FAQs: Brand Guide Edition

When clients approach us for branding projects, one of the first questions we ask is if they know what a brand guide is. Most of them say no, but once we’re done explaining what it is, they can’t believe they’ve gone so long without one!

Here are a few questions we hear about brand guides on the regular:

What is a brand guide?

Brand guides, also called style guides or brand standards, are an essential element in your branding toolkit. They range in size from a single page to 15+ pages and include helpful information like colors, fonts, and guidelines for how to use various elements of the brand. We deliver our brand guides in 8.5x11 PDF format so you can view it on your computer or print it out at home.

Why do I need a brand guide?

We could go on and on about this one, but we’ll keep it short and sweet – you need a brand guide because it makes you look like you know what you’re doing! Nothing dilutes the power of great branding more than making random choices in your visuals and messaging. A great brand guide creates rules and structure that help keep your brand looking (and sounding) it’s best, no matter who touches it.

I manage all of my business’ branding and marketing, so why would I need this?

This is a great question! Even if you are DIYing the heck out of your branding and marketing (go, you!) a brand guide will help you tremendously. We know how busy you are as a business owner, and we also know how much effort goes into creating things like social media graphics and ads. A brand guide is like a roadmap to your brand’s best self, saving you time, energy and tension headaches. We reference ours all the time!

I already have a logo, can you still make me a brand guide?

Absolutely! We have tons of experience creating brand guides for established businesses, and they often end up being some of our favorites. Even if all you have is a mission statement and a logo you love, we can create branding structure around just about anything.

What do I need to have prepared before I have you create a brand guide?

The backbone of every brand guide (and business) is a mission, vision and value statement. Although we can help you fine-tune these, they are the one element that we can’t create for you. That being said, if you need help getting started, we have worksheets we’d love to send you!

Got more questions? Please feel free to get in touch with us – it’s one of our favorite things to talk about!