Brand guidelines: what to include, with a template and a contrast check
Brand guidelines are the rules that let people who did not design a brand use it correctly. This guide covers what to include, a section-by-section template, the accessibility rules most guides leave out, the files to hand over and who should own them.
What are brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines are a document that sets out how a brand’s name, logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and voice should be used, so that anyone producing material for the business, inside it or outside it, makes it look and sound like the same business. They are also called a brand book, a brand guide or a brand style guide.
The guides that rank for this topic, such as Shopify’s, agree on the usual sections, and galleries such as Frontify’s and HubSpot’s show how large companies present theirs. What they mostly leave out are the parts that cause problems later: colours that fail accessibility checks, logos that disappear on dark screens, fonts that are not licensed for the website, and files that nobody can find or edit. This guide covers those as well as the basics.
Brand guidelines, brand identity and style guides
Brand identity is the set of things people see and hear: the name, logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and voice. Brand guidelines are the rules for using them. A style guide is usually narrower, often about writing, though many teams use the term for the whole document.
- The things themselves: the name, logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and voice
- What people see and hear
- Says nothing about how to use any of it
- The rules for using the identity: versions, sizes, pairings, tone, files
- Let people who did not design the brand use it correctly
- Only as good as the identity behind them
- Go out of date unless someone owns them
- Narrower rules, often for writing: spelling, terms, formatting
- Can sit inside the guidelines or alongside them
- On its own, leaves out the visual identity
The order matters. If the identity is still being argued about, writing guidelines turns an open question into a rule nobody believes. Decide what the brand is, then record how to use it. If the business has not yet worked out who it serves and how it differs, the positioning canvas is a quicker place to start than a logo.
What to include in brand guidelines
Brand guidelines should include the brand basics, logo rules, colour, typography, imagery, voice and tone, templates, files and governance. Each section has one job: to let someone who is not a designer make the right choice without asking.
| Section | What it sets | The test |
|---|---|---|
| Brand basics | What the business does, for whom, and how it wants to be seen | A new hire can say it in one sentence |
| Logo | Versions, clear space, minimum size, backgrounds, misuse | Someone outside design picks the right file for a dark slide |
| Colour | Values for screen and print, roles, approved pairings | Every text pairing has a contrast ratio next to it |
| Typography | Typefaces, weights, sizes, fallbacks, licences | A developer knows what to load and what the licence covers |
| Imagery and graphics | Photo style, illustration, icons, patterns | Two people choose similar photos for the same post |
| Voice and tone | How the brand writes, with examples | Two writers produce copy that sounds like one business |
| Applications | Templates and examples: social, slides, email, ads | The common jobs need no designer |
| Files and ownership | Where the files live, formats, who owns them | Anyone can find the current logo in under a minute |
| Governance | Owner, version, change log, who approves exceptions | Everyone knows which version is current |
The third column is the useful one. A section passes when the person most likely to get it wrong gets it right from the page alone. That is usually not a designer. It is a salesperson making a slide, a partner placing the logo on their site, or a freelancer writing an email.
How long should brand guidelines be?
As long as the sections above need and no longer. A small business can cover everything in ten to twenty pages, or one well-organised web page. Length grows with the number of people and channels using the brand, not with how important the brand feels. A long document that nobody reads protects nothing.
Logo rules that work in practice
Logo rules should cover the versions, the clear space around the logo, the smallest size it can appear at, the backgrounds it can sit on and the common ways it gets misused. Each rule should come with the file that makes following it easy.
Versions
One logo is rarely enough. A full-colour version works on white; a one-colour version works where colour is limited or the background is busy; a reversed version works on dark backgrounds. The mark on its own, without the name, works where space is square and small, such as a social avatar or a browser tab.
Dark backgrounds and dark mode
Dark backgrounds are no longer an edge case. Websites, apps and email clients can show content in a dark theme, and a logo designed only for white can lose its outline or its dark lettering. Test the logo on a dark background before the guidelines are written, and include a reversed version that has been designed rather than just inverted.
