What should brand guidelines include?
Not a hundred-page document nobody opens. The sections a useful brand guide has, what each one should answer, and how to tell if yours is working.
22 October 2026 · 2 min read
What a guide is for
Brand guidelines exist so that someone who was not in the room can make something new that still looks and sounds like you. If your team cannot answer a design question by opening the guide, the guide has failed, however good it looks.
The logo
Every version of the mark, where each one is used, clear space, minimum sizes, and the few things never to do with it: stretch it, recolour it, or set it on a busy photograph.
Colour
The palette with exact values for screen and for print, the job each colour does, and which combinations are allowed for text. Contrast should be checked, so the rules never permit text people cannot read.
Type
The typefaces, what each one is for, and the sizes and weights to use for headings and body text. A short hierarchy is more useful than a long list of options.
Voice
How the business describes itself, a few phrases to use and a few to avoid, and the one line that says what you do. It is the section most guides leave out and most teams need.
Examples
A handful of applied examples: a social post, a slide, a business card, a web page. People copy an example far more reliably than they follow a rule.
How long it should be
As short as it can be while still answering the questions your team actually asks. A guide is a tool rather than something to admire. Ours comes with every brand identity, alongside the working files, all owned outright.
