Without a guide, every flyer looks a little different. The logo is stretched, the blue changes shade, and customers slowly stop recognising you. A brand guide fixes that.
What goes in a brand guide
- Logo: the main version, a version for dark backgrounds, and a one-colour version.
- Clear space and minimum size: how much empty room the logo needs and how small it may be.
- Colours: main and supporting colours with their codes: HEX for screens and CMYK for print.
- Fonts: headings and body, with sizes.
- Voice: a few lines on how you speak to customers.
- Examples: a visiting card, a post and a bill showing the rules in use.
Why it saves money
When a new designer, printer or staff member joins, you hand over one document instead of explaining everything again. There are fewer corrections because the answers are already written down.
Start small
Your first guide can be one page: logo files, two colours with codes, two fonts and one example. You can add to it later.
Common things that go wrong without one
- Different colour values on the shop board and the website.
- A blurry logo screenshot sent to a printer.
- Different fonts on every social media post.
We create brand guides as part of our Brand Guidelines service, and a lighter version in the Brand Starter Kit.