Clear space and minimum size
State clear space as a multiple of something in the logo itself, such as the height of a letter, so it scales with the logo. State minimum sizes in pixels for screens and millimetres for print, tested at those sizes. A detailed mark that looks good on a banner can turn into a smudge at 32 pixels.
The files
| File | Format | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Primary logo, full colour | SVG, plus PNG at large sizes | Websites, documents, most digital use |
| Primary logo, one colour | SVG and PNG, in black and in white | Busy backgrounds, single-colour printing, embroidery or engraving briefs |
| Reversed logo | SVG and PNG | Dark backgrounds, including dark-mode screens |
| Icon or mark alone | SVG, plus square PNGs | Social avatars, app icons, favicons |
| Print master | PDF or EPS with print colours | Printers and sign makers |
| Source file | The design tool’s own layered file | Future changes, by any designer |
SVG files suit screens because, as the W3C specification puts it, SVG content is scalable to different display resolutions. Large PNGs cover tools that do not accept SVG. Printers usually want a PDF or EPS with print colour values. The source file, in the design tool it was made in, is what lets any designer change the logo later; without it, a small change can mean redrawing from scratch.
Colour: values, roles and contrast
Brand colours need a value for each medium, a role in the design and a list of approved pairings with their contrast ratios. Swatches alone tell people which colours exist; pairings tell them which combinations can be read.
Values for every medium
Give each colour as HEX and RGB for screens and CMYK for print. If a printed colour must match exactly, such as on packaging or signage, name a spot colour from the printer’s colour system as well. Screen and print colours are produced differently, so a bright screen colour may not have an exact print match; check a printed proof before the values go in the guidelines.
Roles
Assign each colour a role: primary, accent, text, background, success or warning. A palette of eight colours with no roles invites people to use all eight on one slide. Many guidelines also give rough proportions, such as mostly neutral backgrounds with the primary colour used for emphasis.
Contrast, and what WCAG says about brands
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set the contrast rules most organisations work to. Success criterion 1.4.3 asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for text and 3:1 for large-scale text, which W3C describes as 18 point, or 14 point bold. Success criterion 1.4.11 asks for 3:1 for the parts of buttons, form fields and icons that people need to see to use them.
Two details matter for brand guidelines. W3C says text that is part of a logo or logotype is exempt from contrast requirements. But it also says, in its explanation of 1.4.3, that beyond logos, text with insufficient contrast because of corporate identity or brand guidelines is not exempted. A brand colour that fails contrast can still be the logo colour; it cannot be the colour of the website’s body text.
Enter a text colour and a background as RGB values. The defaults are an orange, #F97316, on white.
With the defaults, the orange #F97316 on white has a contrast ratio of 2.80:1. It fails 4.5:1 for body text and also fails 3:1 for large text and icons. The same orange on a near-black background, #111111, reaches 6.74:1 and passes both. A darker orange, #C2410C, reaches 5.18:1 on white. The working, by hand, is in the formula: each RGB value is divided by 255, linearised, weighted 0.2126, 0.7152 and 0.0722 and added, and the lighter result plus 0.05 is divided by the darker result plus 0.05. For the orange, that gives a relative luminance of 0.3246, and (1 + 0.05) / (0.3246 + 0.05) = 2.80.
That is why the guidelines should list pairings, not just colours. “Orange on near-black for headings and buttons; dark orange on white for links; orange on white for decoration only” is a rule someone can follow. W3C also says the thresholds are not rounded: a ratio of 4.499:1 does not meet 4.5:1.
Typography and font licences
The typography section names the typefaces and weights, a type scale for headings and body text, line spacing, fallbacks for systems that do not have the brand fonts, and the licence that covers each font’s use.
Scale and fallbacks
Give sizes for each heading level and for body text on screen and in print, and the line length and spacing that keep body text comfortable to read. Then give fallbacks. Email clients, presentation software on a partner’s laptop and some ad platforms will not have the brand font, and without a named fallback they will choose one for you.
