Taking Your Brand to the Next Level - Why You Need a Style Guide
We all know that every business needs a logo—preferably one you love—though many of us don’t realize that a logo itself isn’t what makes a brand. It isn’t even everything that makes up the visual component of a brand. A brand itself is a perception. It’s the feeling that your business or product promotes with anyone that experiences it.
So…what can you do to help influence that perception? You can make sure every touchpoint between your business or product and the outside world is clear and consistent. Having a style guide in place and making its implementation second-nature will help you streamline your brand, and is an incredibly useful tool for anyone that has a hand in your business—employees, partners and vendors, to name a few.
>>Ready to dive in? Download my free Style Guide Worksheet here to get the ball rolling!
Style guides can range from the down-and-dirty type to those that cover the detailed and in-depth nuances of the brand. Either way, to have an effective guide you’ll want to make sure the following components are covered.
Your Brand Story
Your brand story isn’t just a bulleted timeline of your company history. Your story tells us why your business was created and how it serves a void in the market. Here you may choose to outline your mission and vision statements, your target audience, brand personality and your values.
This section should answer the questions of how and why you came to be and how that influences the way you do business. It doesn’t have to be long—in fact, it’s better if it’s not (believe me, nobody you hand this guide to is going to read pages upon pages unless required)—but it should be meaningful.
Logo Usage
Remember that beautiful logo of yours we were talking about? Yes, that does have a place in this guide. A logo usage section ensures your logo will be used the way you intended. Here is your chance to explain the rationale behind your logo, include your guidelines and a list of Do’s and Don’ts.
Do you have specific rules for sizing and placement? Do you have variations of your logo meant for certain applications or media? Lay that all out here. You’ll be especially grateful for this component if you’re handing your logo off to an outside vendor or subcontractor to create something for you.
Color Palette
A consistent color palette is essential to a brand—and I’m talking more than just “orange and navy.” Here you can outline your official brand colors. Your guide should include your Pantone colors, CMYK and RGB breakdowns, and hex codes. If this last part sounds Greek to you, don’t worry. A good designer can quickly and easily help you make sense of it all.
Be sure to define your primary color palette as well as your secondary and tertiary palettes if you have them. If you have specific guidelines about when to use which colors—for example, if your secondary colors each stand for a different division or product—let that be known.
Typography
Just as you should consistently be using the same colors within your brand, you should also be using consistent fonts. Showcase your fonts in this section, and get specific in terms of usage if need be. What font do you use for headlines? Do you want it to be a specific size? All caps? The same goes for subheads and body copy. It’s best to stay within 2-3 font families for clean design. Don’t worry, you will still have a lot of flexibility if you choose families with multiple weights and styles.
Another thing to consider is if you need separate typography guides for digital versus print. While the font options for digital are expanding, you may not have the same options available for both media. Or, perhaps one isn’t as legible in one medium versus the other. If you nail that all down here in the guide, you’ll avoid a lot of questions—or assumptions—down the road.
Image Style and Graphic Elements
Other very important components of the visual portion of your brand include imagery and other graphic elements like shapes or patterns. Do you use only black and white photography? Do you prefer to show people with positive, upbeat expressions rather than sad or conflicted? Do you want your products displayed with brightly colored backgrounds? What shapes, patterns or other graphic elements make up the foundation of your brand?
An effective way to display this section is to show these different elements on their own, and then to show them in application. This will reduce questions about how these components are to relate with one another and help ensure a cohesive look.
Brand Voice
Your brand voice describes the tone in which you communicate with your audiences. What does your brand actually sound like? How do you speak with your customers? Are you more professional or casual? Laying out a series of simple phrases like, “We are honest but approachable” can serve as an effective model.
As this section is particularly useful for copywriters, you can also describe your company’s writing style. What are some words you like to include? Words to avoid? Grammatical preferences? Having those components defined can help keep the brand voice consistent no matter who within the company is doing the writing.
Brands do evolve over time, so be sure you don’t create something that prohibits you from being flexible with this growth and change. A guide that helps you create a consistently on-target experience without stifling future growth will serve as a meaningful tool for your business.
Feeling Overwhelmed?
Totally understandable. Style guides can get complex quickly, but putting one together now will not only save you time in the future, it will allow you to create a more focused, consistent and stronger overall brand starting today.
>>Nail down some of your style guide basics with my free Style Guide Worksheet!
If you can’t tell typeface from tone, or Pantone from CMYK, don’t be discouraged. A competent designer, myself included, will gladly answer any of your questions. Want to know why? It’s in our best interest for you to have one! Your vendors will thank you—and you will thank yourself—as you deal with less questions, fewer rounds of revisions and final deliverables that hit the mark and leave you feeling happy.
If your business is going through a re-brand, launch cycle, or even if you’re an established brand, you owe it to yourself and your business to have a thorough style guide. Got questions? I’ve got answers! Contact me today to get the conversation started.