Creating your Brand’s Style Guide—and Sticking to It

What Is a Brand Style Guide & Why Do I Need One?

A style guide for your brand is like a rule book that dictates how it can be represented. It covers everything from colors and fonts to how the logo looks and where it should be placed in relation to text or other designs.

Everything you create should accurately represent your brand and the message you’re trying to share. Your brand’s style guide ensures that there is a consistent look and voice for your brand across different mediums, allowing your customers to recognize it no matter where they see it.

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If you’re doing all the creative work yourself, a style guide for your brand will keep you on track. Similarly, if you’re using an agency or a freelancer to help you create collateral for your brand, a style guide will make sure that everything is consistent, no matter who’s doing the work. It allows for quality control and leads to better brand recognition.

What Should I Include in a Style Guide for My Brand?

A brand style guide should include certain components. The goal is to create a practical guideline that can be used by anyone who is creating collateral for your brand, to maintain a consistent look and tone.

Your style guide should include the following elements:

Mission & Vision

Before the guide can get into the fun stuff like the logo and the colors and fonts that are used, your company should define its core values and what sets it apart from its competition. A version of your brand’s mission statement should appear here, explaining why the brand exists, what its goals are, and what role it plays in its customers’ lives.

This section is what communicates to the world what your brand is about. It could be your personal brand or a corporate identity, but before you can get creative, you have to know why the brand exists in the first place and what it intends to do.

Visual Identity

There are a few elements of your brand’s visual identity:

• Logo. It may seem obvious that your brand’s logo should appear in a brand style guide. However, this provides an opportunity to showcase every instance of the logo’s appearance. This may include alternate color schemes, and logos that do and do not include the company name or tagline. If there is an abbreviated format of the logo, it should appear here as well. Make sure that this section of the style guide is as specific as possible about the proportions and alignment of all iterations of the logo, so that your brand presents a consistent face to the world.
• Color scheme. Use this section to talk about the colors that your brand uses. Show variations in your color palette and use of black and white. Most brands choose four or fewer main colors so that things don’t get too busy. Share swatches of your brand’s colors and include information about them, like HEX codes they use, so they can be accurately reproduced. If you haven’t chosen a color palette for your brand yet, it may be helpful to use a color wheel to help you find a scheme that works.
• Fonts. Not all fonts are created equally. Some are swirly and fun, while others are severe and formal. When choosing a font or two for your brand, consider the image you’d like to project. This will help you determine whether you want to use multiple fonts for your brand, or if one will do. Include upper- and lower-case versions of all fonts that are used to represent your brand. You’ll also want to include information about why you chose the typefaces you’re using and how each one is used. If you prefer that all text be centered or justified to the right, you’ll need to say so. If your brand guidelines dictate that specific font sizes or ratios are used, include that information as well.
• Iconography. Your brand may utilize buttons for social media or mobile apps, or simply to call out important details. Include those icons in your style guide so that they can be accurately reproduced and create a unified look, no matter the media. If your brand uses custom illustrations, include them, along with details for their use.
• Photography. Not all brands use photography, but if yours does, include guidelines in the style guide. Think about your brand’s audience, who you’re trying to reach, and the message you’re trying to share. If you have example photos, include them. Otherwise, find photography examples that best represent your brand and include those.
• Grid System. A grid system refers to how content is laid out, allowing your visual materials to look balanced. Without a grid system in place, a designer may have free rein to place components wherever they choose, creating a look that may be overly cluttered and won’t match up with previous iterations of your brand. The style guide exists to provide consistency to your brand, so include details about your preferred layout, especially for branded communications like business cards, websites, and corporate letterheads.

With visual aids, you may find it useful to give explicit examples of what to do and what to avoid, especially regarding your logos, fonts, spacing, and colors.

Tone & Voice

Think if your brand as a person. Is that person a small child? A teacher? Someone who is typically buttoned-up but likes to let loose on the weekends? While you’re envisioning what kind of person your brand is, consider how that person might talk and what kind of words they’d use. Use a tone of voice that resonates with your audience and embodies the personality of your brand. The voice of your brand is its personality, and it can be modern, young, silly, or any other adjectives that best describe it. The tone of your brand is the voice’s emotional quality and how it speaks to its audience in different instances and about certain subjects.

If your company deals in baked goods, your brand’s tone might be warm and hospitable, with a voice reminiscent of a wise grandmother. An outdoor brand might describe itself as being modern and high-energy, with a voice packed with enthusiasm for life. Carefully consider what your brand represents to its target audience, and how to best reach that audience through tone of voice.

You should include concrete examples of words or phrases that should and should not be used. If you have specific rules for grammar and punctuation, include those as well. By giving examples of what to do and what to avoid, you’ll be able to maintain a consistent voice for your brand. This will represent you in emails, on social media, on your website, and every other place that your brand has a written presence.

Digital, Print & Physical Guidelines

Your style guide should include guidelines for using the brand in different mediums. Some aspects to consider:

• How your brand’s social media posts will look. Will your brand interact with others or simply post information or visuals? Consider which platforms best fit your brand and how your posts on each one will look. Will you tag your posts a specific way?
• The format of your email signature. Professionally branded sign-offs should be consistent. If you want your logo included, it’s important to say so.
• The look of your brand’s paper goods. You might have a very specific idea for how your business cards will look. That same level of attention to detail should carry through to your branded invoices, stationery, and sales letters. If it’s going to represent your brand, you should have a guideline for how it should be done.
• How physical collateral will look. Consider any packaging you may need for shipped products and what your promotional materials might look like. If you plan to share your brand at trade shows, you’ll want to think about things like a booth, flags, and signage. The same goes for any plans for a storefront or an in-store presence.

With branding, consistency is key. Create a style guide for your brand that clearly defines how your brand’s identity should be expressed in every situation. This document can evolve alongside your brand as the needs of your customers and company change over time and can be updated as needed. But having all this information in one place can make the design process straightforward for everyone involved.