Brand guidelines for small businesses: what to include
You don't need a 60-page brand book. A short, practical guideline document keeps your brand consistent across every channel and supplier.
- Published
- Reading time
- 1 min read
Key takeaways
- Guidelines exist so people other than your designer can use the brand correctly.
- Show correct and incorrect use side by side: examples teach faster than rules.
- Keep the guide where people actually work, and update it when the brand changes.
Brand guidelines are instructions for using your identity. Their job is simple: let anyone produce something on-brand without asking the original designer. For a small business, a focused guide of ten to twenty pages is usually enough.
Logo usage
Show every version of the logo and when to use each one. Specify the clear space around it, the minimum size for print and screen, and approved backgrounds. Add a short "don't" section: no stretching, recolouring, adding effects or placing it on busy photos.
Colour
List each colour with its values for screen and print. Explain the role of each one, such as which is for backgrounds, which for buttons and which only for accents. Include tested text and background combinations, so nobody puts light grey text on white.
Typography
Name your typefaces and where to get them. Define a hierarchy: heading sizes, body text size, line spacing and how to emphasise words. If your brand font is not available in everyday tools, name a fallback for documents and email.
Imagery and icons
Describe your photography style with examples: lighting, colour treatment, composition and subjects. If you use illustration or icons, show the style and stroke weight so new ones match.
Tone of voice
Add a page on how you write. Three or four principles with before-and-after examples are more useful than a long list of adjectives.
Templates
The fastest way to keep a brand consistent is to give people ready-made templates for social posts, presentations, proposals and email signatures. Link to them from the guide.
Keeping it alive
Guidelines fail when they are hard to find or out of date. Store them somewhere your team already works, name an owner who approves exceptions, and review them once a year or whenever you add a product or channel.
If your brand has grown without a guide, an audit of what you already use is a good first step. Our graphic design team can turn that into a practical guide and template set.
Frequently asked questions
What format should brand guidelines be in?
A PDF works for sharing with suppliers, but a simple web page or shared document is easier to keep up to date. Many businesses keep both.
Who should have access to the guidelines?
Everyone who produces anything with your brand on it: staff, freelancers, printers and agencies.
