What is a Brand Style Guide or Brand Guideline?
When we mention Apple, what is the first image that comes to your mind? Whatever it is that came to your mind, whether it’s a sleek silver laptop or a half bit apple, or an iPhone, that’s the power of branding. You are easily able to recognize a brand among a group of brands, which is indeed an excellent thing for a business. This means a user is easily able to recall your brand and identify it.
See apple’s brand guideline.
Brand style guides communicate a variety of things about your brand, both internally to your organization or business, as well as externally to your partners, affiliates and the general public.
Components of brand style guides or guidelines are not standard across the industry, but the most discernible organizations utilize brand guidelines as a resource for everyone to understand how to represent their brand.
Your brand guideline can support marketing initiatives by ensuring that all messaging is relevant and related to your brand’s goals. Referencing a brand style guide ensures that content distinguishes a brand from its competitors, and is cohesive. This cohesion is necessary because it helps establish a strong brand voice that resonates with the audience, which is essential for building brand awareness. Over time, that awareness and consistency build trust.
Your brand guideline can support marketing initiatives by ensuring that all messaging is relevant and related to your brand's goals.
The goal of brand guidelines is to protect the strength of your brand so that it continues to create value for your company. Brand style guides achieve this by explaining the importance of your brand and describing how to use the elements of the brand, such as corporate identity and the brand name.
Your brand guideline provides a comprehensive manual for anyone who uses your brand and its components in their work, including employees, channel partners, designers and marketing agencies.
Having strong and consistent branding through brand guidelines will help users identify, recognize and recall your brand better in the future.
Do you want to start your brand identity project or build a brand style guide for your brand? Get in touch.
