A brand guide is a defining set of guidelines that outlines who your business is. It’s a guide that conveys how your want your business to be presented and perceived.
Brand guides might be used by internal team members or external contractors as a reference point for your branding.
Brand guides are typically presented in easily accessible and shareable formats, like PDF, PowerPoint, or on a dedicated page on the company’s website.
Why Does My Business Need One?
You might be wondering if your business really needs a brand guide. We can’t tell you enough how important and useful a brand guide can be. Here’s why:
- Consistency
Brand guidelines help your brand maintain a consistent and professional image.
As your business grows, you will be collaborating with contractors, agencies, partners, and the press. A brand guide provides the tools to ensure your branding material is being used in high quality and properly.
- Guiding Principle
A brand guide can set the record straight on what your brand should look like. It can be used internally or externally for alignment.
This can help your employees and contractors understand your company and portray it accurately to clientele and the public.
- Maintaining Your Image
We know how important your brand is – as a representative of your business, your brand is closely tied to your reputation and is always making an impression on others.
That’s why it’s so important that it looks the way you want it to look. A brand guide fortifies the value and integrity of your brand by maintaining its standards, so that everywhere your brand is, quality follows.
What’s Inside a Brand Guide?
Most brand guides include two main parts:
- The Identity, which might include
- The company’s history
- You audience demographic
- Vision, mission, and values
- Brand story
- The Image, which might include
- Logo and usage guidelines – Ie. current vs. outdated versions of your logo, adding additional text to your logo, margin spacing, etc.
- Colours – For brands with many colours, they may be divided into priority tiers. Brands may also choose to include accent colours.
- Typography and fonts – Typeface and stylization of branded text, including titles, headings, and body text.
- Tone of voice – How you want writing to come off to the reader: casual and friendly or serious and neutral?
- Images, photos, and graphics – What imagery do you want associated with your brand? A tech company may choose geometric shapes; a vacation resort may choose images of happy guests.
- Templates of business cards, letterheads, or signage – Some brands may choose to include this in their brand guidelines as a reference point for a cohesive look across materials.
Brand guides also include branded assets, including logo versions, banners, virtual backgrounds and…
A Few Brands That Do It Well
UCLA: https://brand.ucla.edu/
What we like:
- Detailed overview of both the brand identity and image
- Instructions on use of logo variations
- Direction on photography and graphic elements
The Ordinary: https://s3.amazonaws.com/external_clips/2294521/Deciem_Brand_Guide.pdf?1486140419
What we like:
- Detailed and informing description of audience
- Clear guidelines on tone of voice and communication
- Simple and effective formatting
Amnesty International: https://brandhub.amnesty.org/
What we like:
- Detailed instructions on logo usage, typography and iconography
- Templates provided for social media and motion graphics
- Examples of material used in the past
Starbucks: https://creative.starbucks.com/
What we like:
- Comprehensive and organized formatting
- Detailed guide to colour usage
- Examples of material used in the past
Just like branding itself, every business makes their brand guide a little different so its unique to what they stand for.
In many ways, brand guides are an intersection of both the visual and invisible. It might be a little overwhelming at first but thinking about the identity of your business and working with a creative can certainly help you piece the two together.
