Whether you are a brand manager, marketing or communication executive, if you’re looking to know what a brand guideline book should include exactly, or how to share it with everyone working with your brand, you’re in the right place!

Our Graphic Designers and Branding Experts can create the perfect brand for your business. Let’s see what a brand guideline is. We will detail the essential components of the brand book and the steps required to create one.

What is a brand book?

The brand book is the keystone of a branding strategy. It contains all the elements that make up your brand, from its founding principles (mission, vision, values…) to its visual identity (logo, colors, visuals..). Thus, it serves as the document of reference for everything related to the use of your brand.

Brand guidelines, also called a brand style guide, are essentially an instruction manual and rule book on how to communicate your brand. They lay out all the visual details, as well as important notes about a company’s voice, tone, and messaging.

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It is an essential part of any communication strategy. The brand guideline book should state an ensemble of guidelines and best practices regarding the use of your brand on any support.

The brand book should reflect the distinctive elements that make your brand original and unique. It allows to create a strong brand personality and speak in a clear, consistent voice.

This harmonisation is crucial: it enhances brand recognition, as well as the trust people place in your brand. This lays the foundations for solid brand awareness and a positive brand image.

The brand book itself should be the concentrated expression of your brand: its content must reflect the spirit of your brand in a detailed, stylish and concise manner.

Why create a brand guideline book?

When creating your brand guideline book, you must keep these 5 objectives in mind to give shape to a strong brand identity.

1. Explain what your brand is: what is its purpose, how it works, what it represents.
2. Ensure it is coherent. Be sure to define coherent guidelines for its use on a variety of digital and physical platforms, including:
   • websites
   • social media
   • commercial documents
   • business cards…
3. Coordinate the actions and projects of all the departments working with your brand: commercial, marketing, communication…
4. Federate people around a common brand culture and a spirit, from long-time collaborators to new hires, as well as applicants (employer brand).
5. Adopt a unified communication strategy in your relationships with all stakeholders, such as:
   • suppliers
   • investors
   • customers
   • the media…

What is the purpose of brand guidelines?

The purpose of brand guidelines is to help ensure your brand is communicated correctly internally, and presented consistently to your audience. By strictly adhering to brand guidelines, you can promote a uniquely recognizable brand identity to stand out from competitors, and remain memorable in the minds of consumers.

Brand guidelines should be shared and understood throughout the business. Even one incorrectly used logo can damage a brand’s reputation for quality and professionalism. Collating all the brand information in a brand book is a good idea.

This could include more in-depth information such as website templates, advertising and editorial guidelines, and guidance on social media branding and tone of voice.

Sharing brand guidelines and getting staff buy-in throughout your business is vital for maintaining control of your image and the values you are communicating to the public.

It’s not always easy for team members who aren’t marketing or design-oriented to understand how to use images or typefaces, or adhere to tone of voice and style guidelines.

By producing and sharing clear and comprehensive brand guidelines that can be easily understood, your internal team and external suppliers can be confident that they are promoting your brand’s image and values in a positive, professional manner.

Building a brand image takes time, and maintaining a great brand image needs to be a company-wide effort. Brand guidelines can help make sure your brand identity is globally recognizable, cohesive, consistent and the highest quality possible. We use the complete Adobe Suite for all our designs.

If you are looking to create a brand guideline book for your company get in touch. We have created many different ones for different companies in different industries. We are well versed at it.

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