Refract Group2026
Glossary
Brand guidelines
Brand guidelines are the document or site that records a brand identity and how to use it: the logo and where it may go, colour values and roles, type, layout, imagery and voice, shown with examples so people outside the design team can apply it.
- New deck neededSales, no designer free
- Open the guidelinesType, colour, layout, examples
- Covers this format?Ask the brand owner
- Start from templateLongest title goes in first
- Deck ships on brandChecked against the examples
Brand guidelines in detail
- Also called
- Brand guide, Brand book, Brand style guide, Brand standards
- Topic
- Brand
- Updated
What it is
Good guidelines open with the reasoning, because a rule people understand gets followed in cases nobody foresaw. Then come the parts: the logo in each version with its clear space and minimum size, the palette with exact values for screen and print and a role for each colour, the type hierarchy with the licences each use needs, layout grids, rules for imagery and illustration, and the voice, with examples of what to write and what to avoid.
The useful ones show the identity on the company’s own material, including the awkward cases: a long title, a dense table, the smallest format. They come with templates for what the team makes every week. A PDF is easy to send to a supplier and a living site is easier to keep current. Either works only if someone owns it after launch.
Why it matters
Once the studio leaves, the guidelines are the identity for everyone who makes the next thing: the marketer building a landing page, the founder editing a deck late at night, the agency running ads. Without them each person guesses, and a brand that took months to agree drifts within a year. Written rules also save time with suppliers and stop the same argument about the logo colour coming back every quarter.
How we do it
Our guidelines explain the reasoning as well as the rules, with examples made from your own content, including the awkward cases: a long title, a dense table, the smallest format you need. Before sign-off we test them on the formats and content your team uses, and add templates for what it makes every week.
At handover you get the mark in every version the guidelines allow, as vector files and screen exports, the palette with its values and the role of each colour, and the typefaces by name with the licences you need for web, app and desktop. You own the files, and any third-party font or image licence is identified separately.
An example
Say a ticketing company’s identity rests on one orange, and that orange has to fill a lit bus shelter and also sit behind small type on a checkout screen. One hex value cannot do both, so the guidelines specify the colour as a ramp, from deep to pale, with the point on it each kind of surface uses. A printer, a media buyer or a new agency can then be handed the file without a conversation about which orange.
Common mistakes
- Showing only the ideal examples. A cover with a three-word title proves little, and the guidelines are tested by the long title, the dense table and the favicon.
- Rules without reasons. A rule nobody understands is broken the first time a format comes up that it did not cover.
- Colour values for one medium only. A hex code on its own leaves print and signage to guesswork, so each colour needs its values for screen and print side by side.
- Nobody owns them after launch. Guidelines go stale as the product and the market change, and a team that cannot find the current version uses the old one.
Brand guidelines vs design system
Brand guidelines record how the brand looks and sounds everywhere it appears, and a design system is the set of components, patterns, standards and code a product team builds its interface from.
| Brand guidelines | Design system | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Every place the brand appears | A product’s interface |
| Contents | Logo, colour, type, imagery, voice | Components, patterns, tokens, code |
| Used by | Marketing, sales, agencies, suppliers | Designers and engineers |
| How they meet | Supplies the brand foundations | Often holds a visual style guide |
Questions
What people ask about brand guidelines.
Brand guidelines should include the reasoning behind the identity, the logo in every allowed version with clear space and minimum sizes, colour values and roles, the type hierarchy and its licences, layout and imagery rules, and the voice. Examples on real content, including long titles and dense pages, matter as much as the rules.
Mostly, yes. Brand book, brand style guide and brand standards are other names for brand guidelines. Some teams use “brand book” for a shorter piece that tells the story and values and keep the detailed usage rules in the guidelines, so check which one a quote means.
Brand guidelines work in either form if people use them. A PDF is easy to send to a printer or a new agency. A website is easier to keep current, can link to the files and templates, and stops old copies circulating. Whichever you choose, name someone to own the guidelines after launch.
Where this shows up in our work
Related terms
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