on the table and compare. An officer with no design background can still tell whether this stage has passed.
Philosophy → character
Publishing the acceptance criteria binds us as well. We do it because once the procuring side can read the standard, neither party discovers a gap in expectations late in the project.
Aesthetics → taste
Checkpoints hold quality in place; taste they cannot. So at every stage you still look at the actual output, not only at the ticked boxes — the table is a defence, not the goal.
The three together are what produce good work and good results. Anyone may use this checklist, whether or not they work with Hand-Heart. For the full explanation, see About Hand-Heart.
How to use this checklist: four moments
- Before the tender: copy the “What the supplier must deliver” items from stages 1, 2 and 3 straight into the statement of work. Only what is written in is what the supplier is obliged to deliver.
- When reviewing proposals: go down the “Signals of a failing proposal” column item by item. If any of them appears, ask for a revised submission rather than finding out after the contract is signed.
- At acceptance: check all six stages one by one, and stages 5 and 6 in particular — that is where most projects die, not in the design.
- At handover: assign stage 6 to a standing unit, not to an individual. Officers get transferred; an institution does not.
Stage 1: Establishing the concept
Establishing the concept
What the supplier must deliver
- Statement of the purpose and expected benefits of the CI programme
- Rollout priorities and how execution will be evaluated
- Membership list of the CI committee (decision-makers required)
Signals of a failing proposal
- A quotation that only says “designing one mark, X dollars”
- Nobody asks why we are doing this
- Nobody on the committee can make the final call
Hand-Heart in practice | National Central Library brand consensus workshopHand-Heart ran a six-hour brand consensus workshop in six groups with 30 senior managers and cross-department representatives from the library, using card-based facilitation so that the decision-makers stated the brand direction themselves — that is what “the committee must include decision-makers” looks like in practice.See the full case study →
Stage 2: Baseline research
Baseline research
What the supplier must deliver
- Interviews with the head of the organisation and its leadership
- Consensus meeting with senior management
- Survey of all staff
- External perception survey
- Inventory of existing visual assets
Signals of a failing proposal
- A proposal arrives with no interviews behind it
- “We have plenty of experience, no research needed”
- Only managers were asked, never front-line colleagues
Hand-Heart in practice | National Central Library all-staff surveyThe library’s survey went to every member of staff, not only to managers. Front-desk librarians face readers every day, and how they see the brand is what the institution actually is.See also: Kaohsiung Brand Strategy Think Tank CIS →
Stage 3: Image strategy
Image strategy
What the supplier must deliver
- Vision, mission and brand positioning
- Market and service strategy
- Slogan
- Communication strategy
- Benchmark analysis of comparable institutions
Signals of a failing proposal
- The positioning statement holds for any institution you drop in
- The slogan is a pile of adjectives: professional, innovative, excellent
- No comparable institution was ever looked at
Hand-Heart in practice | National Central Library benchmark analysisThe library project began by analysing the identity systems of libraries in Taiwan and abroad — partly to find the trends, partly to avoid looking like anyone else. Two failed redesigns were also studied, turning other people’s lessons into our own starting assumptions.See also: Tainan Public Library Main Branch CIS →
Stage 4: Design development
Design development
What the supplier must deliver
- Overall identity concept
- Visual identity (VI) system, including minimum size, single-colour and reversed versions
- Environmental identity (EI)
- Behaviour identity (BI) training materials
- Six application families: website and digital / print / official documents and notices / events and collateral / public signage / variant applications
Signals of a failing proposal
- Nothing but attractive mock-up scenes
- No minimum size, single-colour or reversed version
- Never tested at anything as small as a favicon
Hand-Heart in practice | Three layers of viewing distanceFrom far away you read colour, at middle distance you read shape, and only up close do you read type — an identity has to work at all three distances. The library project tested the mark at favicon size for real, not only as a large image in a proposal deck.
Stage 5: Completion and rollout
Completion and rollout
What the supplier must deliver
- Internal communication procedure
- External announcement
- Training for the people who do the work (materials or video)
- Full rollout plan
Signals of a failing proposal
- The project closes on delivery of one guideline manual
- Nobody shows the responsible officer how to use it
- The envelope you print most often comes out wrong
Hand-Heart in practice | Training videos for the people who do the workThe library project produced training videos for the people carrying out the work — a manual alone cannot support every one of them, whereas a video lets the person actually doing the job follow along. Rollout is not delivery; it is making sure the next officer can produce the work too.See also: Tainan Public Library application item design →
Stage 6: Oversight and evaluation
Oversight and evaluation
What the supplier must deliver
- A standing CI management committee
- Production oversight mechanism
- Regular evaluation procedure
- Indicators for measuring the benefit
- External licensing rules (who may use it, how to apply)
Signals of a failing proposal
- No standing unit is in charge
- Nobody has the authority to reject non-compliant use
- Every change of director means starting over
International comparison | Peru vs ArgentinaPeru’s nation brand has run on one system for fifteen years and is licensed to its citizens free of charge; Argentina changed four times in seventeen years. For a public institution, the hard part of a brand is not the design — it is surviving the next director.See also: Wayfinding system design and installation, National Palace Museum Southern Branch →
Draft clauses you can paste straight into a statement of work
The six clauses below follow the six stages above and are written in the language of tender documents, so you can paste them directly into a statement of work or a contract annex. Have your legal and procurement units revise them in line with the Government Procurement Act and your own rules; for corporate procurement, replace “the agency” with “Party A”.
