Over 70 Sample Brand Guidelines, Illustrations, and advice on devising effective brand standards
Creating Effective One-Page Brand Guidelines: A Comprehensive Guide
In today's competitive business landscape, having a clear and concise brand guideline is essential for maintaining a consistent visual identity across all platforms. Here's a guide on how to create an effective one-page brand guideline.
Defining Core Elements
Start by clearly defining your brand's core elements. Include your logo with spacing and size rules, primary and secondary colours with exact colour codes (HEX, RGB, CMYK), and your main fonts with usage hierarchy (headings, body, etc.).
Keeping Content Concise
Keep the content concise and focused, highlighting only the most important guidelines that ensure consistent use without overwhelming the reader.
Using Visual Examples
Use visual examples to show correct and incorrect applications of logos, colours, and typography to visually communicate standards quickly.
Clarifying Brand Name and Tagline Usage
Specify correct spelling, capitalization, and placement rules for your brand name and tagline, if applicable.
Designing for Readability
Design the guideline for readability, using generous spacing, clear headings, and a logical flow so users can quickly find and understand each section.
Tailoring to Your Audience
Think about who will use the guide (marketing, product, external partners) and what they need to know to maintain your brand identity consistently.
Starting from a Template
If needed, start from a pre-designed one-page template, but customise it fully to reflect your unique brand.
Keeping it Up to Date
Treat your guidelines as a living document and review them annually or when making significant brand changes.
Including Additional Sections
A brand guideline may include additional sections such as:
- Guidelines for presenting data in a visually engaging way.
- Guidelines for using icons in various contexts.
- A collection of authorized company visuals or images, organized by topics or use.
- A tone or voice guide to help employees or designers avoid calling the same thing a handful of random other names.
- A section on using colours with each font to help visualize the branding.
- A section on using the brand's logo in various contexts.
- A section on using a mascot correctly, if a company's name is obscure or made up like Mailchimp.
- A section on company culture to show how branding goes beyond design - it's also a mindset.
In summary, a good one-page brand guideline is a simple, visual snapshot of your brand's key identity rules that allows anyone to maintain consistent presentation with minimal confusion or guesswork. This approach enables quick reference and effective brand management across teams and media.
- The brand guideline may include sections on data visualization, providing guidance on presenting data in a visually engaging manner.
- For fashion-and-beauty, food-and-drink, home-and-garden, lifestyle, pets, travel, cars, and shopping related content, the guideline should offer clear instructions to ensure consistent visual representation across all platforms.
- To demonstrate the brand's personality and values beyond design, a section on company culture can be included, showing how branding goes beyond just visual representation.
- In case the brand uses icons in various contexts, guidelines for their proper usage should also be included in the brand guideline.
- If the brand's name is obscure or made up like Mailchimp, a section on using a mascot correctly can be added to the brand guideline.
