Brand guidelines: what to include and how to make them

Brand guidelines are the document that says how your brand looks, sounds and is used: logo, colors, fonts, tone of voice and examples. They keep everything you post, print or send looking like one brand, even when different people make it. A small brand doesn't need 80 pages: 10 well-made sections are plenty.

Without guidelines, every post uses a different color, the printer gets a blurry logo and every new designer starts from scratch. Here is what to include, in what order, and how to build it without paying for a custom brand book.

What are brand guidelines for?

• Recognition. Seeing the same colors, fonts and style again and again is what makes people remember you.
• Delegation. Hand them to your printer, social media manager or designer and the result comes out the way you want.
• Faster decisions. You stop wondering which font to use on each post: it's decided.

If your brand itself isn't clear yet, start there before designing. We explain why in why the logo doesn't come first.

What should brand guidelines include?

1. Story and purpose. Why your brand exists, in one paragraph.
2. Mission, vision and values. Short and specific; if you can't remember them, they are too long.
3. Ideal client. Who you talk to: what they need, what worries them, where they find you.
4. Voice and tone. Formal or friendly, playful or serious, with do and don't examples. Nielsen Norman Group describes four dimensions of tone of voice that help you define it.
5. Logo and variations. Primary, horizontal, stacked, icon and monogram, with clear space and minimum size.
6. Logo misuse. Stretched, with shadows, on backgrounds where it can't be read.
7. Color palette. HEX, RGB and CMYK codes, and how much of each color to use.
8. Typography. One font for headings and one for body text, with sizes and weights.
9. Photo and icon style. Light, framing, color and what you never use.
10. Applications. Real examples: posts, stories, business card, email signature, invoice, packaging.

Build yours with the Aurora Kit 67 Canva templates: a 27-page brand book, 6 logo variations, palettes, posts, stories, business card and email signature. Works with free Canva. Sample text is in Spanish and fully editable. See the Aurora Kit ($29)

How do you choose a brand color palette?

Pick one main color, one or two supporting colors and two neutrals (a light and a dark). Check that text stays readable: the WCAG accessibility guidelines ask for a minimum contrast of 4.5 to 1 between text and background.

A practical rule: 60% neutral, 30% supporting color and 10% main color for what you want to stand out, like buttons or prices.

How to create brand guidelines step by step

1. Write before you design. Purpose, ideal client and tone, on one page.
2. Gather what you have. Logo, colors you already use, photos you like.
3. Decide and cut. Three colors and two fonts are enough.
4. Build the pages from a template. Much faster than a blank page.
5. Apply the brand to 5 real pieces. If something fails on a post or a card, adjust the guidelines.
6. Share it as a PDF. With your team, your printer and anyone who designs for you.

Common mistakes

• Too many colors. Eight colors isn't an identity, it's a rainbow.
• Logo only. A logo without usage rules isn't a guideline.
• Forgetting tone. People recognize your brand by how it writes, too.
• Making it and not using it. If your posts ignore the guidelines, the guidelines don't exist.

Frequently asked questions

Wrapping up

Brand guidelines aren't a big-company luxury: they are the cheapest way to look professional everywhere. Ten sections, three colors, two fonts and real examples.

Start today: the Aurora Brand Identity Kit includes a 27-page brand book and 40 more pieces ready to edit in Canva. Want us to design your brand from scratch? See our branding service or the other kits in the shop.