A brand style guide is a sort of “rule book” that you and your marketing team can use to keep your brand consistent. A designer, writer, or social media manager can consult the style guide at any time, making sure that all the content on your social media platforms and website stays consistent with your brand personality.
Logo
A logo is one of the first things your audience will see about your brand. Many logos are high-concept while some are direct to the point. Creating a logo is a design challenge. There are a lot of free logo generators online, however, that would mean you’d have the same logos with thousands of other people using the service.
Having a custom-made logo for your brand sets you apart from the competitive market. Choosing the right style, fonts, and colors for your logo can ultimately enhance your brand recall.
In your style guide, it’s best to include every acceptable color variation of your logo so that your creative team can never go wrong. Also include the minimum and maximum logo size they can use on social media content, advertisements, and videos.
Color palette
A color palette includes your primary and secondary brand colors. Include the hex codes, RGB values, and CMYK color codes to make sure the colors remain accurate across devices. You should also specify which of those colors can be combined together and which should not.
Sticking to a consistent color palette makes your social media feed look more professional and gives off a sense of officiality to your audience.
Fonts and Typography
Your brand’s fonts and typography should match the rest of your style guide. As mentioned before, consistency across your content is key to strengthening brand personality and recall.
Include a list of all the acceptable font styles your design team can use, specify which of those typefaces should be used together as headings, subheadings, and normal text. Don’t forget font colors and sizes!
If you use different fonts for different social media platforms, make sure to specify that too! The style guide should be able to answer most or all questions from your social media team.
Imagery
The imagery area serves as a guideline for images that can be used. These include photos, illustrations, charts, infographics, etc.
Ask yourself, are you going to use custom illustrations? Which art style do you want to implement? If you don’t have a budget for custom images, what kind of stock photos are you allowed to use? Is there a certain “look” or aesthetic that your content should have? Provide examples of how it should look like! So that your creative team is always on track.
Find your Brand Voice
You can define the writing style you want across your social media platforms in a couple of sentences. Or, you can also create a comprehensive chart of what your writers should and should not say, grammar usage, spelling, preferred vocabulary, and overall tone!
Regardless, you should have a clear idea of what the voice of your brand should have and consistently apply it to all content. This includes social media posts, video scripts, blog posts, website copy, etc.
Overwhelmed? Digital Offsider has a Branding/Rebranding service that matches you to affluent branding experts and digital designers. They’ll help you out with your entire style guide and assist you through the whole process of creating material for your brand. From your logo, letterhead, and even calling card! Contact us today and develop your brand with us.
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