Brand guidelines: what to include
The rules that make everything you publish look and sound like one brand.
First brand read free. No filming.
On this page
The short answer
Brand guidelines are the rules for how a brand looks and sounds, written down so that anyone who makes something for it gets the same result: How to use the logo, the colours and fonts, the photo style and the tone of voice, each shown used right and wrong. A brand style guide and a brand book are the same document under other names.
Updated
One brand guide, assembled
Example. A made-up bakery, to show how the sections sit together; yours can be a few pages or a whole site.
How to write yours in a week
- 01
Collect what already exists
Logo files, the colours and fonts your website already uses, your best-performing posts and a few emails. Most of the decisions have been made; write them down before inventing new ones.
- 02
Write the basics on one page
What you do, for whom, and why you rather than the alternative. If this page takes more than an afternoon, the brand question is not settled yet, and no logo rule will fix that.
- 03
Fix the visual rules
Logo versions, colours with codes, fonts with sizes. Show one wrong example for every rule; people remember the mistake faster than the rule.
- 04
Write the voice as pairs
For each trait, “we say this, not that”, using real sentences from your own posts and emails.
- 05
Show it in use
Mock up the five things you publish most. For most small brands that is a short video, a carousel, a story, an email and a website section.
- 06
Put it where people work
A shared link that is easy to update beats a PDF in an inbox. Review it twice a year, and whenever the same question comes up twice.
What to include, section by section
The basics
One page: what the brand does, who it is for, the line that sets it apart and the few values it will not trade. Everything else follows from this.
Logo
Every approved version (full, icon, one colour), the clear space around it, its smallest size, and the mistakes to avoid: stretched, recoloured, on a busy photo.
Colour
Primary and secondary colours with HEX and RGB (CMYK for print), which ones carry text, and the pairs that pass contrast for readability.
Typography
The fonts, which one does headings and which does body text, the sizes in use, and a free fallback for tools that cannot load the brand font.
Imagery
The kind of photos, illustration and icons that belong, with examples, and the kind that do not.
Voice and tone
How the brand sounds in three or four words, words it uses and avoids, and side-by-side examples: the same message written on brand and off brand.
In use
Real applications: a social post, a short video, an ad, an email, a slide. This section answers more questions than all the others, so do it even if the rest is short.
Brand guidelines worth studying
Read on 1 October 2026 on each organisation’s own published pages. The descriptions summarise their sections. Percify is not affiliated with any of them.
GitHub brand toolkit
A full visual system on a public site, from the logo to motion.
Source: brand.github.com, read Invalid Date
- Covers
- Brand identity, foundations, graphic elements, brand in action, motion identity
- Format
- Public website
- Study it for
- How a visual system is shown in real use
Mailchimp Content Style Guide
A writing guide rather than a visual one.
Source: styleguide.mailchimp.com, read Invalid Date
- Covers
- Voice and tone, grammar, writing for social media, email newsletters, accessibility, a word list
- Format
- Public website
- Study it for
- Writing rules per channel
Monzo tone of voice
A whole voice in three principles: straightforward kindness, everyday magic and warm wit.
Source: monzo.com, read Invalid Date
- Covers
- Voice principles and how they apply in support, marketing, social and operational messages
- Format
- Public web page
- Study it for
- A short, usable voice section
GOV.UK style guide
An A to Z of writing rules for every UK government page.
Source: gov.uk, read Invalid Date
- Covers
- Plain English, spelling, numbers, punctuation and style rules
- Format
- Public website
- Study it for
- Settling small writing questions once
NASA Graphics Standards Manual
The 1970s manual for NASA’s logotype, a classic of the form.
Source: nasa.gov, read Invalid Date
- Covers
- Logotype, colour, typography and applications from stationery to vehicles
- Format
- Study it for
- Applying one mark consistently everywhere
Guidelines, style guide, brand book, brand kit
Brand guidelines
The rules: how the brand looks and sounds, and how not to use it.
Brand style guide, brand book
Other names for the same document. Some teams use “style guide” for writing rules only, as Mailchimp’s Content Style Guide does.
Brand kit
The files the rules refer to, ready to use: logo files, colour codes, fonts. Smaller than guidelines, and usually the first thing a new designer, freelancer or tool asks for.
Read next
Your questions, answered
Short answers to what people ask next.
At least seven sections: the basics (what you do and for whom), logo, colour, typography, imagery, voice and tone, and examples in use. The examples answer the most questions.
As long as it takes to answer the questions people actually ask. A small business can cover all seven sections in a few pages; large companies run whole websites because many teams and partners use them.
Guidelines are the rules. A brand kit is the set of files and codes the rules refer to: logos, colours, fonts. You hand a kit to a freelancer or a tool; you hand guidelines to anyone who makes decisions about the brand.
Usually, yes. Some organisations use “style guide” for their writing rules only and “brand guidelines” for the visual ones.
They need the short version as soon as more than one person, freelancer or tool makes things for the brand. Without it every post is a fresh decision, and the brand drifts.
Percify reads your brand from your website in one pass: your name, logo, colours, fonts, tone of voice, audiences, what you sell and who you compete with. It keeps that as your Brand DNA, which you can correct, and writes every post idea from it. It is not a design tool: it will not design a logo or lay out a brand book. Your first brand read is free.