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Glossary Branding
Brand Guidelines
What are brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines outline the tools, defined rules, and standards for communicating your brand. Presented in a manual or book format, brand guidelines cover everything from colour palette to brand voice to typography to logo do’s and don’ts. The detailed rulebook gives your internal and outsourced teams consistent and precise direction on brand usage. Right down to the pixel.
What do brand guidelines include?
Logo anatomy
The logo anatomy provides a clear description of the primary logo. It typically includes a combination of an icon and a wordmark.
Clear space
The minimum clear space details the boundaries and distance the logo should receive from all other content elements.
Minimum size
Minimum size guidelines ensure all elements of a logo are both visible and recognizable when displayed at small sizes.
Logo misuse
Logo misuse provides a variety of examples of potential improper use of the logo which can damage your brand in the market.
Logo variations
Logo variations outline acceptable uses of the logo beyond the primary logo anatomy. This allows for cohesive versatility in logo use.
Colours
Clearly defined brand colours with RGB and CMYK codes help maintain brand consistency across a wide range of digital and print environments.
Typography
Defined brand typography helps build a consistent, recognizable brand and makes it easier for readers to consume.
Imagery
Imagery guidelines help you stick with cohesive image styles and treatments and accurately communicate the right messages through imagery.
Brand voice
Brand voice is the distinct personality or feeling you convey in all your messaging across channels. This includes established tone (helpful, blunt, lighthearted) and grammar rules (punctuation, sentence cadence, capitalization) consistently expressed through writing style, and word choice.
Brand guidelines protect against:
- Inconsistent use of colour
- Skewed logo placement
- Poor logo visibility
- Confusion on logo versions
- Incohesive use of typography
- Conflicting graphic styles
The benefits of brand guidelines
Direct your team
Brand guidelines give everyone direction on how to cohesively apply brand assets such as logo, colour, and typography in different settings.
Build brand equity
Consistently recognizable brands are often perceived as more valuable and allow you to adjust your price point to reflect the quality of your product or service.
Increase customer engagement
Customers turn to brands they’re familiar with. Brand guidelines ensure your audience always has the same experience with your brand, no matter where they come across it. Increase customer engagement.