A brand style guide is an essential tool for designers to create a visual identity for their clients that represents their brand. Your brand style guide should reflect your client’s brand and ensure that their design is consistent across all mediums. To create a well-designed brand style guide, you should keep it simple and avoid excessive lines, forms, boxes, or fancy effects that are difficult to modify and recreate.

In this article, we will discuss the top 6 must-have elements for your brand style guide, ensuring that your next design project is a success and your client will love you!

So here you go. Spend the next five minutes reading them over! You might find something you’re looking for.

Brand Logo

This section will focus on the brand logo. It’s wonderful to provide some context for what the logo represents and how it was created, but I’d focus more on the guidelines you’ve established for utilizing it. Make sure you know the primary logo at the start of this section. If previous versions of the logo are still available, this will assist explain which version is suitable for usage.

Then you should color any logo shapes and color variants and provide precise instructions on when each should be utilized. Sizing guidelines, clear space (the space surrounding the logo that should remain clear), backdrop control, and frequent mistakes are all excellent techniques to ensure that the logo is not distorted. Making specific standards here might save clients money if a provider fails to execute the branding correctly.

Brand Colors

This part should go without mentioning, but you should include a complete discussion of how to duplicate each color. At the very least, this entails an RGB breakdown, a CMYK breakdown, and a hex code. Pantone colors are ideal if your client is willing to pay for PMS matching or wants to produce a tone that cannot be printed in a four-color process without special inks.

One thing I recommend is buying and using the Pantone Color Bridge books. If you use the default CMYK breakdown of a color that appears great on screen, it may not look the same in print. It’s useful to check how the precise CMYK breakdown will print on various materials. Even though there is no direct (software) translation between the RGB and CMYK colors, you can alter the values to suit the best version of the printed color. Color information may be very comprehensive. However, I recommend concentrating on acceptable color combinations and use. I’ve seen clients utilize accent colors that should never be used as background colors – regulations should help.

Typography

The majority of style guidelines specify which fonts are permitted for use in brand elements, which is fantastic. I suggest determining which typefaces should be utilized for headings, body material, and captions.

Many great type foundries available today provide numerous versions of typefaces for various uses. If a font’s name contains the term “Display,” it is intended for use in headlines. If its name contains the word “Text,” it should be used for the body copy. Identifying these distinctions for your clients, team, and stakeholders will aid in the development of their layouts.

Visual Style

One of the worst flaws of most style guides is the absence of design system-specific guidelines. Visual elements such as line styles, shapes, icons, containers, patterns, and backdrops will be employed to construct the majority of brand executions.

Provide a range of components and pieces at various design system levels to equip them with the proper assets. You may also modify these assets to the specific requirements of the brand. When determining which graphic elements to present, adhere to the fundamentals. This area should be designed appropriately. Give the home cooks the elements needed to create magic.

Photography

Have you ever attempted to create a website or a document without using any photographs? It’s challenging to make it fascinating to listen to. That’s why photography is so important.

The section on photography is the second-most skipped through in most style guides. This takes me completely by surprise! The general aesthetic direction of the container in which an image is stored is determined by the appearance and feel of the photograph itself.

A fantastic shot has the potential to completely change the direction of a business. That’s why photography plays a key role in completing a brand’s goals and has to be seen as an essential component of brand executions.

Brand Collateral

Pre-designed layouts, crafted with care.

These rules describe how the graphic assets should be assembled. This one is generally rather bright compared to the rest of the sections. You’ve ticked this box if you cover a few fundamental grids and some principles for placement and usage for most graphic elements.

I would recommend following this format:

• Introduce the template and its use
• Give details on sizing
• Outline any available customization
• Provide production details (paper, printing techniques, etc.)

Any item in the delivery folder ready to be sent off to production can live here. Here is a basic breakdown of some of the possibilities:

• Business Cards
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Social Media Graphics
• Brochures
• Signage & Wayfinding
• Packaging
• Basic Web Designs
• Merchandise
• Stickers/Labels

Just to recap…

A well-designed brand style guide should reflect the client’s brand and ensure that their design is consistent across all mediums. By including these six must-have elements in your brand style guide, you will empower your clients to create something with the same appearance and feel as the original design.

Once the style guide has been put together and polished, and the files have been assembled and organized in the delivery folder, it’s time to hand it off to its new owners.

I hope that this post helped. If you have any questions in mind or other cool resources, please leave them in the comments. If you just want to talk, feel free to reach out.

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