Using Style Guides

A style guide is a reference manual created to control the use of a logo or brand mark in any communciation including advertising, collateral, look and feel of a website, brand goals, and philosophy. The purpose of the style guide is to create uniformity in style and formatting wherever the brand is used to ensure instant recognition and prevent dilution. It also serves as a guide for designers and provides all the basic design tools to create new media within the brand's established boundries.

Basic elements of a style guide are:

  • Design rationale
  • Palette
  • Font usage
  • Specifications for design elements
    • Minimum size
    • Clear space
    • Color variations
  • Image/photo selection guides
  • Collateral examples
  • Examples of proper and improper use

Often a style guide will also include information on:

  • Brand/organization summary

  • Brand voice
  • Emotive quality
  • Marketing guidelines

 

Style guides can be a brief 2 - 3 page document or might contain hundreds of pages. Since perusing an extensive style may seem like a daunting task, we've provided some hints to get you through the most important elements and on to way to the creation of a successful new design:

  • Read the guide with your project in mind
    • For example if you are not writing copy, skip the section on brand voice
    • Locate the section in the guide related to your project
  • Carefully review and follow design specifications such as
    • Clear space
    • Proportion
    • Color Palette
    • Fonts
  • Reviewing samples is a great shortcut to understanding
    • Check for proper and improper use samples to see what styles and treatments fall within the guidelines and which will not work
  • If any part of the guide is unclear contact the authoring organization so you can publish in confidence