10 Hacks to Design Killer Brand Guidelines in Record Time

Introduction

Brand guidelines, also known as a brand style guide, are essentially a document that outlines the rules and standards for how your brand will be presented visually across all channels and materials. Having comprehensive and clear brand guidelines is crucial for any company that wants to create a cohesive, recognizable brand image.

Brand guidelines specify everything that visually communicates your brand. This includes your logo, colors, typography, imagery, iconography, and more. Brand guidelines help you maintain consistency across marketing materials, advertisements, websites, social media, packaging, and any other place your brand appears. They ensure your brand identity remains cohesive, instantly recognizable, and exudes the right style.

Additionally, brand guidelines boost brand awareness and brand recognition. When your visual identity is consistent, audience members will start to instinctively recognize and remember your brand. Brand guidelines also allow for different departments, external agencies, partners, and any other stakeholders to have reference sheets to ensure proper usage of your brand visuals. This helps align cross-functional teams and external partners to present a unified brand image.

In summary, comprehensive brand guidelines are crucial for maintaining brand consistency, increasing brand awareness, aligning teams, and protecting brand integrity across channels and materials. They provide clear instructions and guardrails for how to visually present your brand correctly every time.

Tip 1: Identify Your Brand’s Core Elements

Your brand guidelines should identify and explain the key visual and verbal elements that make up your brand identity. Start by defining:

• Logo – Include all approved versions of your logo (color and black & white). Provide guidelines on clear space and minimum size.
• Colors – List primary and secondary brand colors with hex codes. Explain how and when to use each color.
• Fonts – Specify primary and secondary fonts for headings, body copy, captions, etc. Share download links and instructions.
• Tone of voice – Describe your brand’s personality and style of writing. Provide examples of desired voice and word choices.

Pinpointing these core elements right away provides a solid foundation for the rest of your brand guidelines. It gives your team the key assets and direction needed to represent your brand consistently whenever they create content or materials.

Creative Portfolio Hacks: What You Need to Include to Showcase Your Best Work

Tip 2: Create a Style Guide

A style guide is a key component of effective brand guidelines. It establishes the visual language and graphical rules that support your brand identity. An effective style guide will provide clear specifications for:

Color Palettes

• List out the specific hex codes and/or Pantone colors used in your brand palette. Show examples of primary, secondary, and accent colors.
• Explain when and where each color should be used, such as call-to-actions buttons vs body text.
• Consider including a section on colors to avoid using if they conflict with your palette.

Typography

• Specify exact font names, sizes, weights, and styles used. Include samples to make it easy to reference.
• Call out ideal font pairings for headings/subheadings and body copy.
• Share letter spacing, line height, and text formatting guidance.

Iconography

• Include vector files of custom icons created for your brand.
• Show examples of how icons should be implemented in context, like on a website or app.
• Set rules for icon sizes, spacing, and treatments like color and state changes on hover/click.
• Explain the meaning and appropriate use cases for custom icons.

Having a well-defined style guide establishes a consistent visual language for your brand across every touchpoint. This ensures alignment, strengthens recognition, and makes usage easier for internal teams and external partners. Treat your style guide as a living document and update it as your brand evolves.

Tip 3: Showcase Your Brand Identity

A brand’s visual identity is a critical part of its brand guidelines. This includes elements like color palettes, fonts, logos, patterns, icons, and more. Brand guidelines should have a section dedicated to showcasing and explaining these visual brand assets.

Some key things to include in the brand identity section:

• Color palettes – Show primary and secondary colors with hex codes. Explain when and how each color should be used.
• Logos – Provide logo files in multiple formats (EPS, PNG, JPG). Specify minimum size and exclusion zone.
• Fonts – List primary and secondary fonts. Ideally, provide font files or specify where they can be licensed.
• Patterns, textures, icons – Share files and explain appropriate usage for repetitive visual elements.
• Imagery – Show examples of photography styles and illustrations that fit your brand.
• Examples – Show logos, fonts, colors, and patterns applied in examples of marketing materials, ads, websites, etc. This brings it all together.
• Improper usage – Demonstrate what not to do, like stretched logos or incorrect colors.

Having clear guidelines and visual examples will help other designers apply your branding correctly. This creates a consistent experience across touchpoints. Showcase what makes your brand unique and memorable through your identity.

