Take a second to think of your favorite snack brand. What makes that brand identifiable?

Now ask yourself if you would be able to identify a new product launched by that same brand.

If you answered ‘yes’, then their marketing department has a brand style guide.

What is a Brand Style Guide?

Your brand style guide, sometimes referred to as your brand bible, is a rule book by which your brand is defined (think: what is allowed and what is not allowed when it comes to telling your brand’s story).

Your brand style guide:

shapes your brand’s personality - the same personality that inspires and connects with your customers.
helps educate new employees – the same employees that act as living extensions of your brand.

And so much more.

A good brand style guide typically has several sections:

Brand Introduction

A brand bible starts off with a brand introduction, detailing brand characteristics and explaining who you are and what you're saying to your target consumers.

Well-known brand elements such as mission, vision, mantra, taglines and headlines are found within the brand introduction section and help to define the brand personality or voice.

Think of three adjectives you feel most clearly define your brand.

That’s your simplified brand personality.

From here on out, the style guide will help visually bring your brand personality to life.

Logo

The logo is often the first thing your customers remember about your brand. Think the Nikes swoosh or the Starbucks Green Siren.

In a brand bible, the logo is accompanied by many other elements such as secondary or tertiary logos and graphical elements that act as critical visual cues for customers on nearly all mediums – merchandise, bags, letterheads, banners, and everything in-between.

The logo section is the first look into your brand.

Color Palette

Have you wondered why almost all fast-food chains use the same yellow and red colors in their logo?

Because these colors stimulate appetite.

A professional designer doesn’t just pick a combination of colors they love. They understand the psychology behind colors and develop a color palette that compliments the brand’s intentions.

A brand bible includes primary and secondary palettes as well as tints and combination usage rules so that regardless of the medium, consistency remains.

Typography

When we say typography, we are referring to fonts.

The fonts you use for your brand develop the brand personality even further.

Is the intent to be vintage? Chic? Bold? Fun?

When it comes to fonts, your brand bible should ideally include:

Font Families
The headline and content fonts
Font usage in different settings
The Do's and Don’ts of font usage

Photography

Photography plays a critical role within your brand story because it is a controlled representation of the story you are telling.

In fact, in many cases, it has become the most influential method for brands to build trust and loyalty amongst consumers.

Whether it be product or lifestyle focused, your brand bible should include sample imagery, word banks, preferred mediums and other elements that define the visual of your brand.

Brand Look and Feel

While the brand bible attempts to lay out all the rules for a brand, sometimes it is helpful to see all of these rules as a summary: we call this the ‘look and feel’ page.

To showcase the power of a brand when all assets are combined, the look and feel page is a visual representation of your brand.

It combines elements such as the logo, graphics, colors, and photography chosen to elevate the brand and give the user a sense of the overall look and feel.

Brand Collateral

Your letterhead, visiting card, shopping bags, presentations, case studies, newsletter, product catalog, or any other merchandise is marketing space for you.

This is all brand collateral and is part of the brand style guide.

You don’t want to lose a chance to showcase your brand’s personality to stakeholders – the customers, the shareholders, the employees, or anyone who interacts with the brand.

Having imagery and usage rules is key to ensuring your identity is communicated accordingly.

Packaging

Much like your collateral, your brand’s packaging is not only an extension of your brand but also a marketing platform. It has the power to increase trial and repeat purchases.

It’s what helps you stand out on shelf (physical and/or digital) and is what ends up in a consumers home once a purchase has been made (yes, that means packaging is extremely important).

For those reasons and many others, packaging details are found within brand style guides to again address consistency.

Social Graphics

You just can’t ignore social media: it’s a business growth accelerator.

Recently, brand style guides have started to include social media guidelines to aid in consistency.

We already know attention spans are short.

By following guidelines, you limit the time a user needs to spend identifying the brand, which allows them to connect more deeply and digest whatever message you are looking to convey.

Why Does My Brand Need A Brand Style Guide?

Consistency

Jeopardizing your brand’s identity is not an option– it’s how customers recognize and relate to you.

Brands are successful when they find a way to humanize themselves.

Think about a good friend or close family member. They are each unique and identifiable because of certain characteristics or behaviors.

A brand style guide is a critical tool that enables you to consistently communicate your brand’s characteristics and behaviors, which help humanize your brand.

Efficiency

Without a brand style guide, you’ll waste hours trying to work out the fonts or the colors of the brand amongst the many other elements that need addressing.

Even after spending all that time, you still might not be able to get the same consistent look-and-feel every day.

Focus

Brands introduce new products all the time.

Sometimes these extensions warrant slight alterations from a branding standpoint.

A brand style guide provides the guardrails you can play in without losing the brand’s original flavor.

Adding Value to Your Brand

Brand style guides are critical for the reasons we listed and many others we did not. They are the result of great branding and help with consistency, efficiency, and focus.

Let us know your thoughts on brand style guides in the comments below – do you have one for your brand? How useful has it been for you? Has it made you more efficient?

If you’re ready to take the next step with your business, send us a message and we can get the conversation started.

Brand Style Guide: What Is It and Why Your Brand Needs One