Brand guidelines are not design fluff. There are about 200 different names for them, which show's their importance. But, the use of brand guidelines, brand books, brand style guide and brand bible, has made it confusing. Good job marketing community. You have one job, to make communications clear.
Branding must be consistent. We create brand guidelines to help all the people that work on the brand. Your web developers might need them, signage, staff, other designers, marketers.
If you have a "crack" at creating without brand guidelines, you get a fragmented brand identity. Risking miscommunication and breaking the customers trust.
A set of brand guidelines becomes the ultimate strategic document, often including:
- Brand strategy
- Tone of voice and messaging
- Visual identity guidelines - brand marks (logos), fonts, colour palette, photography, layout structures
- Marketing assets - including corporate stationery, signage, digital design and print design.
Every strong brand identity has brand guidelines guiding it. Think of brand guidelines like an instruction manual or a map to a destination. You are likely at one of these stages:
- You have Brand Guidelines that focus on all aspects of the brand, incl. strategy and identity. Brand guidelines are the gold standard. They cover strategy, identity, and how to use your brand across everything.
- You have a Brand Style Guide that outlines visual brand. Logos, icons, submarks, colours, typography, imagery, illustration, graphics, packaging design and digital design. This focuses on how to use the visual identity, it misses the strategic brand elements.
- You have a new marketing strategy, but current guidelines don't match the direction. A brand refresh, with new brand guidelines, brings everything together.
- You have a 1-page style guide, or a Canva Brand palette – this shows your logos, colours and fonts and that's about it. Short term these are great, but can lead to fragmentation as you grow.
- You have no guidelines. Your brand combines different design styles, colours and fonts. You should work with a freelance designer or brand agency to create Brand Guidelines. You'll already have marketing tools that shape your brand guidelines. Business cards, presentations, website, social media etc,. Brand guidelines will join your identity together, ensuring your brand’s long-term success.
What are Brand Guidelines?
Brand guidelines are the rulebook for how your brand presents itself to the world. They outline the visual and verbal identity of your business. From your logo and colour palette to your messaging and tone of voice.
Think of them as your brand’s DNA. They make sure your brand's consistent, repeatable, and unmistakably you. Without brand guidelines, your brand becomes inconsistent. With them, you gain control over perception and experience.
Why your business needs Brand Guidelines
Brand guidelines are the road map for how to use your brand's visual elements. They also tell you how to talk to customers. Staff, designers, marketers, copywriters, and anyone who works with your brand need access to them.
While brand guidelines were once bound into books, today they’re PDFs or in Figma or Canva documents.
They show how your logos, typefaces, fonts, colour palettes, and graphics work together. The best guidelines also include your brand strategy. Detailing your mission, vision, USPs, target market personas, brand story, personality, and tone of voice.
By combining brand strategy with visual design elements, guidelines make it easier to launch new services or products. So, whether you’re starting up or scaling, brand guidelines bring structure to creative chaos.
Here’s why they matter:
- Consistency builds trust – 90% of consumers expect brand consistency across all platforms.
- Easier collaboration – Designers, marketers, and writers all pull from the same playbook.
- Scalability – As your team grows, your brand doesn’t dilute.
- Professionalism – You appear polished, intentional, and legitimate.
The most successful brands have both beautiful visuals, and make repeatable promises. These systems are their brand guidelines.
I’ve seen brands fall apart without them. Take one past client, whose marketing message online and offline was different. It was different because they lacked guidelines.
When I work with brand guidelines, efficiency improves, results are better. When a client is missing them, I often recommend creating guidelines. It’s not for my benefit, it makes life easier for everyone and keeps the brand consistent over time.
Rapid growth can fracture a brand. A Business Development Manager once told me they didn’t like the rebranded documents. So they created their own! That diluted the brand.
Creative, flexible brand guidelines prevent this from happening.
Add your Mission, Story and Values to your Brand Guidelines
Define the Mission Statement
Defining the brand mission statement is a short sentence that sums up what you do, how do you do it and why. Your brand mission informs everything in your brand guidelines. This makes it the perfect place to start. Every aspect of your brand, flows from this. Your brand story, core values, tone of voice, brand personality and so on.
Take the time to get your mission statement right. Why? Because a well-written mission statement is more than a neat way to describe what you do. It looks at your end goal - the outcome of your business. It’s action-oriented and strategic.
Something we see often is that it's treated like a tagline. It's not that. It's not a sales pitch either. The chances are, a customer will never see it. And, we prefer them that way. It's an internal tool to help everyone understand your mission.
It's not the same as your brand purpose statement. A purpose statement looks at the emotional and aspirational areas of your brand. It answers the question "Why do we exist?" It powers your values, culture and customer experience. When you get that right it leads to more customer loyalty. A brand purpose and connects to humans needs, and societal impact!
You could give your mission statement to new member of staff joining, or an interviewee. This sums up what you do and inspires them to give their best, and enthuses them about the idea of joining you!