Tip 4: Explain Your Brand Tone of Voice

Your brand’s tone of voice brings its personality to life. This includes the language, style, and overall vibe your brand conveys. Defining your tone of voice in the guidelines helps everyone representing your company understand how to embody your brand.

Some key elements to explain include:

• Brand personality – Is your brand fun, serious, innovative, or traditional? Defining these personality traits helps set the tone.
• Voice – What is the narrative perspective? First-person “we”, second-person “you”? Is the voice conversational or more formal?
• Language style – Use of idioms, metaphors, humor, and regional dialects. Is the writing more casual, corporate, or academic in style?
• Mood and attitude – Are brand communications optimistic, matter-of-fact, and enthusiastic? What is the general vibe?
• Preferences – Are there keywords, phrases, or approaches you want used or avoided? Any particular grammar and spelling preferences?

Providing tone of voice examples helps put guidelines into practice. Compare sample messaging in your desired brand voice versus content that misses the mark. This shows what to emulate or avoid in a concrete way.

Defining these elements in your guidelines frames how your brand connects with audiences. It enables anyone creating content and communications to align with your intended brand voice and personality. This strengthens consistency across channels and touchpoints.

Tip 5: Provide Logo Guidelines

Your brand guidelines should include clear instructions for using your logo correctly. This ensures your logo is displayed properly across all media and applications.

Some key logo guidelines to provide:

• Preferred logo variations (color, black and white, etc) and when to use each one. Explain which logo is your primary.
• Minimum size – Specify how small your logo can be scaled down to remain clear and legible.
• Clearspace – The minimum clearspace required around the logo to ensure legibility. Diagram this with visual examples.
• Unacceptable logo uses – Show examples of what not to do, like stretching, condensing, or recoloring the logo.
• Placement – Provide guidelines for placing the logo on backgrounds, photos, and videos. Include contrasts to avoid.
• Co-branding – Explain logo lockups with partner brands and how to display your logo with others.
• File formats – Supply logo files in all needed formats and color modes. SVG for digital, EPS for print, and transparent PNG for websites.
• Accessibility – Consider grayscale and inverted versions to properly convey your logo.

Providing clear instructions for using your logo in various contexts ensures it appears polished and professional across applications. This strengthens recognition and trust in your brand.

Tip 6: Include Examples of Good and Bad Usage

Providing clear examples of proper and improper usage of your brand assets is crucial for creating effective brand guidelines. Good examples motivate people to use your brand correctly, while bad examples show them what to avoid.

Some key do’s and don’ts to highlight:

• Do use the logo as provided in the official brand assets. Don’t alter, rotate, or recreate it.
• Do use the official brand colors, fonts, and graphic elements. Don’t improvise or use similar but different colors, fonts, etc.
• Do follow photo style and image guidelines. Don’t use low-quality or incorrect imagery.
• Don’t stretch, condense, or distort the logo.
• Don’t place the logo on busy backgrounds that make it hard to read.
• Don’t use colors that aren’t part of the official brand palette.

Showcasing examples gives people confidence to apply your brand correctly. It also reduces mistakes and protects brand consistency across touchpoints. Treat your guidelines like an instruction manual – the more visual examples you can provide, the better. Both inspiring examples and cautionary tales ensure your brand is used properly.

Tip 7: Make Them Easy to Access and Use

Brand guidelines serve little purpose if your team can’t easily access and use them. Here are some tips for making your guidelines user-friendly:

• Go digital – In today’s digital workplace, web-based and downloadable PDF guidelines are much more practical than print versions. Digital guidelines can easily be accessed by employees across multiple locations.
• Use a simple format – Avoid fancy graphic designs and complex layouts. Opt for a clean, well-organized document format like a PDF, Word doc, or Google doc. Simple is better.
• Write clear instructions – Explain how and when employees should use the guidelines. Provide specific directions to make adherence easier.
• Highlight key info – Call out important guidelines, standards, or instructions with highlights, callouts, and visual cues. Make key info easy to skim.
• Include a glossary – Define any branding terminology and acronyms. This allows new employees to quickly get up to speed.
• Make it searchable – Digital guidelines should include search and links for easy navigation. No one wants to scroll endlessly to find one section.
• Use a consistent structure – Organize similar topics together under clear headings. Consistent structure aids usability.
• Check mobile friendliness – If digital, confirm the guidelines render well on mobile devices. Many users will access it casually via phones and tablets.

