What is a brand style guide?
By Ash, Founder, HosteazePublished 2 min read
The short answer
A brand style guide is a short document that sets the rules for how your business looks and sounds everywhere it appears. It records your logo versions and spacing, exact colour codes, fonts, image style and tone of voice, so anyone making a sign, website or social post gets it right without asking you.
A brand style guide is the answer sheet you hand to anyone who makes something with your name on it. Without one, your sign-writer guesses the green, your web designer picks a different font, and your logo ends up stretched across a van. With one, everything matches without you checking every proof.
What goes in a brand style guide?
Most guides cover the same core sections, whatever the size of the business.
| Section | What it records | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | Approved versions, minimum size, clear space, what not to do | "Never place the full-colour logo on a photo; use the white version" |
| Colours | Exact codes for screen and print | Hex #1D70B8, RGB, CMYK and a Pantone reference if you print |
| Fonts | Typefaces for headings and body text, with a free fallback | "Headings in Montserrat Bold, body in Open Sans" |
| Imagery | Photo style, illustration style, icons | "Real photos of our work, no generic stock" |
| Voice | How you write and the words you avoid | "We say 'you', not 'the customer'" |
The voice section is the one small businesses skip, and it's often the most useful. Mailchimp's public content style guide is a good example: it says its voice stays the same while its tone changes with the reader's mood.
How is it different from brand identity?
Brand identity is the set of things people recognise you by: the name, logo, colours, voice. The style guide is the document that writes those things down so they're applied the same way every time. Identity is the thing; the guide is the instructions.
What does a good one look like?
Public examples are a good place to start. The GOV.UK Design System publishes its colour palette with exact hex codes and notes on where each colour may be used, including contrast rules for text. That last part matters. Under WCAG 2.2, normal body text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, so a guide that lists your pale brand colour for small text is setting everyone up to fail.
A usable small business guide fits on a few pages and answers the questions people actually ask: which logo file for a dark background, which green, which font. If you want to build one, our guide on how to create a brand style guide walks through it section by section, and how to choose brand colours covers the colour page in more depth.
More plain-English guides are in Email and domains.
Frequently asked questions
Is a brand style guide the same as brand guidelines?
Yes. Brand guidelines, brand book, brand manual and brand style guide all mean the same thing. Larger organisations sometimes split visual rules and writing rules into two documents, but for a small business one guide is plenty.
How long should a brand style guide be?
For a small business, two to six pages is enough. It needs to cover logo, colours, fonts and voice. A 60-page brand book only makes sense when dozens of people and agencies are producing material for you.
Does a sole trader need a brand style guide?
Not on day one. It becomes useful the first time someone else makes something for you, such as a printer, a web designer or a freelancer writing social posts. A single page saves a lot of back-and-forth.