A brand guide, also known as a brand style guide, is a document that outlines the rules and guidelines for using a company’s brand assets. Brand assets include things like the logo, color palette, typography, imagery, and voice and tone. The brand guide ensures that the brand is used consistently across all communication channels such as print, digital, video, etc. It provides specific instructions for how to (and how not to) represent the brand visually and verbally. The goal is to maintain brand integrity and alignment throughout the organization.
Purpose of a Brand Guide
The main purposes of creating a brand guide include:
- Ensure brand consistency – Having clear guidelines on the proper use of visual assets like logos, colors, and fonts ensures a consistent brand experience across different touchpoints. This strengthens brand recognition and perception.
- Maintain brand integrity – A brand guide protects the visual identity and prevents misuse that could dilute brand equity. It provides guidance for internal teams as well as external agencies, partners, and vendors.
- Improve brand alignment – Detailing the brand’s personality, voice, and tone helps different departments and individuals align their communications and stay on-brand. This leads to more cohesive, effective messaging.
- Facilitate collaboration – Brand guides enable various content creators, designers, product developers, and others to work together smoothly by following the same guidelines.
- Onboard new employees – The document acts as an onboarding resource to educate new hires about brand values and expectations upfront.
- Keep the brand consistent across markets – For global brands, it ensures visual identity and messaging are translated appropriately in different regions.
In summary, the brand guide is a critical reference tool for maintaining optimal use of brand assets across the organization and in external communications. It ensures brand consistency, integrity and alignment across the board.
Elements of a Brand Guide
While the exact contents may vary by company, brand guides generally contain some combination of the following elements:
Logo Guidelines
This section provides guidance on proper logo usage such as:
- Different versions of the logo – full color, black and white, reversed (for dark backgrounds), etc.
- Clearspace and minimum size requirements
- Correct and incorrect logo usage examples
- Acceptable and unacceptable logo modifications
- Proper use on backgrounds
- Partner or co-branding guidelines
Color Palette
This defines the brand’s primary and secondary colors with hex codes and usage guidelines such as:
- Main brand colors and accent colors
- Examples of color combinations and gradients
- When and how to use each color
- Digital and print color formats (RGB, CMYK, Pantone)
Typography
Rules for typography include:
- Brand fonts – families, sizes, weights
- Hierarchy – headlines, subheads, body text
- Use of uppercase, italics, underline
- Pairings and examples of font combinations
- Minimizing font variables
Voice & Tone Guidelines
This describes the brand’s personality and how to reflect it through language:
- Key brand attributes and character descriptors
- Target audience profiles
- Guidelines for tone (casual, formal, conversational, etc.)
- Writing style tips
- List of commonly used terms and phrasing
- Guidelines for local adaptation and translation
Design Assets
This provides examples of visual brand language and collateral:
- Imagery – product photos, lifestyle scenes, approved imagery types
- Icons – usage guidelines, downloadable assets
- Illustration style – characterized drawings, patterns, textures
- Graphic elements – badges, stickers, frames, filters
- Photography & video guidelines
- Set logo artwork files – EPS, SVG, PNG
Examples & Templates
For context, brand guides often include templates and design examples such as:
- Stationery – business cards, letterhead, envelopes
- Promotional items – t-shirts, bags, signage
- Forms and templates – invoices, presentations, reports
- App and website interface screenshots
- Advertisements and campaigns
- Packaging examples
Guidelines by Medium
Usage rules based on medium or asset type:
- Website – icons, hero images, UI elements, photography
- Mobile app – icons, splash screens, color scheme
- Video – intro/outro, lower thirds, transitions, text inserts
- Advertising – image styles, ad templates
- Merchandise – t-shirt logos, decals, branding
- Print materials – business cards, brochures, ads, flyers, etc.
- Out-of-home (OOH) – billboards, signage, vehicle wraps, trade booths
- Presentation decks – title slides, charts, graphics
Dos and Don’ts
A list of explicit guidelines on what to do and what to avoid such as:
- Right and wrong logo usage examples
- Acceptable and unacceptable color combinations
- Approved and unapproved fonts
- Ideal and poor visual treatments
- Correct and incorrect copy tone examples
Primary Sections of a Brand Guide
To summarize, a complete brand guide contains the following core sections:
- Brand fundamentals – mission, values, personality, voice
- Logo guidelines
- Color palette – primary and secondary colors
- Typography – brand fonts, hierarchy, rules
- Visual language – imagery, illustration style, icons
- Verbal language – tone, voice, word choice
- Design principles and examples
- Usage guidelines by medium/asset type
- Dos and don’ts
- Digital asset sheets – logos, fonts, graphics
These sections work together to provide a comprehensive guide to maintaining consistent brand representation across every customer touchpoint. They enable different teams to preserve the visual and verbal identity that strengthens recognition and trust in the brand.
