Little Glossary · Brand and product
Brand guidelines
Brand guidelines (or a brandbook) are the document that sets out how a company's identity is used: logo, colors, typefaces, imagery, tone of voice and application examples. They make sure anyone communicating on behalf of the brand does so consistently.
What they usually include
- Brand essence: purpose, positioning and values, in a few lines.
- Logo: versions, minimum sizes, clear space and incorrect uses.
- Color: primary and secondary palette with HEX, RGB and CMYK values, plus accessible-contrast combinations.
- Typography: families, weights, hierarchy and fallbacks when the typeface isn't available.
- Imagery and illustration: photographic style, icons, charts.
- Tone of voice: how the brand speaks, which words it uses and avoids, with before-and-after examples.
- Applications: presentation templates, social media, email signatures, documents.
Brand guidelines vs design system
Guidelines define the identity and how to communicate it. A design system applies it to the product and website interface with components and code. In a B2B tech company both coexist and should share the same color and typography values.
Formats
- PDF: the classic format. Easy to send, but it goes stale and several versions end up circulating.
- Website or brand portal: an internal or public page that's always up to date, with downloadable files.
Some companies publish their guidelines. Mailchimp's Content Style Guide is a well-known example of a thoroughly documented tone of voice.
Common mistakes
- A beautiful document nobody consults because it's hard to find anything in it.
- Rules without examples: "friendly but professional" doesn't help anyone write.
- Sticking to visuals and forgetting tone of voice.
- Not assigning anyone to maintain them.
Related terms
Sources
- Mailchimp, Content Style Guide.
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