Best Practices in Developing a Brand Style Guide for your Business

In this latest ‘Covering the Bases’ post we investigate brand style guides and why they are  a crucial tool to define and maintain the consistency and integrity of a company’s identity.

At its most fundamental level, a brand style guide serves as a comprehensive reference document outlining the visual, tonal, and messaging elements that represent the brand’s personality and inherent values.

The importance of a brand style guide can be summarised in the following seven key points:

1. CONSISTENCY: A brand style guide ensures that all marketing materials, communications, and touchpoints across various channels adhere to the same visual and verbal identity. Consistency strengthens brand recognition and builds trust among customers, leading to a cohesive and memorable brand experience.

2. CLARITY: By clearly defining the brand’s visual elements, such as logo, colour palette, typography, and imagery, a style guide helps eliminate ambiguity. It provides guidance to designers, marketers, and content creators, ensuring they accurately represent the brand’s essence.

3. COLLABORATION: A style guide acts as a shared reference point for all team members and external partners involved in brand-related activities. It streamlines the creative process, minimises revisions, and fosters efficient collaboration by aligning everyone on the brand’s guidelines.

4. PROTECTION OF BRAND EQUITY Consistently maintaining the brand’s identity prevents dilution and safeguarding of brand equity. A strong brand identity resonates with customers and distinguishes the company from competitors.

5. ADAPTABILITY: As a brand evolves, a style guide can be updated and refined to accommodate changes while preserving the core brand identity. This adaptability allows the brand to stay relevant in a dynamic market without losing its essence.

6. BRILLIANT COMMS: The style guide ensures that the brand’s tone of voice and messaging align with its values and target audience. This clarity in communication helps create emotional connections with customers and fosters brand loyalty.

7. BRAND RECOGNITION: A consistent brand identity facilitates easy recognition and recall among consumers. A well-established brand style guide can lead to increased brand awareness and recall in the minds of the target audience.

Whether you’re a NewCo, or an established $Billion multinational conglomerate, a well-crafted brand style guide will help elevate your brand identity and leave a lasting impression on your potential customers.

To create an effective brand style guide, consider the utilising all of the following:

• GROK YOUR BRAND: Before starting on creating a brand style guide, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of your brand’s identity, values, and target audience. Define your brand’s personality, mission, and unique selling propositions, as these elements will guide the visual and verbal elements of your style guide.
• CREATE VARIATIONS: Your logo is the cornerstone of your brand identity. Never forget this. Clearly outline the correct usage of the logo, including its size, placement, spacing, and background colour (including transparency). Provide guidelines for different logo variations, such as horizontal, vertical, and monochrome versions. These are useful online.
• THINK ABOUT COLOUR PALETTES: Select a distinct colour palette that aligns with your brand’s personality and resonates with your target audience. Specify primary and secondary colours, including their Pantone, RGB, and HEX values, to ensure consistent colour reproduction across various media. Colour is a science, so it is worth looking at colours that reflect industry, themes and are complimentary to each other. Colour wheel software is out there and very much your friend in all this. We especially like the functionality featured in the Paletton colour scheme generator.
• FONTOGRAPHY: Choose the fonts that complement your brand’s voice and style. Specify primary and secondary fonts for headings, body text, and other design elements. Include guidelines for font sizes, line spacing, and letter spacing to ensure uniformity in all brand materials. A relationship between size and spacing and font type exists. For best results make sure you understand the rules and the differences between serif and sans serif fonts.
• CREATIVE IMAGERY: Define the visual style for images and photography used in your brand materials. Outline the preferred image types, filters, and editing styles that best represent your brand’s identity. If using stock photos, mention the platforms or sources that align with your brand vision.
• GRAPHICS: Create a set of custom icons and graphics that reflect your brand’s personality and can be used consistently across various platforms. Define their size, their colour, and usage guidelines for seamless integration.
• TONE: Establish guidelines for your brand’s voice and tone to ensure consistent messaging. Specify the appropriate language, level of formality, and communication style to maintain a unified brand personality in written content.
• DESIGN PRINCIPLES: Provide guidance on layout and design principles for various marketing materials, such as brochures, social media graphics, and website pages. Ensure alignment with your brand’s aesthetics and maintain a cohesive visual language.
• THINK ABOUT APPLICATION: Consider how your brand style guide will be applied across various platforms, including print, digital, social media, and merchandise. Address platform-specific requirements to ensure your brand remains recognisable and consistent everywhere.
• COLLABORATION: Involve key stakeholders and creative teams during the creation of the style guide to gain valuable insights and foster a sense of ownership. Conduct training sessions to educate employees and partners on how to effectively implement the style guide.
• CONSTANT EVOLUTION: A brand style guide should be a living document that evolves with your brand. Regularly review and update the guide to accommodate changes in your brand’s identity and market trends.

By both following and (importantly) understanding these best practices, your brand will stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace, better resonate with your audience, and build a lasting connection with customers.

One final thing: Remember, consistency is the key to success in the world of branding.