Brand guidelines: what goes in them

Brand guidelines are the instructions for using your brand consistently. They tell anyone creating something for your business (staff, freelancers, a printer, a web developer) how your brand should look and sound.

They don't need to be a 60-page book. For most small businesses, a clear, practical document of a few pages does the job better.

Why have guidelines at all

Without guidelines, every new person who touches your brand makes their own guesses. The result is slightly different colors, stretched logos, a mix of fonts and a tone that changes depending on who wrote the email. Each difference is small. Together they make a business look less established and less trustworthy.

Guidelines also save time. Freelancers and new staff get started faster, and you spend less time correcting work.

What to include

Guidelines contents

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Brand summary. One page: what you do, who you serve, your value proposition and the personality you want to project. See positioning in plain English and writing your value proposition.
Logo. Each version (full, stacked, icon), when to use which, clear space around it, minimum size, approved color versions, and examples of what not to do: stretching, recoloring, adding effects, placing it on busy backgrounds.
Colors. Your palette with exact values: HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK and Pantone if you print. Note which colors are primary, which are accents, and which combinations meet contrast requirements for text.
Typography. Typefaces for headings and body text, weights and sizes, and fallback fonts for email and documents where your brand fonts aren't available. Note the license.
Imagery. The style of photos or illustrations you use: subjects, lighting, color treatment, whether people are shown, what to avoid. A few example images say more than a paragraph. See using your own photos well.
Voice and tone. How you sound in writing, with "we say / we don't say" examples. Note how tone shifts between, say, a social post and a support email. The brand voice worksheet helps you define this.
Where the files are. A link to the shared folder with logos, fonts, templates and approved images. See organizing your brand assets.
Who to ask. A named person or role for questions and approvals.

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Useful extras as you grow

TemplatesSocial post layouts, presentation slides, proposal and letterhead documents, email signatures. See email signatures.
Web specificsButton styles, link colors, form styles, spacing. Often kept in a design system that your web team maintains.
Accessibility rulesMinimum text sizes, approved text-and-background color pairs, alt text expectations. See web accessibility basics.
Co-branding rules for partnerships and sponsorships.
Writing styleHow you write dates, numbers, product names, and words that are often misspelled or inconsistently capitalized.

Make them easy to use

Show, don't just tell. Put a correct example next to every rule, and an incorrect one where mistakes are common.
Keep it short. If it's longer than people will read, split it into a short essentials page and a longer reference.
Make values copyable. Color codes and font names as text, not just in an image.
Store it where people work. A shared folder, your intranet or a simple web page. A PDF attached to one email three years ago doesn't count.
Version it. Put a date on it, and note what changed.

Voice guidelines in practice

Visual rules get most of the attention, but voice is where consistency breaks down most often, because everyone writes. A practical voice section includes:

Element	Example
Three to four personality traits	Friendly, direct, knowledgeable, never jokey about money
What each means in practice	"Direct: lead with the answer, then explain"
We say / we don't say	"We'll fix it today" / "We will endeavor to resolve your issue"
Tone by situation	Upbeat on social; calm and plain in support emails; careful in anything about billing

See finding your brand voice for how to define it.

Common mistakes

Making them too long, so nobody reads them.
Rules without files. Guidelines that describe the logo but don't link to it.
Only covering visuals, leaving tone of voice to chance.
Ignoring accessibility, so approved color pairs fail contrast checks.
Never updating them after the logo, services or audience change.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a designer to create guidelines?

A designer is best for the visual sections, especially if they created your identity. You can write the summary, voice and file-location sections yourself. If you already have a logo and colors, a simple guide you write is far better than none.

Who should get a copy?

Everyone who creates anything public for your business: staff, freelancers, agencies, printers, your web team, and partners using your logo.