Most brand style guides fail for the same reason: they show pretty pages instead of writing rules. A designer opens the PDF, finds a logo on a nice background, and still has no idea how much space to leave around it, which hex code to use on a dark screen, or whether the brand says “we” or “the team”.
This guide breaks down exactly what to include in a brand style guide, section by section. For each one you get the purpose, the decisions you need to lock down, and an example of what the page should actually say. Use it two ways: as a build checklist if you are starting from zero, or as an audit list if you already have a guide gathering dust in a shared drive.
Quick answer: the 12 sections of a complete brand style guide
| # | Section | Answers the question | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cover, version and contacts | Is this the current file, and who approves exceptions? | Must have |
| 2 | Brand story and positioning | Why does this brand exist? | Must have |
| 3 | Audience and personality | Who are we talking to, and how do we come across? | Must have |
| 4 | Logo suite and lockups | Which version goes where? | Must have |
| 5 | Clear space, minimum size, misuse | How do we protect the logo? | Must have |
| 6 | Colour system and codes | Which colour, in which ratio, on which background? | Must have |
| 7 | Typography and type scale | What size, weight and spacing for each level? | Must have |
| 8 | Layout, grid and spacing | How is a page or post composed? | Recommended |
| 9 | Photography and art direction | What does a brand photo look like? | Recommended |
| 10 | Icons, illustration and graphic devices | What supports the logo and type? | Recommended |
| 11 | Tone of voice and copy rules | How do we write, spell and punctuate? | Must have |
| 12 | Brand in use, accessibility and asset library | Where do I get the files and see real examples? | Must have |
Now the detail. Every section below includes a sample line you can adapt word for word.
1. Cover page, version control and contacts
The most ignored page and the one that saves the most time. If nobody knows which file is current, three versions of your logo will circulate within a year.
What to include
- Brand name, document title and version number (for example v3.1)
- Release date and review date
- Owner of the document and who signs off exceptions
- A short changelog of what moved since the last version
- A single link to the live asset folder
Example wording
Brand Guidelines v3.1, released September 2026, next review March 2027. Owner: Marketing Lead. Any use not covered here must be approved in writing before publication. Latest files: [link].
2. Brand story, mission and positioning
Two pages maximum. This is not the place for a company history essay. It is context so a freelancer understands the decisions behind the visuals.
What to include
- Mission: what you do and for whom, in one sentence
- Vision: the change you want to see
- Values: three to five, each with a one-line explanation of how it shows up in work
- Positioning statement: category, audience, differentiator
- Name and tagline explanation, including how to write them (capitalisation, spacing, no abbreviations)
Example wording
Positioning: For independent hospitality owners in Southeast Asia, [Brand] is the design partner that turns a location into a recognisable brand, because we combine local production knowledge with international standards. Value “Considered, not decorative” means every element on a page must earn its place.
Name usage rule to copy
- Always written as BrandName, one word, capital B and N
- Never “Brand Name”, never “BRANDNAME” in body copy
- Tagline is sentence case and never sits inside the logo unless using the tagline lockup
3. Audience and brand personality
This section connects strategy to execution. Without it, tone of voice rules feel arbitrary. The Essential Elements of a Brand Style Guide covers this in more depth.
What to include
- One to three audience profiles: role, context, what they care about, what annoys them
- Personality expressed as sliders or as “we are X, not Y” pairs
- Three archetype-style adjectives that a designer can act on
Example wording
We are warm, not cute. Confident, not loud. Practical, not corporate. If a layout could belong to a bank, it is wrong. If a caption sounds like a friend who happens to be an expert, it is right.
4. Logo suite and lockups
Show every approved version and state its use case. Never publish a logo page without instructions.
