How to Write a Brand Guide: Logo, Colour and Tone Rules
How does a brand guide define logo use, colour palette, typography and brand voice? A practical guide to writing one for a small business.
rabbitclip teamPublished: 5 min read
Short answer
A brand guide is a written document that brings together how the logo is used against different backgrounds, the exact codes for the brand's colours, the fonts in use, and the tone the brand speaks in, all in one place. Its purpose is not to produce a pretty catalogue, it is to let anyone working with the brand, a new designer, a social media agency, a print shop, make the same decisions without asking the same questions over and over.
At a showroom chain, when each branch had its signage made by a different supplier, the same brand ended up with ten different shades of red. With a brand guide the only thing a supplier would have needed was one colour code; without it, the difference only showed up once the branches were photographed side by side.
What does a brand guide solve, and what does it not?
A brand guide solves visual consistency: the same logo, the same colour, the same font used the same way everywhere. It does not solve the brand's strategy, its target audience or its pricing; that is a separate strategy document's job.
If a business owner confuses a brand guide with a marketing plan, the guide turns into a document too thick to actually use. The shorter and clearer it is, the more often it gets opened.
Settling that distinction early makes the writer's own job easier too; every page can be checked against one question, is this a visual rule or a strategy decision.
What rules define logo use?
The minimum clear space around the logo, the smallest size it can be used at, which version goes on which background, a dark logo on a light background, a light logo on a dark one, should all be shown with clear examples in the guide.
Banned uses matter just as much as correct ones: stretching the logo, rotating it, writing text over it, using it in a different colour, these should be shown visually; a written rule is never understood as fast as a visual example.
How do you document a colour palette?
A colour cannot be described by eye alone; each one needs three separate codes kept on file, one for screens, one for print, one for the web.
- HEX code: for web and digital screens
- RGB code: for anything screen-based
- CMYK code: for printed materials
- Primary colour and supporting colours are marked separately
- The proportion each colour should be used in, dominant, supporting, accent, is stated
- Text and background contrast is checked for accessibility
How do you define a brand voice?
Brand voice is the tone and word choice a brand uses in writing and speech: formal or friendly, short sentences or longer ones, whether it uses emoji or not. This is best defined with examples: two short lists headed 'we write like this' and 'we don't write like this' do more work than a long description ever could.
At a spa chain, before the language used in customer communication was defined in the brand guide, every branch wrote in its own style; some formal, some casual. Two example sentences closed that gap within a few weeks.
Why does typography belong in the guide?
The fonts used in headings and body text, their weights, and roughly how their sizes scale should all be defined in the guide; without that, every new designer picks whatever font they like, and the brand's visual identity drifts over time.
It is also worth confirming the font carries a proper commercial licence; a font a designer downloaded under a personal licence being used on corporate material can breach that licence.
How long should the guide be, and who should write it?
For a small business, a brand guide should rarely run past ten pages; a long document goes unread, a short one stays on the desk as an actual reference. The person writing it should not necessarily be the best designer, it should be the person who works with the brand most.
A guide is not written once and left alone; the moment a new colour is added or the logo is updated, the guide should be updated the same day. An outdated guide is only slightly better than having no guide at all.
What gets lost without a guide?
Without a guide, every new supplier and every new employee ends up reinterpreting the brand their own way. That is not one single mistake, it is an accumulation of small differences that a customer cannot name but can feel.
At a workwear manufacturer, a new catalogue's cover colour turned out to be noticeably different from earlier ones; the designer did not actually know the brand's exact colour, they had guessed. A guide would have made that guess unnecessary.
A brand guide is not a piece of art, it is a working document that saves decisions from being made twice. The clearer and shorter it is, the fewer questions anyone working with the brand has to ask, and the more consistent the result. In a discovery call with rabbitclip we can map out the first steps of turning your existing brand materials into a proper guide.
FAQ
Does a small business need a brand guide?
Yes if more than one person or supplier works with the brand's visuals; with a single person handling everything, it is a lower priority.
Is a brand guide the same as brand identity?
No; brand identity is the logo, colour and typography themselves, a brand guide is the document explaining how to use them.
How long should a guide be?
For a small business, usually no more than ten pages; the goal is not to be comprehensive, it is to be a short reference people actually open.
How often should the guide be updated?
Immediately whenever a new colour, logo or font is added; otherwise reviewing it once a year is enough.
