Guidelines document an identity; they can’t invent one. If the logo, colours and type are still to be decided, start with brand identity design and the guidelines come as its final chapter. If you only need the mark, logo design is the smaller first step, and the guide can follow later.
Brand guidelines
The rulebook for your look.
Brand guidelines write down how your logo, colours and type are used, so every supplier and colleague produces work that looks like yours.
What it is
What is a brand style guide for?
A brand style guide, or brand guidelines document, is the manual for your identity. It shows the logo and how not to use it, names each colour with its exact values, sets the typefaces and sizes, and shows the identity applied to real things, so a printer in Sandton and a web developer in Liverpool produce the same brand without asking.
It matters most when more than one person makes things in your name: an agency, a sign maker, a new marketing hire or a franchisee. Without it the logo drifts, the red turns orange and three fonts appear on one letter.
Contents
What goes in the guidelines document?
- LogoEvery version, with clear space, minimum sizes, approved backgrounds and the misuses that are never allowed.
- ColourEach colour in every value system, with contrast checks and the proportions a layout should use.
- TypographyThe display and text typefaces, size steps, line heights and what to use when the brand font is missing.
- Imagery and graphicsThe photo style, icons, patterns and illustration, with examples of what fits and what does not.
- VoiceHow the organisation sounds in writing: tone, the words you use and the words you avoid.
- ApplicationsStationery, signage, social posts, slides and uniforms shown finished, so people copy a correct example.
Colour
Which brand colours go where?
A brand colour palette needs three things most palettes skip: the exact value in every system, a contrast check and a rule for where each colour goes. We record every brand colour as HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for print and a Pantone reference wherever it must match on a sign, a vehicle or a uniform.
Then we test text contrast against the WCAG contrast standard, so a colour that looks fine on a poster is never used for small body text on a website. The palette pages set primary colours, secondary colours and tints, with the proportions a layout should use, so nobody paints a whole page red.
Typography
Which brand fonts work together?
Font pairing is one display typeface for headlines and one text typeface for everything else, chosen to contrast in shape and agree in mood. We check the licences for print, web and office use, and name a free fallback for staff whose computers lack the brand fonts.
| Where | Typeface | Rules recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Headlines | The display face, bold | Size steps, letter spacing, line height, sentence case |
| Body text | The text face, regular and medium | Size, line height and line length |
| Documents and email | An office-safe fallback | What Word and Outlook use when the brand font is missing |
| Website | A self-hosted web font | Which weights load, the fallback stack and what shows while it loads |
Branding & merchandise
Related services
Questions
Questions about brand guidelines
Question not here? Send it to us and we will answer it directly.
Ask a questionHow do we commission brand guidelines?
Send your logo files and anything that exists already through the project form or email hello@redfoxbranding.com. We’ll ask who the guide is for, which channels you use and what keeps going wrong today. You then get a fixed quote in GBP, USD or ZAR, with the chapters listed, before any work starts.
Do we need a new logo before brand guidelines?
No. If your logo works, we document it as it is, redrawing it only to clean up a tired or low-resolution file. If the logo has real faults, this is a sensible moment to fix them, and our logo design or brand identity service can run alongside. We tell you honestly which case you are in.
Which files come with the guidelines?
The guidelines as a PDF to share and as an editable source file so they can be updated. Alongside them, a brand asset pack: the logo in SVG, EPS, PDF and PNG in every colourway, colour swatch files for design software, the font files or licence links, and any templates you have ordered. All of it is yours to keep.
Can you update guidelines we already have?
Yes. Often the old guide is a PDF from a previous agency with no source file and no web colours. We rebuild it, keep what still works, add what is missing, such as screen colours, social templates and accessibility checks, and give you the editable file this time. Mrala Enterprise shows how one system then carries from a profile to a website.
Need the identity as well?
Get a quote for brand guidelines
Send your logo, any existing rules and a note on who will use the guide and where things go wrong today. We reply with a fixed price and a list of chapters. You approve the structure first, then the writing and design follow it, and the result is a set of brand guidelines people actually use.