Consumers are more likely to trust a brand that maintains a consistent look and feel. It’s for this reason the world’s most recognisable brands develop and enforce strict brand guidelines. A brand style guide is a document containing a set of standards for how an organisation presents itself to the world.

Do you have a style guide for your brand? A style guide is important to a business for a few reasons:

01. Consistency.
A style guide ensures consistency in the way a brand is presented to the public across all touchpoints. This helps to establish a brand’s voice and creates the all-important trust.

02. Efficiency.
A style guide can save time and effort by eliminating the need for constant editing and revising of content. It makes it easy for anyone in the organisation to represent the brand and ensures clear guidelines for multiple contributors to create cohesive work. This can be particularly helpful when outsourcing to various creative partners such as designers, copywriters, photographers and developers.

03. Brand recognition.
A style guide ensures that all materials produced by a business, including websites, marketing materials, social media, and other forms of digital and print content, are in line with the company’s overall branding and messaging. This familiarity is what creates a connection with the brand’s audience.

Here are the 6 essential elements of a brand style guide…

01. Logo
02. Sub marks
03. Colour palette
04. Additional design elements/graphics
05. Fonts
06. Photography/Stock Images

All of my brand packages include brand style guides – check them out here.