With some forethought, you can design brand guidelines that are truly user-friendly for your team. The easier they are to use, the more impact they’ll have.

Tip 8: Update as Your Brand Evolves

Brand guidelines are not a static document. As your brand evolves over time, your brand guidelines should evolve as well. Think of your brand guidelines as a living document that needs periodic review and updates.

Here are some reasons you may need to update your brand guidelines:

• You’ve launched a new product or service that doesn’t fit within your current guidelines. You’ll need to expand the guidelines to encompass the new offering.
• You’ve introduced a new brand slogan or tagline. The guidelines will need to be updated to include the new messaging.
• Your visual identity has changed, such as an update to the logo or color palette. The visual guidelines will need revisions to match the new design.
• Your company has merged with another or undergone a major reorganization. The brand may need to be refreshed to align with changes to the business.
• Your tone of voice and brand personality has evolved. The messaging and language use cases should reflect the current brand voice.
• You find instances of the brand being used inconsistently or incorrectly. Clarify usage standards based on real-world application of the guidelines.
• There are new digital marketing channels or brand touchpoints that need to be addressed. Expand the guidelines to cover emerging media.
• Customers provide feedback that portions of the guidelines are unclear. Improve areas that cause confusion.

Aim to review your brand guidelines every 6-12 months. While frequent major overhauls are not ideal, regular minor updates will ensure the guidelines stay relevant. They should accurately reflect your current brand, not past iterations. Treat your guidelines as a living document that grows alongside your brand.

Tip 9: Get Feedback Before Finalizing

Brand guidelines are meant to represent your brand accurately and consistently. Before finalizing your brand guidelines, it’s important to get feedback from key stakeholders to ensure alignment.

Consider having a few different groups review your brand guidelines draft:

• Executive team – Get buy-in from leadership on the overall vision and direction. Make sure the guidelines align with their expectations.
• Creative team – Designers, writers, and other creators will use these guidelines the most. Incorporate their feedback to improve clarity and coverage.
• External partners – Agencies, affiliates, and other partners should be able to easily understand and apply your guidelines. Their feedback can identify gaps.
• Select customers – Your end users are the ultimate judges of your brand. Recontextualize a draft of the guidelines into a presentation to test with target customers or focus groups.

In addition to stakeholder reviews, comprehensively test your guidelines by:

• Creating sample content, ads, packaging, etc. following the guidelines to see if they work in real applications.
• Searching for potential misuses or contradictions within the guidelines that may need clarification.
• Ensuring designers/writers unfamiliar with your brand can understand and apply the guidelines correctly.

Making time for quality assurance will ensure you catch issues with your brand guidelines before they are widely distributed. This will prevent confusion down the road that could jeopardize brand integrity.

Tip 10: Promote Brand Adoption

Promoting adoption of your new or updated brand guidelines is critical to ensure they are actually followed. Here are some ways to get buy-in and increase adherence:

• Conduct training sessions on the new guidelines. Gather your marketing and design teams and walk through the new brand style, tone of voice, logo usage, etc. Allow time for Q&A.
• Hold an internal launch event when releasing new guidelines, especially if it’s a brand refresh. Generate excitement and understanding of why the changes were made.
• Reinforce consistently in team meetings and communications. Gently correct misuse by referring back to the guidelines.
• Celebrate successes when you spot your brand being used properly. Call out great examples of how employees are adopting the new brand.
• Make guidelines easily accessible by having them readily available on your intranet or a shared drive. Employees shouldn’t have to dig to find the latest version.
• Consider creating condensed versions like one-page logo guidelines or a condensed style guide for quick reference. Remove barriers to adoption.
• Update frequently used templates like presentation decks, email signatures, and letterheads. Don’t allow old versions to persist.
• Phase out outdated materials like signage and collateral. Replace with updated branded versions.
• Lead by example from the top down. Management should be models of proper brand adherence.

With consistent promotion at launch and beyond, your brand guidelines will become an adopted way of work rather than just a document.

Ready to elevate your brand? Contact me at hellomdayub@gmail.com or connect on LinkedIn. Let’s embark on a journey to enhance your business’s identity and success.