So you have a new logo. Now what? How do you bring it to life and protect your brand as you grow? Brand guidelines and the creation of a style guide are a great place to start.
Without clear brand guidelines, your brand can be diluted and your customers can become confused. No one wants that after doing the hard work of defining your brand and creating a logo! When everyone understands the company’s purpose and has the right tools to create consistent messaging and visuals, the brand becomes recognizable and only gets stronger from there.
What’s in a Brand Style Guide?
A style guide is a living and breathing document that can be simply a style sheet with fonts and colors or a more complex resource that includes brand personality, tone and graphics. Here’s a closer look at some of the things a more robust style guide might include:
WHO YOU ARE:
A brand style guide should capture the heart of your brand. Who you are, what your mission is along with your vision and core values. You may also want to include some key messaging for consistent communication about your differentiators.
AUDIENCE PERSONAS:
Do you know your audience? If not, don’t worry. We break it down for you step-by-step in another blog on our site. Audience personas help maintain consistent messaging and provide important data for targeting your market.
BRAND TONE, VOICE & PERSONALITY:
Once you define your brand and your audience, you will want to determine the best way to convey your brand story. Define how your brand sounds and how you want to be perceived.
LOGO, FONTS & COLORS:
A style guide outlines a brand’s logo usage, from versions and color variations to minimum size and file types. It should include examples of how to use (and how not to use) the logo in order to maintain a strong brand presence.
It also defines your brand fonts. This can include fonts used in your logo but also on your website and other brand materials. It also provides links or resources to purchase or download brand fonts for use across other materials.
It will also help define your colors for print and digital media so that no matter where your brand is seen, it looks consistent.
BRANDED TEMPLATES:
Depending on how well developed your brand is, you may also want to include some brand templates in the style guide such as stationery, business card, presentations, video graphics and more.