The importance of having a Brand Style Guide

What would happen if your customer thought a content you created was almost identical to your competitor’s? And then they chose their product or service instead of yours. Scary, right?

Having this document is key in establishing a brand identity, whether you’re starting out as a company or you’ve been around for years. Clear visual guidelines will also make sure your team is on the same page.

To produce and communicate a consistent message to your customers, you need a well-developed brand style guide (or brand book / corporate brand identity manual) to distinguish you from everyone else.

So what goes into something so important? Let’s take a look!

• Your Logo

If we were to tell you “Google”, “Facebook” or “Apple”, in the next millisecond you would have their logos in mind.

This is the ‘face’ of your brand and is what conveys your story, message and positioning. Anything and everything to do with your brand’s logo should be included in the guide. That means the logo, even an explanation of its relevance, colours and layout such as its size in relationship with other assets like a tagline.

• Typeface

Any typeface used for your brand is another huge part of the style guide. The fonts you choose goes into your logo, tagline, marketing assets, social media and sometimes even office stationery. All of them should be catalogued and differentiated.

• Imagery

It’s vital that your team knows your company’s image direction. The illustrations or on-brand photography you choose to employ on social media or your website should have a purpose. If what you use doesn’t help customers connect your content to your brand, you probably shouldn’t use it.

• Writing style

References to articles or copy done by your writers is essential because what they say will in some way relate to your mission and goals. To keep this consistent, the guide should include tips such as words to avoid.

• Colour Palette

It goes without saying that your company’s colours are unique to you. Many brands are defined by the colour they use: Starbucks green or Netflix red. Make it easy for designers to know your core brand colours by putting in the hex codes, RGB values and specifying colour combinations you want to stick with.

Your company’s value is made up of your culture, customer service, tone and mission statement. And how customers recognise you is through your visual identity. Spending time and hard work on your brand book will pay off in the long run.

If you’re in need of advice, we’re more than happy to help. Changeagency offers branding services which covers creating a style guide, logo design, collateral design and lots more.

If you’d like to work together on your brand, do drop us a line!