Why Every Brand Needs a Style Guide
I believe that every business is a brand, and every brand needs a style guide. It doesn’t matter if you are a dentist or a lifestyle blogger - having a consistent style guide will help build trust and professionalism with your customers.
Imagine you go to a new local sandwich shop. You see the sign above the door with their logo, maybe you see signs advertising the menu or specials inside. Let’s say for example their logo is of a giant submarine sandwich with the name in blue lettering (okay, I’m getting hungry now!). You have a great experience, so you decide a few weeks later to look them up and order online. When you search for their website, you *think* you’ve got the right place, but boy does it look different. On the website, the logo lettering is in a different font, bright red, and has an image of a pickle in a completely different art style. You locate their Instagram, and they have yet another logo that is green with a slice of cheese and has yet another font..
Would you not do a bit of a double-take…wait is this the same shop? I want to make sure I can recreate that great experience I had the first time, and now I’m not sure I trust that this is even the right place. I’m hungry, I don’t have time for this… I’ll order a pizza instead.
Sure, not everyone is observant as designers like me - but for many people, there is still a subtle subconscious brand recognition that is incredibly important. This recognition fosters trust and, well, makes you look like you’ve got your life together, right?
Had the sandwich shop establish a style guide, they could have sent it to their sign maker, menu designer, web developer, and the person who runs their social accounts so everyone is on the same page.
Now that we’ve established how important a style guide is, it’s time to put one together… read on!
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What is a Style Guide?
So what makes up a style guide? It’s not as complicated as it sounds, and it quite possibly may already exist in some form (in your head). Now it’s time to get it down on paper (ideally in an easy to email PDF form, to be precise!).
The anatomy of a good style guide consists of 3 parts:
Color palette
Fonts
Logos
I’ve broken down each of these parts of a style guide into separate blog posts. Check ‘em all out here!
How to Use Your New Style Guide
I strongly suggest establishing your style guide ASAP if you haven’t already. Keep it handy to send to a new contractor you begin working with, and share it with your staff. If you have Canva Pro you can even create a “brand kit” for easy designing of all your marketing pieces. And if you are thinking of designing (or redesigning) your website any time soon, a style guide will help you achieve a consistent and polished look. Creating this handy style guide will make things go so much more smoothly - and we love efficiency around here!
Ready to get clear on your brand image?
Maybe you are trying to nail down that perfect color scheme, or you are at a loss looking at the millions of fonts out there. Or maybe you feel your brand is in need of a makeover altogether. I live for this stuff! Book a discovery call to learn more about my branding packages, or shoot me an email and tell me about your business - I’d love to help. Chat soon!
