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Brand Guidelines

 What are brand guidelines? 

Brand guidelines outline the tools, defined rules, and standards for communicating your brand. Presented in a manual or book format, brand guidelines cover everything from colour palette to brand voice to typography to logo do’s and don’ts. The detailed rulebook gives your internal and outsourced teams consistent and precise direction on brand usage. Right down to the pixel.

What do brand guidelines include?
Logo anatomy

The logo anatomy provides a clear description of the primary logo. It typically includes a combination of an icon and a wordmark.

Clear space

The minimum clear space details the boundaries and distance the logo should receive from all other content elements.

Minimum size

Minimum size guidelines ensure all elements of a logo are both visible and recognizable when displayed at small sizes.

Logo misuse

Logo misuse provides a variety of examples of potential improper use of the logo which can damage your brand in the market.

Logo variations

Logo variations outline acceptable uses of the logo beyond the primary logo anatomy. This allows for cohesive versatility in logo use.

Colours

Clearly defined brand colours with RGB and CMYK codes help maintain brand consistency across a wide range of digital and print environments.

Typography

Defined brand typography helps build a consistent, recognizable brand and makes it easier for readers to consume.

 Imagery

Imagery guidelines help you stick with cohesive image styles and treatments and accurately communicate the right messages through imagery.

Brand voice

Brand voice is the distinct personality or feeling you convey in all your messaging across channels. This includes established tone (helpful, blunt, lighthearted) and grammar rules (punctuation, sentence cadence, capitalization) consistently expressed through writing style, and word choice.

Brand guidelines protect against:
  • Inconsistent use of colour
  • Skewed logo placement
  • Poor logo visibility 
  • Confusion on logo versions
  • Incohesive use of typography
  • Conflicting graphic styles
The benefits of brand guidelines
Direct your team

Brand guidelines give everyone direction on how to cohesively apply brand assets such as logo, colour, and typography in different settings.

Build brand equity

Consistently recognizable brands are often perceived as more valuable and allow you to adjust your price point to reflect the quality of your product or service.

Increase customer engagement

Customers turn to brands they’re familiar with. Brand guidelines ensure your audience always has the same experience with your brand, no matter where they come across it. Increase customer engagement.

Related Terms

Brand Strategy

Brand strategy involves translating your technical offering into a clear value proposition and backing it up with a messaging framework and brand personality you can own.

Anchor Text

Otherwise known as link text, a link title, or a link label, anchor text can be described as clickable words or phrases within a hyperlink that connects two web pages.

Search Engine

Database tools that help users find content on the World Wide Web. Once a user enters a keyword or search query, search engines curate a list of the most relevant webpage URLs, images, or videos, known as the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).