The Purpose Of A Style Guide For Your Brand + Consistency Checklist

You know those style guides/brand guides you’re always hearing about? They really aren’t as complicated or intimidating as they might seem. A brand guide or style guide is simply an important tool for establishing brand identity, both internally with your team (if you have one), and externally with your customers and your industry.

Today, I’m going to tell you what a style guide vs brand guide is, the purpose they each serve, plus give you a tool so you know what to include when you go to create (or hire someone to create) your own style guide.

Being a graphic designer for my entire career, I know style guides and brand guides front to back, what they should include, and how they should look. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits, and most did not have a brand guide to speak of.

I can’t say I was surprised, it’s not exactly everyone’s thing, nor is it something you’re necessarily concerned with when starting out or even years down the line – especially if you don’t have a marketing department or even just one person keeping up with the branding part of your business.

BUT don’t worry – that’s exactly why I’ve made a resource you can grab for free today: The Brand Habits Stack (aka your brand consistency checklist). It’s everything you need to get and KEEP a consistent brand, and goes perfectly with what we’re about to talk about. Grab yours here, and let’s get started!

Brand Guide vs. Style Guide

Brand guide, style guide, style sheet, brand book… These handy little documents have many names and can come in many shapes and sizes, so to speak. All of the above are correct and useful terms, but really the two main terms you might hear floating around are “brand guide” and “style guide”.

Essentially, a brand guide or style guide is a handy document that houses all of the visual parts of your brand. It also usually includes guidelines on how things should and shouldn’t look, and how to use them in different instances. Everything from your logo, to fonts and colors you’ve chosen, to even more specific things like photography and writing style (or “brand voice”).

In my opinion, a brand guide and style guide are different, but both are documents that you can and should use to reference important things that make up your visual brand.

What a Style Guide Is…

A Style Guide is usually a brief, one- or two-page document that includes the “rules” for your brand’s basic visual elements like logo, typography choices, and color choices. If someone needed to know what colors they were allowed to use when creating a graphic for you, they would reference this document. If a vendor needed to learn about your brand for a t-shirt you wanted them to print, they would use this document to learn how your logo should look, and what fonts and colors to use, so that your brand was properly represented. A style guide is usually a smaller document that’s based off of a brand guide and looks a bit like this:

A Brand Guide Is…

A Brand Guide traditionally includes all the things for your visual brand, not just the style guide basics. A brand guide goes deeper than that. Everything from supporting graphics and elements, to video, photography, social media, icons, and brand voice guidelines. A brand guide is usually more like a book, with many pages and sections that shows and explains how to properly create for, use and represent your brand. A brand guide is much more comprehensive, and can look something like this.

Wait… So do I need a Brand Guide or Do I need a Style Guide?

The short answer is: BOTH! But I’ll cut to the chase: Sometimes creating the style guide first is easier because it just includes the basics. So for now, just focus on your style guide, and don’t get overwhelmed. I’ve got your Cheat Sheet right here to help you make your own style guide in a flash.

As I mentioned before, the information in a style guide really stems from a brand guide. In a perfect world, where you had everything figured out about how you want your brand to look and feel, you would create your brand guide first. Then, you’d plug all of that basic information into your style guide for quick reference.

However, that’s not usually how things go if I’m being honest, and even I myself (the graphic designer and brand expert that knows this stuff like the back of my hand) do not have a complete brand guide created for my own brand, Design With Clarissa. I have the basics, but the full picture of my brand is still a work in progress! (That’s also a big note about branding: It should always be evolving. But, that’s another topic for another day.)

I do, however, have my own style guide created. I’ve referenced it 10,000 times already in creating my website and blog, as well as templates, graphics, and things I have in the works to make your life easier (coming soon).

All that to say: you have permission to create whichever one is easier for you, first. Sometimes creating a style guide first can be quicker, easier, and help fuel the other elements of your brand, to then later create a brand guide.

The Purpose of a Style Guide & Brand Guide

Both a style guide and a brand guide are intended to work for you and, dare I say, without you. They are not only for yourself, but anyone else inside or outside of your company that creates ANYTHING for your brand. Even if it’s “just” a social post graphic or writing website copy. These guides are to tell you and others how to properly create things for your company.

From the obvious items like your logo and how to use it (or how not to), to typography and colors, to more detailed items like graphic patterns, photography, and even ‘brand voice’ language… There are many things your style guide and brand guide can include to help you create a consistent look across different mediums like your website, social media, printed items and so on.

It all comes down to this: Your brand, and therefore branded items and elements, need to have consistency so that your company (brand) is recognizable.

Think Target. Their logo, their typography choices, and even the red they use throughout their store, on their website, and in their commercials… It’s not just any red. It’s a certain red (a pantone color to be exact, but we can talk more about that later) that they use to identify their company and their brand. How does anyone know which red to use, though? It’s included in Target’s brand guide!

Once you create your guide(s), it’s as simple as sharing it with your team or any vendors you use. Attach it to an email or share it via a link. Everyone will know how to represent your brand and what to expect when creating something for it. You won’t have to reiterate what colors to use here and what font to use there, and your team won’t have to keep asking or be confused about it – the specifics will live in these documents.

“Consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33%.”

oberlo.com

One more tip…

If someone were to create an ad for Target, for example, they could reference their Brand Guide to use that same red color to create the ad. It might seem trivial at times, but your color palette, and every other element of your brand, actually matters. There’s a lot your brand guide can do for you, but at its very core, it’s a quick way to create consistency and longevity for your brand (…and a much easier way to look up your color codes – I keep my guide open and copy those suckers all the time!)

Grab Your Cheat Sheet

Everyone can learn the framework of a brand guide and either create it themselves or have someone do it – but the point is that you understand what it is, know why it’s important, and take steps to make one or have one made. If you’ve come this far in this post, first, thank you! And second, you’re now ready to take the next step in creating your first style guide, or updating the one you have.

If you don’t have all of the things on the Cheat Sheet figured out – or even any of these things figured out – don’t worry about it, that’s why you’re here! It’s not as complicated or overwhelming as it might seem. You’ve already learned why it’s important, and now… you get to do something about it.

For this cheat sheet, I focused on just the style guide, because 1) I created my own style guide first, and 2) It really is an easier place to start, and less overwhelming than trying to figure out all the things right now. If you haven’t already, grab your Style Guide Cheat Sheet.

If you already have a style guide, that’s AMAZING! Use the cheat sheet to help you update what you have. You might even get inspired to work on your brand guide – let me know if you do!

Questions or more you’d like to hear on this topic?

What questions do you have, and what else would you like to learn on the topic of brand guides? What else would you like to know about graphic design and branding? Comment below! If you’re going to spend time here, I’d love to create content with you in mind.

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