Crafting your Brand Story
Your brand story is more than a timeline, or a company bio – they're too dry. It's an emotionally driven piece of text that humanises your business. Building an emotional bridge between your brand and your audience.
When your brand story is compelling, it gives context to your decisions. Aka, why does your logo use the colour black, or why do we talk with a particular tone of voice. It becomes a crucial part of a brand strategy, and in turn, a crucial part of brand guidelines.
It's too easy to avoid the brand story, you'll feel like you're writing all about me, me, me! It's easier to focus on the visual identity. But, your brand is more than a logo, it’s the emotional narrative that customers connect with. Read more about brand foundations. A compelling brand story explains:
- Who you are
- Why you exist
- What makes you different
- What you promise your audience
Here's us: “Snapper Studio is here to empower purpose-driven brands with powerful, clear, and consistent identities. Design is more than decoration, it's how brands communicate with soul.”
How to build a Brand Story that connects
Here’s a simple framework you can follow:
1. Start with your "Why"
Why did your business come to life? What gap did you see in the market? What belief or mission drives you? Example: “I started Snapper Studio because I saw too many businesses get ripped off. They had bland, inconsistent branding that didn’t reflect their passion or purpose.”
2. Highlight the Journey
Share your evolution. Were there challenges you overcame? Milestones that defined your path? “We rebranded in 2020. Realising our identity no longer matched the level of creative we offered clients.”
3. Introduce your Audience
Show that you understand your people. Their needs, goals, and frustrations. “We serve tired founders and marketing teams who are sick of being generic. They want bold design rooted in strategy — not pretty pixels.”
4. Connect with Purpose
End your story by reinforcing your mission and the impact you want to make. “When a brand feels human, and intentional, it becomes unforgettable. We’re here to make that happen for every client.”
Building out your Core Values (And how they shape your logo)
Your core values are the backbone of your brand and fit right in to brand guidelines. They define what you stand for, how you behave, and the perception you're creating. They’re not nice words on a wall! They have consequences, especially when it comes to your logo and visual identity.
What are Core Brand Values?
Core brand values are your non-negotiable beliefs that drive your business. They guide how you act, speak, and make decisions. They’re more than abstract ideas or aspirational buzzwords. Well crafted values become a decision-making compass for your team. A filter for everything from copywriting to design.
Great values are actionable. They don’t describe what you care about. They show your team how to behave and how to show up.
Instead of vague, we want actionable steps:
- Don't use Innovative. Use “we challenge the norm and experiment often”
- Don't use Trust. Use “we communicate with transparency, even when it’s hard"
- Don't use Simplicity. Use "we remove complexity to create clarity in everything we do”
Actionable values give your team a clearer picture of what your brand should feel and look like. They inspire aligned creative decisions and support consistent brand expression.
How Core Values shape your logo
Your logo is both an aesthetic choice and a visual translation of your brand values. The following values could get translated in the following way:
Boldness — Thick lines, bright colours, strong geometry
Elegance — Serif fonts, neutral palettes, spacious layouts
Trust — Balanced symmetry, blue tones, conservative typefaces
Creativity — Abstract marks, custom typography, fluid shapes
Simplicity — Minimal icons, sans-serif fonts, monochrome colour schemes
A business with the value simplicity could use a clean, sans-serif font with space around it. A brand rooted in playfulness might use a vibrant colour palette.
How to document core values in your Brand Guidelines
I would include a section called “How our Core Values influence our Visual Identity.”
Use it to explain:
- Why your logo looks the way it does
- How colour choices, typography, and iconography reflect your values
- What these choices communicate to your audience
This helps external partners apply your branding, and deepens internal alignment. So your team understands what your brand looks like, and why.
A strong brand identity doesn’t start with visuals, it starts with values. When you define what you believe in, good design follows.
The Core Values from Patagonia are a fantastic example of getting it right. Your brand guidelines need to do this too.
Key components of Brand Guidelines
Effective brand guides should include both strategy and design. Here's what to include in brand guidelines:
Strategy + Positioning
- Vision and Mission
- Core values
- Brand story
- Unique selling proposition (USP)
- Customer personas
Visual Identity
- Logo variations (full colour, black and white, landscape, stacked, icon) & clear space rules
- File handling - which versions to use and where
- Brand colour palette (Pantone, CMYK, RGB, CMYK)
- Typography hierarchy (headlines, body, captions)
- Imagery style and illustration rules
- Iconography and graphic elements
Verbal Identity
- Brand voice (e.g., warm, witty, confident)
- Tone variations by channel
- Messaging pillars
- Tagline use
Pro Tip: Don’t think of brand guidelines as a design document. They’re the brand blueprint, aligning everyone with your purpose and personality. They’re a great tool for inducting new staff, helping them understand your standards. As well as increasing the consistency of your visual identity.
Brand Guidelines help you build brand awareness
The most successful brands have long-lasting, memorable identities. Those identities don't change their look. Not in advertising campaigns, social media, online, or in-store. This consistency builds trust, awareness, and recognition.
Detailed brand guidelines are essential. They teach you and your team how to maintain consistency in your visuals and messaging.