What to include
- Primary logo
- Horizontal and stacked lockups
- Symbol or icon alone, and when it may be used on its own
- Monochrome, reversed (white) and single colour versions
- Favicon and app icon crops
- Co-branding and partner lockups, including separator and spacing rules
Example wording
| Version | Use it for | Do not use for |
|---|---|---|
| Primary horizontal | Website header, letterhead, decks | Spaces narrower than 240 px |
| Stacked | Square formats, packaging, signage | Email signatures |
| Symbol only | Social avatars, favicon, stamps | First impression materials where the name is not visible elsewhere |
| Reversed white | Photography, dark backgrounds | Light or busy image areas without a scrim |
5. Clear space, minimum size and misuse
This is the section junior designers and printers use most, and the one most guides get vague about. Define clear space with a relative unit taken from the logo itself, so it scales. You’ll find this handled well over at bizridesign.com.
What to include
- Clear space defined by a measurable element (the height of the letter mark, the width of the symbol)
- Minimum size in pixels for screen and in millimetres for print
- Approved background colours and a rule for photography
- A misuse page with six to ten visual “do not” examples
Example wording
Clear space equals the height of the “B” in the wordmark, applied on all four sides. No text, image edge or graphic element may enter this zone. Minimum size: 120 px wide on screen, 25 mm wide in print. On photography, place the reversed logo only over areas with a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, or add a 40 percent dark scrim.
Standard misuse list
- Do not stretch, condense or rotate
- Do not recolour outside the approved palette
- Do not add drop shadows, strokes, glows or bevels
- Do not rebuild the lockup or change spacing between symbol and wordmark
- Do not place inside a shape that is not an approved container
- Do not use a low resolution or screenshot version
- Do not set the wordmark in a substitute typeface
6. Colour system and codes
A colour page with swatches and no codes is decoration. Give every value a developer or printer might need, plus usage ratios so the palette is not applied evenly by accident.
What to include
- Primary, secondary and neutral palettes with names
- HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone values, plus a substitute for vinyl or paint if relevant
- Proportion guidance, for example 60 / 30 / 10
- Approved colour pairings and forbidden pairings
- Accessibility contrast ratios for text on each background
- Semantic UI colours: success, warning, error, link, focus state
Example table
| Name | HEX | CMYK | Role | Contrast note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Green | #0F3D2E | 85 / 45 / 70 / 45 | Primary, 60 percent of surface | White text passes AA and AAA |
| Sand | #E8E1D4 | 8 / 9 / 17 / 0 | Background, 30 percent | Use Deep Green text only |
| Coral | #FF6A4D | 0 / 70 / 70 / 0 | Accent, 10 percent, buttons only | Fails AA for small text on white, never use for body copy |
7. Typography and the type scale
The difference between an amateur guide and a professional one is usually here. Do not just name the fonts. Publish a scale.
What to include
- Primary and secondary typefaces, with foundry, licence type and number of seats owned
- Approved weights and which ones are banned
- A responsive type scale with size, line height, letter spacing and case
- System fallback fonts for email and Office documents
- Rules for alignment, hyphenation, widows, all caps and line length
Example type scale
| Level | Font and weight | Desktop | Mobile | Line height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | Display Serif, 600 | 56 px | 34 px | 1.1 |
| H2 | Display Serif, 600 | 36 px | 26 px | 1.2 |
| Body | Grotesk, 400 | 18 px | 16 px | 1.6 |
| Caption | Grotesk, 500 | 13 px | 12 px | 1.4 |
Rule to copy: body text is never centred beyond three lines, never justified, and never set below 16 px on any screen. Maximum measure is 75 characters.
8. Layout, grid and spacing
Optional for a very small business, essential the moment more than one person creates assets.
What to include
- Grid: 12 columns for web, 6 for tablet, 4 for mobile, with gutter and margin values
- A spacing scale based on a base unit, for example 4 px increments: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64
- Corner radius, border widths and shadow values
- Standard formats: A4, roll-up banner, social sizes, presentation slide dimensions
- Where the logo sits by default on each format
Example wording
All spacing is a multiple of 8 px. Section padding is 64 px desktop and 32 px mobile. Cards use a 12 px radius and a 1 px border in Sand. Shadows are used only on interactive elements.
