Every brand has its unique identity. Think of PayPal and KFC. Even if no exact name is mentioned, you can judge their name from the font, typography, color scheme, etc. All these aspects establish a unique identity and character for your business, and they are typically outlined in brand guidelines, brand guides, or style guides.
Every brand classifies several parameters under its brand guidelines, such as images to be used, logo design and its use, color palette, etc. Brand guides help business partners, leaders, and employees understand how and where these assets must be used. Let’s read ahead and learn more about style guides, their uses, and their contents.
What are Brand Guidelines?
If you look at Coca-Cola, there are certain things that you will notice in its marketing ads, such as
- The use of Spencerian script.
- Use red, white, black, or a combination of these colors.
- A message in a friendly tone.
These elements are presented this way because of brand guidelines. Brand guidelines or style guides define the rules and standards defining how a brand should be presented across all platforms and media. These guides ensure consistency in messaging, visual identity, tone, and overall brand experience.
These guidelines typically cover assets such as
- Logo usage
- Color palette
- Typography
- Imagery
- Tone of voice
By consistently following brand guidelines, brands can maintain a cohesive and professional appearance that helps build trust and recognition with their audience. For example, Eason Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers has a great example of how their logo, colors, and brand name align with their primary mission: justice for everyone, the battle for the injured.
Why Do Brands Need Guidelines?
Brand guidelines are established for several reasons, including ensuring consistent content across all media and fostering brand recognition. Here is a comprehensive overview of them.
Ensure Brand Consistency
Even if there is no font on the KFC hoarding, the picture of Colonel Sanders is enough to dictate the brand name. That is what brand guides help with. Brands can ensure consistency by using the same color palette, fonts, images, messages, and typography across all marketing materials. According to statistics, 68% of companies report that brand consistency added 10-20% to their revenue growth.
Boosts Brand Recognition
Using consistent messages, colors, fonts, and images across various digital marketing channels helps boost brand recognition. Users who see the same colors and photos from a brand on billboards, social media ads, and flyers are more likely to remember the brand. According to stats, customers are 78% more likely to recall a brand’s color than its name.
Reduce Risks
One of the most underrated yet valuable aspects of brand guidelines is that they help reduce risk. By following your brand’s voice, typography, images, fonts, and other elements according to the guidelines, you will likely establish a unique brand identity. Therefore, it prevents your brand from any kind of misuse.
What Includes Brand Guidelines?
50% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands they recognize. To boost your business’s sales, consider incorporating the following elements into your brand guidelines or style guides.
| Parameters | Contents |
| Images | Images include icons, image design elements, and photo types. |
| Typography | Fonts, sizes, and styles |
| Color Palette | Information about colors to be used, including CMYK and RGB codes. |
| Logo Design | This is a critical one where information and guidelines on logo usage, including — Color palette — File format(s) — Sizes information — Contexts — Spacing — Usage permissions |
| Company Info. | Businesses typically outline their brand’s mission, values, history, and vision in this section. |
| Tone and Grammar | Tone of voice and grammar rules |
| Cards and Letterheads | Template for business card and letterhead designs |
For example, you can check the KFC brand guidelines here.
How to Create Brand Guidelines?
Now that you understand the elements and parameters of the brand guidelines, let’s learn how to create them.
1. Align stakeholders on your brand core
The first step is to gather all the company’s key people and confirm your brand voice, mission, vision, and values. Creative teams, leadership teams, marketing teams, and other personnel who play a crucial role in the brand’s growth must be aware of what your brand stands for from the outset. For example, Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum effectively followed the brand guidelines from the color palette up to the logo design. However, they extensively incorporated the names of their famous lawyers and their imagery into their brand and logo to increase trust and customer loyalty.
2. Add and update the brand assets
If your brand already has a logo, typography, color palette, and so on, check if they align with the brand’s voice. For example, studying color psychology can help you choose the ideal color palette. You can also do competitor research using the SE competitor research tool for inspiration. Furthermore, check if these brand assets need any improvement or replacement.
3. Build out the rules and resources
Here, you must clearly define the rules for using the brand and its assets. For example, where and how to use your logo, when to apply specific colors, and how to maintain a consistent tone across channels etc. Furthermore, provide resources, such as a list of dos and don’ts, editable presentations, social media posts, etc.
4. Choose the format and platform
Once you have documented all the guidelines, you need to choose the file format and platform. You can keep the file format as PowerPoint presentations or software-based guides, as they are easy to update when required. Google Workspace or your dedicated company portal is the best place to keep all the guidelines documents, as they are easily accessible.
5. Implement and share guidelines
Once you have uploaded the guideline document to the company portal or the web, provide access links to the resource so that active individuals can access it. Google Workspace allows you to share documents using different access methods.
You can either let the people view the document or edit it. Depending on your team’s needs, you can provide the required access. For example, the creative team would need edit access to the document.
6. Evaluate feedback and revise guidelines
The market shifts quickly; if you need your brand to stay relevant, keep an eye on the feedback. This information can be acquired from various sources, including company stakeholders, the design team, end-users, and others. Depending on the input, necessary changes can be made to the guidelines to ensure adherence, relevancy, and brand identity. You can use the Surfer SEO Content Editor to revise the guidelines.
Conclusion
Brand guidelines are the core of a business. Everything a company does that is presented to its audience is highly influenced by brand guidelines. Hence, it is essential to design them carefully. Establish your brand voice, create a simple yet attractive logo, fix the color palette, use the right font, and most importantly, describe how to use these guidelines. Keeping everything in one place for company professionals to access can help maintain brand consistency and coherence.
⸻ Author Bio ⸻
Irina Weber is a brand manager at LawRank. She helps startups and enterprises create, promote, and distribute content and increase brand awareness. With over nine years of experience in content marketing, she regularly contributes to media outlets such as SEW, Adweek, SME, MarketingProfs, and CMI.