Even small businesses have large amounts of touchpoints to connect to their audience. Touchpoints are things like, websites, social media accounts, print ads, business cards, etc,. The more touchpoints, the more there is to manage. Now imagine scaling that to a brand like Nike?! They wouldn’t dream of operating without brand guidelines.
When you onboard a new employees, one of the best approaches is to share the brand guidelines with them. They can then review both the visual and verbal communication styles. Guidelines present your brand as intended, reducing the risk of sending mixed messages.
Brand guidelines vary more than I do picking dinner at a restaurant. Brands like Apple have more than two guides. Here's their copywriting guidelines and brand guidelines.
Remember, brand guidelines are live documents. They should evolve as your company grows. Update with designs and strategies when you can.
Real-world Brand Guidelines examples (and what to learn)
Small brands like Who Gives a Crap toilet paper don't tend to share brand guidelines. The come close with their wholesale sales kit.
So, we end up looking at brand guidelines from the big guns. As a positive, the level of detail they go to is impressive.
Analysing Audi's Brand Guidelines
An old family joke is that an Audi comes with everything as standard, but nothing is standard.
Each element's crafted with precision. Audi's brand guidelines develop its world. The world's packed to stimulate your physical and emotional senses. Audi's brand appearance is the perfect brand bible.
The website is as luxurious as their cars. They show a deep understanding of their brand positioning. The selection of images is enticing, drawing you into the brand. It's clean with a black, white and grey colour palette.
The brand guidelines are extensive. With typical stylistic choices and brand mission covered under the 'Basics' heading.
They keep their brand consistent (and memorable) by creating a set of clear directives. This covers styles like motion design, and how to make their brand appear in space. And that's not outer space, that's how they describe a showroom.
There's an incredible set of instructions on how to use the Audi 'rings' as a graphic element.
Next up, is a topic I need to write an article about - sonic branding. In a Corporate Sound section, Audi take you through the 'Vorsprung durch technic' sound. This comes in the form of background music and voiceovers.
Unveiling the Starbucks Brand Style Guide
The Starbucks brand style guide shows us how they adapt their brand seasonally. This helps to increase sales of different products. It's high-quality communication design that helps control a worldwide coffee chain.
It doesn't focus on a mission statement, values or brand story. But, it works as a detailed style guide that anyone could pick up and use. Creating a long-lasting impression.
Gaining Insights from Exceptional Brand Guidelines
That’s not a definitive list, but it shows two very different approaches. Audi cover the brand strategy and visuals. They address perceptions, personality, and how they target and grow their audience. It’s the complete package.
In some user cases, having a strategy to fall back on can help you make decisions. Questioning whether the tone of voice is correct or whether the latest ad campaign showcases your value proposition, is important to empower staff.
Side note: I've noticed the oat milk brand, Oatly, may have to shift their value proposition. Their initial goal was to attract dairy drinkers. They had no competitors! But success brings copycats. Dairy drinkers open to change are already converted. They'll be juggling keeping existing customers happy, while attracting a new audience.
Use your research to shape what you'd like to see from your brand guidelines.
Common Brand Guideline mistakes (How to avoid them to enhance your Brand Guidelines)
1: Emphasise attention to detail
Your guidelines should share the brand story. It's foundations. As well as the verbal and visual identity.
Be specific, and leave no chance for interpretation. The more precise you are, the easier it is to use the brand daily.
2: Leverage your visual and verbal identity in guideline creation
If your brand guidelines look like everyone else's, you're doing it all wrong. It should be the ultimate brand communication tool. It speaks like you, it looks like you. It is you.
Show people:
- How not to do things
- What you should do instead!
When you incorporate the entire brand into your guidelines. They become the brand! Reinforcing the brands strategy.
3: Ensure accessibility of your brand guidelines
Guidelines are useless if you’re the only one who can understand them. They need to be as accessible as your brand itself.
Customers and suppliers have different needs. Neurodiverse people and people with physical disabilities may interact differently with your brand.
Your guidelines must be user-friendly. Anyone should be able to pick them up and create marketing materials. If you get it right, you should be able to use guidelines to help run social media campaigns. Or even, launch an SEO or PPC campaign.
4: Simplify your brand guidelines and show real-world examples
The list below makes it easier for guidelines to be accessible. Take a look at the following:
- Checklists or standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Dos and don'ts – applicable to visual and verbal branding
- Examples of how the brand should look
- Tools you use
- Templates that keep the brand consistent include documents, email signatures, etc.
- Add mockups or real applications (web, print, social).
5: Update your Brand Guidelines as needed
Your brand will evolve, and you must update the guidelines. You might notice the odd section needs to be more explicit or that a colour needs tweaking. You might also want to add sections, like examples of how to use the brand.
Sometimes, a brand's perception shifts. You might have to look at sections of the brand strategy to check that everything aligns.
Update them every 12-18 months. Especially after you launch new products and services, or after a brand refresh.
A brand is always evolving. Making brand guidelines your most valuable business asset.
