Why You Need a Branding Style Guide

by Krista Scarlett | Jul 13, 2015

7 Seconds. That’s All You Get

Seven seconds is the average length of time you have to make an impression.

Every encounter with your brand, from signage to websites, brochures to conferences and so on, gives your organization the opportunity to make a positive impression on potential clients and customers.

If your communication pieces look even slightly disjointed, it could send the wrong message about how your organization operates.

What kind of message are you currently sending?

The Importance of Brand Standards

Every company has its own unique brand. A brand is not merely a logo, a few colors, and some fonts. Your brand is what people think of you based on how you present yourself. It’s what sets you apart in a competitive world.

Brand standards are a set of guidelines used to protect the presence and consistency of your company’s image and identity. These standards create a unified and identifiable presence for your brand.

A branding and graphic standards guide usually includes the following:

Logo Guide – Directory for size, colorization, and proper placement.
Color Scheme – Specific primary and secondary colors and combinations.
Font Guide – What typestyles to use, and when they’re appropriate.
Company Template Design – Positioning of logo, address information on business cards, letterhead, and other materials.
Logo Misuse – Unacceptable alterations of the official mark.
Web Guidelines

Additional features may include content directions, company tone and style as well as social media policies, tools and usages.

Brand guidelines play an important role in managing outside perceptions of your organization. Every time you communicate with customers, suppliers, investors, journalists and the community, it is essential to reinforce a consistent perception of your company.

By establishing your standards early on and staying consistent, your organization will be more professional, credible, polished, organized and trustworthy.

Just as it should be.