Licences
A font is software, and its licence says where it can be used. Fonts under the SIL Open Font License, which covers many free fonts, can be used, modified and redistributed freely as long as they are not sold by themselves, and the licence states that its terms do not apply to documents created with the fonts. The OFL’s own usage page says such fonts can be used for books, graphics, videos, websites and signage without including the licence or an acknowledgement.
Paid fonts are different, and each foundry sets its own terms. Before the guidelines name a paid font, read its licence against every use the guidelines list: printed material, the website, apps, videos and ads. Record in the guidelines which licence the business holds and whose name it is in, so that a new designer or agency does not assume their own copy covers the client.
Imagery, voice and templates
Imagery, voice and templates are the sections that most affect day-to-day work, because they cover the decisions people make every week rather than once.
Imagery
Describe the photography style in terms someone can apply: natural light or studio, people or products, candid or posed, colour treatment. Then show examples that fit and examples that do not. Add rules for text over images, since that is where contrast most often fails, and for icons and illustration if the brand uses them.
Voice and tone
Voice is how the brand always sounds; tone is how it adjusts to the situation. Give three to five voice traits, and for each one a do and a do not with real sentences. “Clear, not clever: write ‘Your order has shipped’, not ‘Your goodies are on their merry way'” teaches more than the word “clear” alone. Show how tone changes between a sales email, a support reply and an apology, and include spelling, preferred terms and words to avoid.
Writing rules often grow into their own style guide as a content team expands. How that fits with briefs, review and publishing is covered in content operations, and how a brief passes voice and house rules to a writer is in the guide to content briefs.
Templates
Templates do more for consistency than rules. A slide master, social post templates in each size, an email header, a letterhead and the common ad sizes, each as an editable file, mean the frequent jobs need no designer and no reading. Link each template from the section of the guidelines it applies.
A brand guidelines template
A brand guidelines template needs eight sections: about the brand, logo, colour, typography, imagery, voice and tone, templates, and files and contacts. Below is what goes in each, and why it matters.
Use it as a table of contents and fill in each section with the business’s own decisions and examples. A small business can do this as a single web page or a short PDF; a larger one may need a brand portal. The format matters less than having one current version that everyone can reach.
How to create brand guidelines
To create brand guidelines, audit what is in use, settle the identity decisions, test the identity in real conditions, write the rules with examples, package the files and templates, and give the document an owner.
- 1AuditCollect what is in use now: logos, colours, fonts, templates, real examples.
- 2DecideSettle the identity questions first. Guidelines record decisions; they do not make them.
- 3TestCheck contrast, small sizes, dark backgrounds and print before anything is written down.
- 4WriteRules with examples, in plain language, for people who are not designers.
- 5PackageFiles in every format, templates and one place to find them.
- 6MaintainOne owner, a version number, a change log and a review date.
Start with an audit
Collect every logo file, colour value, font and template in use, plus real examples: the website, recent social posts, the sales deck, packaging, email. Differences between them show which rules are needed most. If three versions of the logo are in use, the logo section comes first.
Test before writing
Run the colour pairings through a contrast check, place the logo on a dark background and at favicon size, print the colours, and try the fonts in an email and a slide on a machine that does not have them installed. Problems found now change the identity; problems found after publishing become exceptions that weaken every rule.
Write for the user
Write each rule for the person most likely to break it, with an example of the rule followed and the rule broken. Avoid design vocabulary where plain words work. Then give the draft to two people outside design and ask them to make a slide and a social post from it. Where they hesitate, the guidelines need more.
Files, ownership and trademarks
Brand guidelines should say where the files live, who owns them and what the brand’s legal protection actually is. These are the questions that come up when a business changes agency or designer, and they are hard to answer after the fact.
