Brand guidelines (also called a brand book) record the knowledge created during the brand identity design. The designers carry many rules in their heads, for example how much space to leave around the logo or which colour may be used for what. The guidelines write these down so that a new colleague or an outside printer can understand them too.
Guidelines are typically a PDF or an online page in which good and bad examples always sit next to the rules. The bad examples matter at least as much, because they show the most common mistakes, for example a stretched logo or a mark placed on a busy background.
What goes into them
- The versions of the logo, its clear space and its minimum size
- The print and digital codes of the colours
- The typefaces, sizes and hierarchy
- How to use the imagery, illustrations and graphic elements
- Examples of the most important surfaces, from a business card to a social post
For a smaller brand the guidelines can be a few pages long, while for a company with several products or subsidiaries they split into chapters. More important than the length is that your team finds the answer to the question they are working on, so we organise the structure around the most common tasks.
It is worth giving the guidelines to your outside partners too, for example the printer or another agency you work with. This way they start from the same files and rules, and fewer rounds of corrections are needed before a piece is right.
The guidelines always come with source files as well, the logo in every format and the templates. This way your team works from the same elements in everyday work too, and does not have to turn to the designer every time.
It is worth extending the guidelines when your brand appears on a new surface, for example when an app or a new product line launches, so the rules answer the new situations as well. On digital interfaces the design system takes over this role, and the two complement each other well.
