What is a Brand Guide and Why do You Need One?

Each branding project we complete for a client comes with a brand guide. A brand guide is essential to maintain a cohesive and consistent appearance.

What is a brand guide?

A brand guide, also called a style guide, is a reference tool that lays out everything you need to know about your brand. A brand guide is not something that is customer-facing, but it is definitely important. There are many different kinds of brand guides. Some can be simple, some can be extremely detailed. But there are a few basic components that should be included in your brand guide.

What’s included in a basic brand guide?

1. Vision & Voice

It’s important to lay out what your business does, what the vision is, and what kind of messaging should be used. The messaging will reveal the brand’s personality and tone. This is specifically helpful for copywriters.

2. Typography

In this section, the specific fonts, along with the weights (regular, bold, italic) will be provided. It will specify which font is used for headings and which is used for body copy.

3. Color Palette

The colors of the brand, and how and when to use each color, will be listed here. The various color codes will be provided.

4. Logo Variations & Usage

This section will show the various logo variations and describe when to use them.

5. Image Style & Photography

Photography is a major component to a lot of brands and it’s important to be consistent with the kind of photos and editing style/filters used on the imagery. In this section, the image style will be described and sample photos and editing styles displayed.

So why do you need a brand guide?

1. It will help create a cohesive and consistent look

   Having a brand guide on hand will help ensure consistency is carried on once a branding designer’s work is done. Consistency is extremely important for a brand to be successful.

2. It will help create recognizable marketing

   Having a consistent look will in turn create recognizable marketing. Recognizable marketing is a great thing because it makes your brand look reliable and leaves a memorable impression.

3. It will help saves time and make lives easier

   Having a brand guide available for a company to reference will make lives easier and save time. It will eliminate any back and forth with the branding designer trying to figure out what color codes that should be used, etc… It’s a great tool to have when working with a public relations or marketing company. Say you’re having someone design an ad for you business, you can simply hand over the brand guide and they should be able to run with it.

   If someone were to open up the brand guide, they should have a clear understanding of your brand and how to represent it.