Brand guidelines are the rules for how a brand looks, sounds and behaves. To create guidelines people actually use, start with why the brand exists, keep only the rules people need, and deliver them online instead of as a long PDF. Small teams need fewer pages, not more.
A practical guide for small teams
Because “we’ll figure it out as we go” stops working the moment someone else touches your brand.
Every growing business hits the same moment. Someone outside your immediate circle, a new team member, a freelancer, a print supplier, needs to work with your brand. And suddenly you realise that everything you know about how your brand looks and sounds exists entirely in your head.
The moment more people start working with a brand is when brand guidelines stop being a nice to have.
We’ve been there. Working with clients on their brand, spending weeks getting everything right, and then delivering a PDF and a WeTransfer link and hoping for the best. Hoping the right logo would be used. Hoping the colors would be correct. Hoping the tone of voice would carry through.
The right logo didn’t always end up in the right place. And that’s exactly why we built BrandDeck.
Before we get to where brand guidelines live, let’s talk about what goes into them.
Start with why, not what
The most common mistake when creating brand guidelines is starting with the visual stuff. Logo rules, color codes, font names. That’s all necessary, but it’s not where guidelines begin.
Guidelines begin with clarity about what the brand actually stands for. Because without that foundation, the visual rules are just arbitrary decisions that nobody fully understands or buys into.
Before you open a design tool or write a single rule, answer these two questions:
Why does this brand exist beyond making money? And who is it specifically for?
The answers about why a brand exists inform everything else in the brand guidelines. The tone of voice, the visual direction, the kind of imagery that feels right. When the foundation is clear, the guidelines that follow make sense. When it isn’t, you end up with a document full of rules that nobody follows because nobody understands why they exist.
What should brand guidelines include?
Once the foundation is clear, here’s what a practical set of guidelines needs to cover.
Brand story and positioning A short, honest description of what the brand stands for, who it serves and what makes it different. Not a mission statement written by committee. A clear, human explanation that anyone who works with the brand can actually use.
Logo usage Which version to use and when. How much space it needs around it. What backgrounds it works on. What you should never do with it. Include the actual files, not just screenshots.
Color palette Primary and secondary colors with their exact values. Hex codes for digital, CMYK and Pantone for print. And just as importantly, guidance on how to use them together, not just what they are.
Typography Which fonts the brand uses, where, and how. Headings, body text, captions. Size relationships if relevant. And a clear note on what to use when the brand fonts aren’t available.
Tone of voice How the brand writes and speaks. Not just adjectives like “professional” and “approachable” but actual examples. Show what the brand sounds like. Show what it doesn’t sound like. The difference between a brand that writes “Get in touch” and one that writes “Let’s talk” seems small until it’s everywhere.
Imagery and visual style What kind of photography or illustration fits the brand. Mood, subject matter, what to avoid. This is often the most skipped section and the one that causes the most inconsistency in practice.
Usage examples Real examples of the brand in use. A social post, a document header, a presentation slide. Seeing the brand applied correctly is worth more than ten pages of rules.
How long should brand guidelines be?
A common instinct when creating brand guidelines is to make them comprehensive. Cover every possible scenario. Anticipate every question.
Resist this.
Guidelines that are too long don’t get read. A compact, well-structured document that covers the essentials is used every day. A 120-page brand bible lives on a server somewhere and gets opened once a year when someone is trying to find the Pantone code.
For small teams and growing businesses, aim for clarity over completeness. You can always add to it. Starting lean means people actually use it from day one.
The format problem nobody talks about
One thing about brand guidelines is worth saying directly: the format you use to deliver your brand guidelines matters as much as what’s in them.
A PDF is the default. And a PDF works fine for explaining a brand. But the moment someone needs to actually use the brand, a PDF falls short. They can read that the logo should always appear in its original proportions, but they still need to find the actual file. They can see the color codes, but they can’t download the approved photography from there.
A PDF documents. It doesn’t deliver.
The better approach is an online environment where the guidelines and the assets live together. Where someone can open one link and find not just the rules but the actual files they need to follow them. Where updates happen once and everyone automatically has the latest version.
Clear, current and reachable is the difference between brand guidelines that sit on a shelf and brand guidelines that actually get used.
A practical starting point
If you’re building brand guidelines for the first time, or rebuilding ones that haven’t been working, here’s a simple order to follow.
Start with the story. Write down what the brand stands for and who it’s for in plain language. If you can’t do this clearly, the visual decisions that follow will feel arbitrary.
After the story, do the logo. Get the files in order, define the rules clearly, and make sure every version someone might need is actually available.
After the logo come colors and typography. Document the exact values. Not approximately. Exactly.
After colors and typography comes tone of voice. Write real examples. Show the difference between on-brand and off-brand writing side by side.
After tone of voice comes imagery. Even a small mood board is better than nothing.
Finally, put your brand guidelines somewhere people can actually find and use them. Not a folder called “Brand 2024 FINAL”. Somewhere central, accessible and always current.
The bottom line
Brand guidelines are not a design deliverable. They’re a working tool.
The goal is not to create a document that proves the brand has been thought about. The goal is to make it easy for anyone who works with the brand to do so correctly, confidently and without having to ask questions every time.
Making brand guidelines work means keeping them clear, keeping them current and putting them somewhere people can actually reach them.
A brand that’s easy to use consistently is a brand that grows consistently.
BrandDeck is the place where your brand guidelines and assets live together. One link, always up to date, actually usable.