Brand Guidelines: What to Include and How to Structure Them
Brand guidelines — also called a brand book, brand bible, or style guide — are the documented rules that ensure your brand is communicated consistently across every touchpoint: your website, packaging, social media, presentations, printed materials, and advertising.
Most organisations have either too little documentation (a single page with the logo and colour codes) or too much (a 200-page corporate tome that nobody reads). The most effective brand guidelines are comprehensive enough to address real application questions, concise enough to be consulted in practice, and structured to serve the people who actually apply the brand day-to-day.
Section 1: Brand Story and Positioning
Before rules come purpose. The first section of effective brand guidelines establishes:
Mission statement: What the organisation is working toward. One or two sentences, written in the present tense.
Vision statement: The future the organisation is building toward. Aspirational, forward-looking.
Brand positioning statement: A structured description of the brand's competitive position — who it serves, what it uniquely offers, and why it is credible. Internal use; not marketing copy.
Brand personality: 4–5 adjectives describing the human character of the brand, with brief explanations. 'Bold but not arrogant', 'Warm but not informal', 'Expert but not exclusive'. These personality attributes guide every creative decision.
Brand voice: How the brand speaks in written and verbal communication. Distinct from brand personality (which applies to all brand expression), brand voice specifically governs written copy: formal vs. conversational, active vs. passive, direct vs. discursive, inclusive language rules.
Section 2: Logo Usage
The logo suite: Document all approved logo variants:
- Primary logo (full colour)
- Reversed/white logo (for dark backgrounds)
- Mono/black logo (for black-on-white applications)
- Greyscale logo (for grayscale print)
- Submark/icon (the logo mark without wordmark, for small contexts)
- Favicon (optimised 16×16px version)
Clear space: Define the minimum clear space around the logo using a measurable unit (typically the x-height or cap height of a letterform within the logo). Show a visual diagram.
Minimum sizes: Define the minimum print and digital sizes in millimetres and pixels. Below which the logo must not be used.
Incorrect usage: Explicitly show prohibited treatments — stretching, rotating, recolouring, adding effects, using outline-only version, placing on clashing backgrounds.
Section 3: Colour System
Primary palette: 1–3 primary brand colours with Pantone PMS, CMYK, RGB, and HEX codes. Name each colour if you wish ('Pacific Blue', 'Ivory', 'Forest Green').
Secondary palette: 2–4 supporting colours that complement the primary palette, also with full specifications.
Functional palette: Colours used for specific UI/communication functions — primary CTA (often the most saturated primary colour), error red, success green, warning amber, neutral greys.
Accessibility checks: Document the WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios for all approved text-on-background combinations. Include pass/fail for AA (4.5:1 for body text) and AAA (7:1 for body text) standards.
Usage proportions: A rough guide to the visual proportion of each colour in the typical application — e.g., "60% White, 30% Forest Green, 10% Coral Accent".
Section 4: Typography
Primary typeface: The display and headline typeface. Name, foundry, font weights used, purchase link or Google Fonts link.
Secondary typeface: The body and UI typeface. Same details.
System font fallback: The font stack to use when the primary typeface is not available (web email, system documents) — e.g., "If Freight Text is unavailable, use Georgia."
Typographic scale: The defined sizes for each heading level (Display, H1, H2, H3, Body Large, Body, Caption, Label) with size, weight, line height, and letter spacing for both print (in points) and digital (in rem/px).
Type colour rules: Which typeface colours are approved on which backgrounds. Black on white, white on primary colour, never light grey on white.
Section 5: Imagery and Photography
Photography style: 3–5 example images that represent the approved brand photography style, with a written description — 'Real people in real environments, natural lighting, warm colour grade, no stock photography poses'.
Photography to avoid: Counter-examples showing the prohibited style — generic stock, artificial studio setups, clipart, illustrations (if illustrations are not approved).
Illustration style (if applicable): Style references, approved illustration types, colour palette for illustrations.
Icon system: The approved icon library (if custom icons are used), the icon style rules, and the permitted sizes.
Section 6: Digital Applications
Website design system: Key UI component documentation — button styles, form fields, navigation, card components, spacing tokens.
Email signature template: Exact template with dimensions, font sizes, and approved social media links.
Social media profile images: Approved profile picture and cover image for each relevant platform, with download links to the pre-sized assets.
Social media post templates: 3–5 core post templates with Canva or Figma links.
Section 7: Print Applications
Business card template: Approved layout, print specifications, approved finishes.
Letterhead and document template: Approved Word/Google Docs template with brand fonts and colours.
Presentation template: PowerPoint/Keynote/Google Slides master template.
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