9. Photography and art direction
Say what a picture must contain and what it must never contain. Mood boards alone lead to endless stock photo debates.
What to include
- Subject matter: people, product, place, detail shots and the mix between them
- Lighting: natural, hard, soft, time of day
- Composition: negative space for text overlays, crop ratios, camera height
- Colour grading: warmth, contrast, saturation, approved presets
- Casting and styling notes, plus consent and credit requirements
- A do and do not gallery with real images
Example wording
Photography is documentary, not staged. Natural light only, shot in the first or last two hours of daylight. People are shown mid-action and rarely look at the camera. Leave at least 30 percent negative space on the left or top for headline overlays. Avoid heavy filters, teal and orange grading, obvious stock photography and empty conference rooms.
10. Icons, illustration and graphic devices
This is what stops your brand looking like everyone else once the logo is out of frame.
What to include
- Icon style: stroke weight, corner treatment, grid size, filled or outlined
- Approved icon library and how to request new ones
- Illustration style, palette limits and when illustration replaces photography
- Signature graphic devices: patterns, shapes, dividers, arc crops, textures
- Rules for data visualisation: chart colours, label placement, gridline usage
Example wording
Icons are drawn on a 24 px grid with a 1.5 px stroke, round caps and no fill. Never mix filled and outlined icons in the same interface. The arc device may be used once per layout, always cropped by the canvas edge, never as a full circle. There’s a good explainer over at skillshare.com.
11. Tone of voice and copy rules
The verbal identity deserves as many pages as the logo. Write rules that can be checked, not adjectives.
What to include
- Three voice principles, each with a “do this / not this” example pair
- Tone shifts by context: sales page, support reply, error message, social caption, legal
- Grammar and mechanics: language variant, Oxford comma, date and time format, numbers, currency
- Vocabulary list: words we use, words we never use, product names and capitalisation
- Inclusive language guidance
- Microcopy standards for buttons, forms and confirmation messages
Example wording
| Principle | Write this | Not this |
|---|---|---|
| Plain over polished | “We will send your files by Friday.” | “Deliverables will be disseminated in due course.” |
| Specific over vague | “Six page site, live in four weeks.” | “Fast, high quality web solutions.” |
| Human over robotic | “That link is broken. Try this one instead.” | “Error 404: resource unavailable.” |
Mechanics to lock down: British English, sentence case for all headings and buttons, no exclamation marks in support replies, dates written as 9 September 2026, prices as IDR 1,500,000 or USD 99.
12. Brand in use, accessibility and the asset library
Finish with proof and files. People copy examples far more often than they read rules.
What to include
- Applications: business card, email signature, social profile and post templates, presentation deck, packaging, signage, vehicle, uniform, invoice
- An accessibility section: minimum contrast ratios, alt text guidance, caption and subtitle rules, minimum touch target size, no colour as the only indicator of meaning
- Links to editable templates in Canva, Figma, Google Slides or Word
- Asset inventory table with file names, formats and where each is used
- Legal notes: trademark symbols, image licences, font licences
- Escalation process for anything not covered
Example asset table
| File | Format | Use |
|---|---|---|
| logo-primary-rgb.svg | SVG | Web, any size |
| logo-primary-cmyk.eps | EPS | Print and suppliers |
| logo-white.png | PNG, transparent | Photography overlays, decks |
| favicon-512.png | PNG | Browser and app icon |
How to audit an existing brand style guide in 20 minutes
Open your current guide and score each line. One point each. Anything under 16 out of 20 means the guide is a mood board, not a rulebook.
- Does it show a version number and a review date?
- Can a stranger explain your positioning after reading two pages?
- Is every logo version paired with a written use case?
- Is clear space defined in a relative unit, not a fixed pixel value?
- Are minimum sizes stated for both screen and print?
- Is there a misuse page with visual examples?
- Does every colour list HEX, RGB and CMYK?
- Are colour proportions defined?