- Deliverables: The supplier shall deliver the following results across the six stages: (1) a statement of the purpose and expected benefits of the CI programme; (2) records of interviews with the head of the organisation and with staff, the all-staff survey and the external perception survey report; (3) vision and mission, brand positioning and benchmark analysis of comparable institutions; (4) the visual identity system, including the minimum size, single-colour and reversed versions of the mark, the logotype, colours, supporting graphics and application item design; (5) the brand guideline manual and training materials for the people who do the work (including video); (6) a proposal for oversight and evaluation procedures.
- Key personnel: The supplier shall name one project lead who takes part throughout and attends the sign-off meeting for each stage; any change of key personnel requires the agency’s consent and a replacement of equivalent seniority.
- Sign-off points and changes: At the end of each stage, the next stage begins only after written sign-off by the approver designated by the agency; a change to the concept direction after it has been signed off counts as a change of scope, and the parties shall agree separately on schedule and cost.
- Acceptance: The agency may carry out acceptance on the following items: (1) the brand positioning statement no longer holds once the name of a comparable institution is substituted; (2) the mark remains legible at minimum size and in single-colour and reversed form; (3) spot checks of the most frequently used application items (envelope, first page of an official letter, presentation) match the guideline manual; (4) the training materials allow a person who was not involved in this project to work independently.
- Copyright and source files: The economic rights in the results of this project belong to the agency (or the scope of the licence is agreed under the agency’s own rules); the supplier shall deliver editable source files (vector files, a statement of font licensing, colour values) and the final PDF.
- Rollout and warranty: After delivery the supplier shall provide [＿＿] months of rollout support, advising on the interpretation of the guidelines and reviewing application items; any error or omission in the guideline manual found during that period shall be corrected at no charge.
These six clauses are a starting point rather than a complete template; budget, schedule and payment terms still have to be set for each project under your own rules.
Frequently asked questions
Which deliverables should a CI/CIS tender document list?
Copy the “What the supplier must deliver” items from stages 1 to 3 straight into the statement of work: a statement of the purpose and expected benefits of the CI programme, the CI committee membership list (decision-makers required), interviews with the head of the organisation and with staff, an all-staff survey, an external perception survey, an inventory of existing visual assets, vision and mission with brand positioning, and a benchmark analysis of comparable institutions. For the VI visual system in stage 4, state explicitly that minimum size, single-colour and reversed versions are required, because those are the versions most often missing on delivery.
How can you tell that a design supplier’s proposal falls short?
Three quick tests. First, a quotation that only says “designing one mark, X dollars” means the supplier is treating a CI project as a logo job. Second, visuals presented without any prior interview or research mean the strategy is guesswork. Third, a positioning statement that still holds when any comparable institution is substituted (for example, replacing “this library” with the library in the next county and the sentence still reads fine) means there is no differentiation. If any of these appears, ask for a revised submission instead of dealing with it after signing.
Which stage causes the most trouble at acceptance of a CI project?
Stage 5 (completion and rollout) and stage 6 (oversight and evaluation). Most projects die here, not in the design. The typical pattern is that the supplier closes the project by handing over one guideline manual, nobody shows the responsible officer how to use it, and the envelope and the first page of official letters — the things printed most often — come out wrong. At acceptance, always require training for the people who do the work (materials or video) and a full rollout plan, and spot-check the cheapest, most frequently used application item.
Why does an agency need a committee for a CI project, and who should be on it?
Because CI concerns the whole outward image of the institution, it crosses several units, and without cross-department consensus it turns into one section’s private project. The committee has to include the decision-making level — if nobody on it can make the final call, the project circles round and round at the proposal stage. On the National Central Library project, Hand-Heart ran a six-hour brand consensus workshop directly with 30 senior managers so that the decision-makers reached agreement in one room.
Once the CI work is done, how do you avoid redoing it with every change of director?
It comes down to stage 6: set up a standing CI management committee (assigned to a unit, not to an individual), put a production oversight mechanism and a regular evaluation procedure in place, and write external licensing rules. Someone has to have the authority to say “this use is non-compliant and may not carry our mark”. The international comparison is clear: Peru’s nation brand has run on one system for fifteen years, while Argentina changed four times in seventeen years.
Does this checklist apply to private companies?
Yes, though the emphasis in stage 6 shifts. In the public sector the challenge is the break caused by a change of director; in a company it is usually business units each going their own way. The logic of the six stages — establish the concept, then research, then set the strategy, only then develop the design, then roll it out, and finally supervise it — holds for an organisation of any size; what differs is the composition of the committee and the way the licensing rules are written.
Preparing to tender a CI or identity system project?
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