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In a world where customers interact with brands across multiple platforms—from social media to posters in your store—consistency is everything. This is where brand guidelines become important. It doesn’t matter how big your business is or how proficient you are in design, having a guide on how to use the new logo that you paid for is beneficial for everyone.
We’ve received this question from partners, friends and even business owners on the stree,t so we figured, what better way to explain the importance of this tool than in this post.
Brand guidelines (also called brand guidelines or a brand style guide) are a comprehensive set of rules that define how a brand presents itself to the world. These guidelines ensure consistency across all touchpoints and serve as a reference for anyone communicating on behalf of the brand—from in-house teams to external partners.
AND it’s one of the final deliverables that we deliver to our clients that sign with us to create their new branding.
Brand guidelines ensure that every time your customer interacts with your business, they feel like they’re interacting with the same person no matter what room they’re in. Whether someone encounters your brand on Instagram, a billboard, or a product package. Consistency builds trust and helps your brand stay recognizable in a crowded marketplace. Plus, guidelines will help you in the future when you take on your own designs or when you get big enough to hire a person of an agency to help.
When your logo, colors, and messaging are consistent, it reinforces your brand identity in the minds of your audience. For example, let’s say you’re scrolling Instagram and get an ad for a Pepsi (side note: we hate soda if it’s not Ollipop but since it’s a recognizable brand it works for this example).
This ad for Pepsi would usually include the blue color that they’ve become known for but, if the ad suddenly uses green or red, you might be confused by the business behind the ad.
Over time, these repeated experiences make your brand instantly recognizable.
Once your business takes off, you quickly come to the realization that you can’t do everything yourself. And once you get to that point, having a handy pdf to give to your future employee, will make your life a whole heck of a lot easier.
Brand guidelines serve as a playbook for internal teams, designers, and external collaborators. With clear guidelines, everyone involved can produce on-brand materials without needing constant oversight or approval.
Today, tools like Canva or Adobe Express, make it easy to make graphics for your small business. You don’t need a design degree to make your social media, emails, or signage look good. You can leverage one of these tools to create designs that are on-brand and consistent to your voice.
Once you have brand guidelines, choosing templates or frames inside of one of these tools becomes easier because you have a guide for images, shapes, icons, etc. that fit your company’s vision.
Imagine this, you partner with a local organization by sponsoring an event. You hand off your logo so that the company can post it to their website.
HOLD UP. Did they change the color of the logo to an unapproved color?
With brand guidelines, that won’t happen. You can hand-off your logo and brand guidelines to an external partner and know with confidence that they’ll be clear on how to use your logo. It ensures that everyone representing your brand maintains consistency, no matter where your message appears.
Brands evolve over time, and your guidelines should too. Regularly revisit and update your brand guidelines to reflect new product lines, updated messaging, or refreshed design approaches.
One of your branding clients, Mairin Kareli Design, received their brand guidelines and ran with them. After hand-off, she was able to start managing her own website and deliver sell sheets - her way of selling patterns to interior designers and other partners. Check them out below to see what brand guidelines looks like in real time.
Brand guidelines are more than just a set of rules—they're a blueprint for building a strong, consistent brand that resonates with your audience. Whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing identity, clear guidelines are the foundation of successful branding.
Ready to take your brand to the next level? We specialize in helping businesses create powerful, cohesive brand identities.