Who owns the files
If an agency or freelancer designed the identity, the business should hold copyright in the finished work and have the source files. In the United States, 17 U.S.C. 204 says a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights. Paying for the work is not, on its own, a transfer. Put the assignment in the contract, and keep the files in an account the business controls.
What the guidelines do not do
Brand guidelines describe how a brand is used; they do not give it legal protection. The US Patent and Trademark Office explains that you become a trademark owner as soon as you start using a mark with your goods or services, but that those rights are limited to the area where you trade, and registration gives broader, nationwide rights. It also says “TM” or “SM” can be used without an application, and the ® symbol only once a mark is registered, and only for the goods or services in the registration.
So if the guidelines show the logo with ®, check that the mark is registered for what the business sells. If it is not, use TM, or nothing. Whether to register is a question for a trademark attorney, not the guidelines.
Brand guidelines for agencies and their clients
When an agency builds or uses a client’s brand, the guidelines are the brief, the quality standard and the handover document in one. They also make it possible to share the work with other designers without losing consistency.
- Ask for them first. Before any design work, ask for the current guidelines, logo files and font licences. If there are none, say so in the proposal, because the first piece of work will set the rules by default.
- Hand back what you create. New templates, ad sizes and image styles made for a campaign belong in the client’s guidelines afterwards, with the source files.
- Licences in the client’s name. Fonts and stock bought for client work should be licensed to the client, or the agency, according to the contract, so the work stays usable if the relationship ends.
- One version. If several suppliers work on the brand, agree who updates the guidelines and how others hear about changes.
Agencies that resell design under their own brand need the same discipline, because the client will never see the designer. How that model works is covered in what white-label marketing is, and the design side of it is on the white-label graphic design page.
Keeping brand guidelines current
Brand guidelines stay current when one person owns them, every version is numbered and dated, changes are logged, and they are reviewed on a fixed schedule. Without that, people keep old copies and the brand drifts.
- One owner. A named person or role who approves changes and exceptions.
- One location. A web page or shared folder that is always current. Avoid sending the PDF around as an attachment.
- Version and date. On the cover or at the top of the page, and in the file name.
- A change log. What changed, when and why, so people know what to update.
- A review date. Once a year is a sensible default, and after any rebrand, new product line or new channel.
When a rule keeps getting broken, treat it as information. Either the rule is unclear, the file that makes it easy is missing, or the rule does not fit how the brand is really used and should change.
Common mistakes
The most damaging brand guideline mistakes make the document look complete while leaving people unable to follow it.
- Swatches without pairings. People combine brand colours that cannot be read, and the website fails accessibility checks.
- No dark-background logo. The logo disappears on dark slides, dark-mode email and dark social themes.
- Fonts without licences or fallbacks. Web pages load the wrong font, or the business uses a font it is not licensed for.
- Adjectives without examples. “Friendly and professional” means something different to every writer.
- Exports without sources. The next designer cannot change anything without redrawing it.
- Several versions in circulation. Nobody knows which is current, so everyone follows the one they have.
- Written for designers. The people who most need the rules cannot follow the vocabulary.
Before you publish
Before brand guidelines are published, check that the logo works on every background, that colour pairings pass contrast, that fonts are licensed and have fallbacks, that voice has examples, and that the files and ownership are settled.
Write brand guidelines for the people who will use them, not the people who designed the brand: give approved colour pairings with contrast ratios, logo files for dark backgrounds, fonts with licences, voice with examples, and one owner who keeps a single current version.
The test I use for any brand guidelines is to give them to someone who was not involved and ask for a slide and a social post. Where they hesitate or ask a question, the guidelines are missing a rule, an example or a file.
The section I see missing most often is the boring one: where the files are and who owns them. It costs nothing to settle at the start and can cost a redesign to settle later.
Frequently asked
What should brand guidelines include?
What is the difference between brand guidelines and a style guide?
How long should brand guidelines be?
What contrast ratio should brand colours meet?
Which logo file formats should brand guidelines include?
Do brand guidelines protect a trademark?
Who should own brand guidelines?
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