Brand guidelines your team will actually use
Why most brand guidelines go unread, and how to make one people use: what to include, worked examples, a web page instead of a PDF, and a short training session.
Most brand guidelines are a beautiful PDF that gets opened once, at the launch meeting. Six months later the logo is stretched, there are four shades of the "brand blue", and the social posts sound like five different companies. The guide wasn't wrong; it just wasn't usable.
Why brand guides go unread
- Too long. Seventy pages of philosophy before the colour codes.
- Rules without examples. "Our voice is confident but warm" doesn't help anyone write an email.
- Hard to copy from. Hex codes in an image, fonts with no download link.
- No owner. Nobody is responsible for keeping it current, so people stop trusting it.
What to include
- Voice: three or four traits, each with a "write this, not that" example.
- Logo: the versions, clear space, minimum size and a short list of things never to do.
- Colour: roles, full shade scales with codes, and the text and background pairs that pass contrast. See how to build that palette.
- Type: the fonts, where to get them, and a size scale for headings and body. See choosing fonts.
- Components: buttons, cards and forms as they appear on the website, so marketing and product stay consistent.
- Imagery: what good photography or illustration looks like for you, with examples.
Show, don't tell
Every rule should come with an example: a correct use next to an incorrect one, a before-and-after rewrite of a sentence, a real social post. People copy examples far more readily than they follow principles.
Make it a web page, not a PDF
A web page can be searched, linked to and updated without re-sending files. Colour codes can be copied with a click and fonts downloaded directly. Add a one-page summary at the top for the eighty per cent of people who only need the basics.
The DevTrust brand guide is built this way. It's the same format clients get.
Roll it out properly
Run a short training session when the guide launches. Walk through the common tasks (writing a post, making a slide, briefing a designer) and show where the answers are. Name an owner who approves changes and reviews the guide every six to twelve months. A guide with an owner stays true; a guide without one drifts.
Start with the colours
If you're starting from scratch, colour is the quickest win. The free brand colour kit builds your palette with every shade, checks contrast, picks fonts and writes the first page of your guide for you. When you're ready for the whole system, brand guidelines are one of the services DevTrust offers, including the training session.