What a brand guide contains, how to use it, and why having one saves time and money on every future design project.
A brand guide (also called a brand standards document or style guide) is the reference document that defines exactly how your brand should look and sound across every context — from your website to a business card to a social media post. It's one of the most valuable deliverables we produce for design clients.
What a Brand Guide Includes
- Logo usage: The correct versions of your logo (full color, reversed, monochrome), minimum size requirements, and what not to do (stretch, recolor, add effects).
- Color palette: Your official brand colors with exact codes — HEX (for web), RGB (for screens), CMYK (for print), and Pantone (for specialty printing).
- Typography: The exact fonts used in your brand, which font is used for headings vs. body text, and fallback fonts for contexts where your brand font isn't available.
- Voice and tone: How your brand communicates — professional, conversational, authoritative, friendly — and examples of on-brand vs. off-brand language.
- Photography style: The visual style of imagery associated with your brand — lighting, subject matter, and what to avoid.
- Usage examples: Mockups showing the brand applied to business cards, email signatures, social media, and other common use cases.
How to Use Your Brand Guide
Share your brand guide with anyone who creates materials for your business — internal team members, contractors, printers, or marketing agencies. When they have the guide, they can produce materials that look like they came from the same source without needing to ask you for every detail.
Your brand guide is stored in your portal under Files → Brand Assets. If you need it updated after a brand refresh, submit a design ticket.