What is a style guide?
A style guide is there to help your business to act in a cohesive, consistent manner, providing direction from both a language and graphic perspective. In instances where possibilities exist – even for a choice as simple as whether to use ‘&’ or ‘and’ on your logoline – a style guide ensures consistency, offering rules that clarify marketing decisions.
Continue to promote creative freedom amongst your team whilst complimenting your brand’s personality.
What does a style guide involve?
A style guide should be clear and concise. Between four to five pages keeps it simple, nothing too difficult to digest. Here are a couple of suggestions for your visual style guide…
- What is your brand mark?
- What are your different logo variations?
- What’s your tagline?
- Outline the different sizing aspects of your logo. Minimum spacing? Bleed? Clear space?
- Outline the specific colours of your logo. Pantone colour? Vinyl colour? CMYK colour? Thread colour?
- What’s your corporate typeface?
- Incorrect usage of the logo.
- Different applications? Stationary? Notebooks?
Brand Cohesion
Amongst a creative, innovative team of employees it can be difficult to maintain a sense of direction in terms of marketing objectives. Be a business that invites individualism, promotes creative freedom whilst maintaining consistency. A style guide will streamline internal communications of your business. This cohesion amongst your team will strengthen your brand’s identity and allow consumers to build a sense of trust with your business.
Brand Consistency
Most importantly, a style guide builds and strengthens brand loyalty. Homogeneous graphic designs and marketing messages ensure that consumers are receiving the same brand experience with each interaction. Style guides reduce ambiguity by promoting a sense of dependability and reliability to the market.
Flexibility with Contributors
A style guide will benefit external contributors and suppliers. It will allow your business to fruitfully collaborate on designs and frameworks effectively and efficiently. By providing specific colours, sizing and background options of your logo, designers are able to style promotional products and apparel in a timely fashion. In a couple of pages, marketing teams and designers are able to understand the graphic and written details of your business.
Act smart. Save time. Be clear. Lead with Direction.
Style guides allow you to market your business with clarity and direction. Foster originality through consistent marketing messages. Build your brand’s identity, spend the time to organise your business resources by clearing ambiguity amongst your team.
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