Brand guidelines are the written rules that keep a brand consistent when other people touch it. They cover how the logo is used and the clear space around it, the colors and type, the kind of images that fit, the voice the business speaks in, and examples of right and wrong use.
Why a small business needs them
You are not the only person who handles your brand. A sign maker, a printer, whoever builds your website, the person who posts on your social accounts and every new employee all make small decisions about how your business looks. Without written rules, each of them guesses. Each guess is a little different, and after a year your truck, your cards and your website no longer look like the same company.
Guidelines settle those questions once. The answer to “which blue?” is a color value written down, not whatever looked right on someone’s screen.
Signs your brand needs guidelines
- Your logo appears stretched, recolored or on a busy background somewhere you did not approve.
- Your website, business cards and sign use different shades of what was meant to be one color.
- Every vendor asks you for “the logo file”, and you are not sure which version to send.
- Two people in your business would describe its tone differently.
- Nobody can tell you the exact values of your brand colors.
If two or more of these sound familiar, the brand is drifting, and every new piece of print or web work makes it a little worse.
How 76 Design Solutions solves it
Brand guidelines are part of the brand identity work at 76 Design Solutions: the logo and its variants, a color palette with values, typography, usage rules and tone of voice, written into one guideline document your vendors can follow. See 76designsolutions.com/branding-marketing.
If your website is the first place you want the brand to look right, start with the Website Plan and Homepage Mockup from 76 Design Solutions: a page plan and a homepage mockup for desktop and phone, built on your logo and colors, delivered within 5 business days for $49.99. The full $49.99 is credited toward a Small Business Website build, and the credit does not expire.