How to Write a Brand Style Guide That Your Team Will Follow

You invested significant money in developing a beautiful brand identity. Six months later, your marketing intern is using the wrong shade of blue, your social media designer found a font they prefer over the one in your brand, and your printer changed your logo colours because the file they received was in the wrong colour space. Without a brand style guide, brand consistency is impossible.

What Your Brand Guide Should Include

Brand Story and Values: Open with your mission, vision, values, and brand personality. This context helps anyone creating brand materials understand the spirit behind the visual rules. A designer who understands that your brand is about "empowering Kenyan entrepreneurs" will make different creative decisions than one who just sees a colour palette.

Logo Usage: Show every logo version: full colour, black, white, horizontal, stacked, and icon-only. Specify minimum sizes below which the logo should not be reproduced. Show required clear space around the logo. Document colour variations for different backgrounds. And critically, show examples of incorrect logo usage: do not stretch, do not change colours, do not add effects, do not rotate.

Colour Palette: List every brand colour with exact values across colour models: hex codes for digital, RGB for screen, CMYK for print, and Pantone for professional printing. Show primary and secondary colour combinations. Include examples of acceptable colour pairings and forbidden ones.

Typography: Specify heading and body fonts with weights and sizes for different applications: website, social media, print. Include fallback fonts for situations where primary fonts are unavailable. Show hierarchy examples demonstrating how headings, subheadings, body text, and captions should relate to each other.

Imagery and Photography: Define the style of photography that fits your brand: bright and airy versus dark and moody, candid versus posed, urban versus natural. Include examples of on-brand and off-brand imagery. Specify image treatment preferences like filters, overlays, or crop ratios.

Voice and Tone: Define how your brand speaks and writes. Is it formal or casual? Authoritative or conversational? Serious or playful? Give examples of brand-appropriate and inappropriate language. Include guidelines for different contexts like social media versus formal proposals.

Making It Accessible

The most comprehensive brand guide is worthless if nobody uses it. Make it easily accessible as a shared PDF or online document. Keep it concise and visually engaging rather than text-heavy. Include a quick-reference one-page summary for everyday use. Update it as your brand evolves rather than letting it become outdated.

Need a professional brand style guide? Our branding team creates comprehensive, practical brand guidelines that keep your identity consistent. Contact Cyril Creatives to build your brand guide.