- Are contrast ratios documented?
- Are fonts listed with licence details and seat counts?
- Is there a type scale with sizes and line heights?
- Are fallback fonts named for email and Office?
- Is spacing based on a documented base unit?
- Does photography direction include a “do not” list?
- Is icon stroke weight and grid size specified?
- Are there voice principles with example sentences?
- Is there a vocabulary and banned words list?
- Are real applications shown, not just mockups of a poster?
- Is there a working link to editable templates and source files?
- Is there a named person who approves exceptions?
Common mistakes to avoid
- Beautiful but unusable. If a supplier cannot extract a CMYK value in ten seconds, the guide has failed.
- Too long to read. A small business rarely needs more than 25 to 40 pages. Depth belongs in the appendix.
- No digital version. A PDF alone ages badly. Host a live page or a shared Figma file and let the PDF be the export.
- Rules without reasons. One short sentence of rationale dramatically increases compliance.
- Ignoring accessibility. Contrast and alt text are now baseline expectations, not extras.
- No owner. A guide with no maintainer drifts within two quarters.
What a minimum viable brand style guide looks like
If you are a solo founder or an early stage business and cannot invest in the full document yet, build these six pages first and expand later:
- Positioning and three personality adjectives
- Logo versions with use cases and clear space
- Colour palette with HEX and CMYK plus proportions
- Two fonts and a five level type scale
- Photography do and do not
- Three voice principles with example sentences and a link to files
That is roughly ten pages and it will already eliminate ninety percent of inconsistency. contentmarketinginstitute.com published something useful on the subject.
FAQ
What are the 5 C’s of branding?
The five C’s most commonly cited are Clarity, Consistency, Character, Credibility and Connection. Clarity is knowing what you stand for, consistency is repeating it everywhere, character is the personality that makes you recognisable, credibility is proof that you deliver, and connection is the emotional relationship with your audience. A style guide is the tool that turns clarity and character into consistency.
What is the 3-7-27 rule in branding?
It is a rule of thumb about repetition: roughly three exposures for someone to notice your brand, seven for them to recognise it, and twenty seven before they genuinely remember you and think of you as a credible option. It is not hard science, but it explains why a style guide matters. If your logo, colours and voice change between exposures, the count effectively resets.
How long should a brand style guide be?
For a small business, 20 to 40 pages is usually right. Larger organisations with multiple sub-brands, retail environments and product interfaces often run 80 pages or more, split into separate documents for visual identity, verbal identity and digital design systems.
What is the difference between brand guidelines and a design system?
Brand guidelines describe the identity: logo, colour, type, imagery and voice across all media. A design system is the digital implementation: coded components, tokens, states and accessibility specs for product and web. Guidelines set the intention, the design system enforces it in code. Growing companies usually need both, with shared colour and type tokens between them.
Which tool should I build my brand style guide in?
Figma is the practical default in 2026 because it holds the source files and the documentation in one place and stays editable. Export a PDF for suppliers who need one, and publish a simple web page for external partners. Canva works well for very small teams who need editable templates more than component libraries.
How often should a brand style guide be updated?
Review it every six to twelve months and update the version number every time a rule changes. Trigger an immediate review when you launch a new product line, enter a new market, redesign the website or notice teams repeatedly asking questions the guide does not answer.
Can I write a brand style guide myself?
Yes, especially the strategy, voice and application sections. The parts that benefit most from a professional are the logo suite construction, the colour system including print and accessibility values, and the type scale. A useful approach is to draft the document internally using the checklist above, then have a designer validate and produce the final assets.
Next step
Print the 20 point audit, open your current guide and score it honestly. Fix the missing sections in order of the priority column at the top of this article: logo rules, colour codes and voice principles first, everything else after.
If your brand assets are scattered across old files, inconsistent social profiles and a website that no longer matches the logo, our team can build a complete guide and asset library that your suppliers, freelancers and staff can actually follow. Get in touch to discuss your brand identity project.