Build Your Brand Style Guide For Consistency

Consistency is key when it comes to promoting your brand. From your business card to your website, you want to send a consistent message about your brand’s identity to your audience.

This is when a brand style guide comes into play. A style guide is a document that contains all the information necessary to create collateral for your brand. It’s your number one resource for rules on how your brand should present itself to the world. Regardless of the material, medium, or marketer creating new material, your style guide ensures you remain consistent in your branding. 

While this is one of the most important documents any brand could have in their possession, many skip over creating one. If you’re designing or redesigning your brand or website, now is the time to create a brand style guide for your business. 

Here are the basics you should include in your style guide:

Logo Usage

Your logo is basically your brand’s ID. When someone sees your logo, they (should) automatically know your brand. Therefore, this is probably one of the most important elements to create rules around. Your style guide should dictate exactly how your logo should be used.

Create rules on what colors can be used in your logo and the amount of spacing that must surround your logo to look good. If you have multiple versions of a logo, it is a great idea to put rules around when and how each version should be used.

While it’s great that you explain how your logo can be used, it is also a good idea to explain how NOT to use your logo. This way if any issues do arise, your style guide clearly illustrates how your logo can and cannot be used.

Colors

Colors are an important part of your brand’s identity. Unfortunately, without guidelines in place can shift over time as different people have a hand in content creation.

Your style guide should contain the color itself along with the hex code, CMYK and RGB values, as well as the Pantone color code. This information will eliminate any confusion moving forward, and ultimately saves you time and money if you need printed branding materials.

Fonts

Fonts are the element that most businesses are inconsistent with — which is why it’s one of the most important things to include in your style guide. Using the same fonts consistently helps your business look more put-together and professional.

Brands usually have a few different typefaces for different purposes. Your style guide should outline which typeface can be used, as well as where and how to use it. At the very least, your guide should dictate the typeface and size for headlines and body copy. It may be beneficial, however, to be even more detailed and create rules around leading and kerning.

Images and Graphics

Your choice of images and graphics says a lot about your brand. The images and graphics you use in your branding are often the things that people will remember most. Images can create a variety of different emotional responses. Your guidelines should cover the types of images to use so that you avoid sending mixed messages to your audience.

For imagery, everything from the style of photography to the subject matter should be outlined in your style guide. Sizing rules are extremely important when it comes to placing images on your website. With the correct dimensions, you’re able to crop images properly and avoid using images that are too large and can ultimately slow down your load times.

For tips on how to take your brand style guide and apply it to your website, contact us!