Types of Brand Guides
Brand guides come in different formats tailored to the needs of the organization. Common types include:
Comprehensive Identity Guide
A detailed guide covering all brand identity elements and applications. It provides extensive instructions for visual, verbal and design treatments across all collaterals and media. This is developed primarily for large companies with multiple departments and locations.
Product Brand Guide
Focused specifically on branding one product or a product line. It guides product naming, identity design, packaging, communication, and more. These are common for consumer product companies.
Digital Brand Guide
A condensed guide focused only on digital applications – website, mobile, social media, advertising. It provides standards for digital designers specifically.
Brand Style Guide
A quick reference guide for designers on visual treatments like color, logo, typography. This focuses only on design elements rather than messaging and tone.
Swatch Book
A very simple style guide with color palettes, font list and logo assets. This offers just the style basics without detailed instructions.
One-Sheeter
A simple one-page flyer with brand dos and don’ts. This offers a condensed, printable guide for quick reference.
The choice of which type of brand guide to create depends on the company’s size, industry, budget and specific needs at hand. But any form of guidelines is better than no guidelines at all for strengthening brand identity and alignment.
How to Create a Brand Guide
Developing a brand guide takes strategic planning, aligning stakeholders, and designing visuals. Follow these steps to create a useful, comprehensive document:
Analyze Brand Identity
Audit current marketing materials, products, communications and more to analyze the existing visual and verbal identity. Document current logo usage, color schemes, typography, imagery style, tone of voice and other brand applications. This is the foundation for understanding what guidelines are needed.
Set Goals
Define what you want the brand guide to accomplish. Common goals are maintaining brand consistency across markets, onboarding new hires, facilitating collaboration between departments, and keeping external partners on-brand. Goals inform what content to include.
Review Examples
Research brand guide examples from competitors or companies in similar industries. Look at their outline, presentation and level of detail. This will spark ideas for your own guide.
Determine Content Sections
Decide which content chunks are most relevant to include based on brand analysis and goals. Cover visual identity, verbal identity, design principles and usage guidelines tailored to your needs.
Establish Brand Guidelines
Define standards for logo, color, typography, visuals, voice and design based on brand analysis. Include dos and don’ts and examples for context.
Solicit Feedback
Get input from key departments and stakeholders on draft content. Request feedback on any confusing sections, gaps or inconsistencies. Get alignment before finalizing guidelines.
Design Visuals
Visually represent guidelines through logo sheets, color swatches, font examples, photos of branded items, illustrations and more. These graphics make instructions clear.
Format Guide
Organize content into an intuitive, easy-to-navigate guide. Format so that information is findable and scannable. Use layouts, headers, white space and lists to enhance readability.
Publish and Distribute
Release the finalized brand guide by sharing digital files, posting on intranet sites or distributing printed booklets. Ensure it’s easily accessible to refer to and searchable.
Train Employees
Educate teams on how to use and apply the guidelines. Conduct training sessions on core brand standards. Reinforce through usage reminders and providing guide access.
Maintaining Brand Guidelines
The value of a brand guide is only realized through active implementation. Follow these best practices for adoption and upkeep:
- Make brand training part of onboarding for new hires across departments.
- Provide digital access to the guide on intranet sites or shared platforms.
- Include a link to the guidelines in email signatures and relevant communications.
- Designate a point person on the marketing team to answer usage questions.
- Set calendar reminders to review the guide with teams periodically.
- Update the guide as the brand evolves over time.
- Showcase examples of proper brand use in internal communications.
- Reward implementation of guidelines through recognition, incentives or contests.
- Audit materials periodically for adherence and address inconsistencies.
A brand guide is a living document requiring ongoing management and reinforcement. Consistent referencing, celebrating implementation and adapting content over time ensures maximum impact on brand consistency and performance.
Brand Guide Tools and Templates
Creating a brand guide is easier with templates and tools to organize content. Here are some resources:
Brand Guide Managers
All-in-one online brand management platforms like Frontify, Lucidpress, and Brandfolder that include templates for brand guidelines. They also provide features to solicit feedback, get approvals and distribute assets.
Design Software
Programs like Adobe InDesign that offer pre-formatted templates for brand guides. These provide helpful layouts to build content.
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
For simple brand guides, build a well-formatted document using Word. PowerPoint also lets you create an eye-catching visual presentation of guidelines.
Google Docs
Google’s free document creation software enables collaborating with others on the guide in real-time. Useful for building guides together.
Conclusion
A well-crafted brand guide is an invaluable tool for organizations to align teams around brand standards and strengthen consistency across touchpoints. Key contents include logo guidelines, color palettes, typography, visual assets, brand voice, design principles and usage instructions. keep the document updated and train employees on applying guidelines. Consistency in brand representation builds recognition and trust among target audiences, fueling business growth.