Style guide is the foundation upon which a business’s external identity is built. It is a detailed reference that outlines all the rules for using the logo, colors, brand voice, fonts, placement guidelines, and much more to convey a consistent and recognizable message. Creating a style guide is the beginning of shaping a cohesive professional image.
What is a Brand Style Guide?
It is a collection of recommendations for the visual presentation of the company and interaction with consumers. Advertising creatives often change, but there should be clearly defined boundaries within which brand consistency is maintained.
Ensuring Brand Consistency Across Channels
When customers interact with the brand on Facebook, visit the website, receive an email, or download a mobile app, they should feel like they are communicating with one company. The style guide ensures that the brand’s appearance and messaging remain consistent across all platforms.
Communicating Your Brand’s Identity
A branding guide conveys the essence of the identity, defining who you are as a company and how you want your audience to perceive you. Brand identity consists of several levels:
- Concept: mission, vision, core values.
- Strategy: positioning, value proposition, target audience.
- Narrative: brand story, key messaging, brand voice.
- Visualization: visual branding, graphic elements, design.
- Communication: language, tone, brand communication style.
Why Every Business Needs a Style Guide
- Time and resource savings when creating content.
- Effective communication with external collaborators.
- Adaptability to different media and channels.
- Protection of corporate identity during periods of change.
- A foundation for purposeful, rather than accidental, brand development.
Essential Components of a Style Guide
The scope and detail of the guide will depend on the specifics of the business, but even the simplest one should include all elements of the identity. A well-structured style guide template will allow for expanding the document as the company grows.
Logo Usage Guidelines
- Design standards: primary, black-and-white, monochrome, vertical and horizontal, simplified minimalist.
- Logo placement rules, space around it, and positioning.
- Sizes: minimum for different media, correct proportions and aspect ratios, scaling rules.
- Application on different backgrounds.
- Prohibited uses: examples of prohibited modifications, unacceptable color combinations, changes to elements or proportions.
Typography and Fonts
- Primary font family: for titles and headings, for long texts, for interactive digital elements.
- Formatting rules: recommended line spacing and letter spacing, alignment, uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Technical considerations: licenses, system fonts, web alternatives.
- Specific applications: typography for print and digital materials, adaptation to different screen sizes.
Color Palette and Its Application
- The primary color palette, additional secondary and accent colors.
- Technical specifications: RGB for screen display, CMYK codes for four-color printing, HEX codes for web and digital applications, Pantone (PMS) codes for spot color printing, RAL for materials.
- Examples of combinations to avoid: those that impair readability, create undesirable visual effects, or confuse the brand with competitors.
Imagery and Photography Style
- Overall artistic direction: aesthetics, emotional tone, style, sharpness.
- Subjects and themes: types of people from the target audience, environment and scenarios, proportions and details.
- Post-production and filters: color presets, permissible and impermissible special effects.
- Practical considerations: formats and resolution for various applications, desired orientation and proportions.
Tone of Voice and Messaging
- Verbal brand identity, values, level of formality.
- Stylistic language elements: average sentence and paragraph length, vocabulary complexity.
- Grammatical and punctuation guidelines: punctuation preferences, capitalization, abbreviations, numbers, and dates.
- Specific tone of voice branding examples: templates for titles and headings, product descriptions, responses on social media.
- Terminology and glossary: list of industry terms, characteristic phrases, as well as expressions to avoid.
Steps to Create Your Brand Style Guide
Following a structured path will help you create brand guidelines that are functional and practical for everyday use.
Define Your Brand Identity
- Formulate the mission and vision.
- Define core values.
- Determine competitive positioning.
Document Your Visual Elements
- Design the logo, icons, and symbols.
- Choose typography.
- Create patterns, textures, and motifs.
- Define photographic and illustrative styles.
- Develop layouts and grids, composition principles.
Establish Tone and Voice
- Define the communication style and level of formality.
- Create guidelines for writing texts.
- Outline adaptation options for different channels.
- Compile a linguistic glossary.
- Develop copywriting samples that illustrate the correct tone.
Compile Everything into a Clear Document
The structure of the brand style guide is crucial for effective use and implementation by everyone working with your brand.
- Organize sections in an intuitive order.
- Provide plenty of visual examples.
- Write concise and direct instructions, clearly define technical terms.
- Develop a full version for internal use and a simplified version for external partners.
- Create checklists to ensure adherence to the guidelines.
How to Keep Your Style Guide Relevant
Over time, design trends change, your audience evolves, and your company may expand in new directions. Here’s how to ensure your guide meets current needs:
Regular Reviews and Updates
We recommend reviewing the document fully at least once a year, but it’s also useful to plan shorter quarterly reviews. During these checks, assess whether all elements still align with the current brand identity.
Gathering Feedback from Teams
Create a dedicated channel where specialists can share their experiences and suggestions.
- Are there any overlooked use cases?
- Which parts are unclear or complex?
- Which elements raise the most questions?
Adapting to Market Trends
Keep track of new trends in design and communication, assessing which ones may be relevant to your industry. For example, the introduction of new communication channels may require updates to existing guidelines.
Start Building Your Brand Style Guide Today
Design consistency is a strategic tool that strengthens brand recognition, builds trust, and improves audience engagement. Hetman offers consulting services for custom style guides that reflect your brand’s uniqueness. Our experts in effective branding will help define, document, and implement guidelines that will transform your visual communication. Contact us today for a free consultation and start your journey towards a consistent brand identity.