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How To Create A Style Guide For Your Brand

April 16, 2023
News

Our brains love familiarity. It’s an instinct that humans developed through evolution because the more familiar you are with someone or something, the less likely you perceive it as a threat. This is why it’s essential to build a solid, consistent brand.

What do brands like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Apple, and Adobe have in common? These brands are among the most recognized and trusted across the globe, and one of the key pillars of their success is the familiar and consistent brand identities they have maintained throughout the years. To do that, these companies have established a sort of rulebook called a style guide or brand guide, which plays a vital role in ensuring consistency and accuracy in how the brand is presented.

Style Guides and Their Purpose

While style guides vary from company to company, there are several core elements that they should incorporate.

Company Mission and Vision Statements: These two items serve as a reference for everything your company does. This can also include your core values and the company’s history. This is the soul of your business, and the better your team understands your brand, the more accurately they can reflect it.
Target Audience: Everything your business does must be done with its audience in mind. Who are your ideal or potential customers? Where do they live? What do they like? How do they behave? Creating buyer personas that represent your customers will help your team target and connect with your audience more.

Tone and Voice: If your brand was a person, how would it speak to other people? Would it speak in a casual, lighthearted way, or would it sound more formal and professional?
Logo: Your logo is the most important element of your brand’s visual identity. To ensure it’s used correctly in different scenarios, including logo variations (size, position, shade etc.) in your guide. You can also include a list of Do’s and Don’ts and give a short explanation behind the logo design.
Brand Colours: The colours you choose for your brand are another important element of your visual identity, so you should always establish a primary colour palette. To create a consistent colour scheme, specify exactly what shades you’re using. This can be done by adding hex and CMYK codes and RGB values.

Typography: Even if all the other elements work in harmony, choosing the wrong type can ruin the perception of your brand. Similar to your logo, you should include font guidelines for different occasions, including size and weight variations.
Imagery: Define the style and the mood of the images that will reflect your brand. For example, if your company is all about nature, you would want to consistently use images with a calm and earthy vibe. This section could also include any illustration and iconography guidelines.

Examples

To give you some inspiration and real-world examples, we have compiled a list of brand guides from some of the world’s best-known companies.

Branding is an important part of any business strategy, and it’s crucial for companies to have a coherent, recognizable identity that makes them stand out from the competition. Successful branding comes down to consistent design and messaging, and a brand style guide is the most efficient way to keep that consistency at the highest level.

If you want to learn more about branding and its role in the design industry, we encourage you to explore the Graphic & UI/UX Design diploma program at CAM Institute of Design in Saint John, New Brunswick. We offer a well-rounded, practical education that will help you develop the skills and mindset for a fulfilling and successful career in the design industry. Our curriculum includes courses like Typography, Corporate Identity, Interface Design, Digital Techniques, and the opportunity for electives that allow you to deepen your knowledge in the areas you’re particularly interested in.

Apply now for our September 2024 batch!

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How To Create A Style Guide For Your Brand

Style Guides and Their Purpose

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