How to write brand guidelines that people actually follow
A practical structure for a brand guidelines document — what to include, what to cut, and how to keep it short enough that contractors and freelancers will actually read it.
Most brand guidelines documents are 80-page PDFs that nobody opens. The freelancer designing your next ad opens your logo folder, picks a file at random, and ships something off-brand because reading the guidelines costs more than the project pays.
A guidelines document that actually gets used is short (10–20 pages), scannable, and answers the five questions a designer asks in the first 90 seconds: which logo, which colors, which fonts, which photography style, and what's forbidden. Everything else is reference material that lives in an appendix.
This tutorial walks through a battle-tested structure you can copy directly, with examples of the wording that prevents misuse without becoming a corporate compliance manual.
- Finalized logo system (primary, mark, mono versions)
- Defined color palette with hex/RGB/CMYK values
- Chosen typeface(s) with licensing sorted
- A doc tool: Figma, Notion, Google Docs, or InDesign
The 10-section structure
Section 1 — Brand at a glance: one page covering mission, three brand adjectives, and a single hero image. This is the only page a busy stakeholder will read. Make it count.
Section 2 — Logo: all approved variants, clear-space rule (usually based on the height of a letter in the wordmark), minimum sizes (digital and print), and a 'do not' grid showing common misuses.
Section 3 — Color: primary palette with hex/RGB/CMYK/Pantone, secondary palette, usage ratios (e.g., 70% white space, 20% primary, 10% accent), and accessibility notes (which combinations pass WCAG AA).
Section 4 — Typography: primary typeface (with weights), secondary typeface, type scale (H1–H6 + body + small), fallback fonts for email and system contexts, and a one-paragraph 'voice in type' example.
Section 5 — Photography & imagery: 6–10 reference images, a written description of the photo style (lighting, composition, subject treatment), and what to avoid (stock-photo handshakes, overused filters, generic flat illustration).
Section 6 — Iconography: icon style (line vs filled, weight, corner radius), icon grid, and a link to the source icon library so nobody invents one-off icons.
Section 7 — Voice & tone: 5 voice attributes, a 'we say / we don't say' table, and 3 example paragraphs (homepage hero, error message, customer email).
Section 8 — Layout & grid: column structure, spacing scale (4px or 8px base), and how the logo sits in a header.
Section 9 — Motion (optional but increasingly necessary): preferred easing curves, duration ranges, and 2–3 reference clips.
Section 10 — Downloads & contact: a single link to a shared folder with all assets, and a name + email for brand approval requests.
What to leave out
Leave out: the founding story, the logo design rationale, mood boards that didn't make it, and any 'brand essence' diagrams with overlapping circles. These are nice-to-have, but they push the practical sections deeper into the document where designers won't find them.
If you must include strategy work (positioning, personas, archetypes), put it in an appendix or a separate strategy doc. Guidelines are operational; strategy is foundational; mixing them dilutes both.
Where to host it
PDF is fine for v1 — easy to share, easy to version. Notion or a simple subdomain (brand.yoursite.com) is better long-term because you can update it without re-distributing files. Figma is great if your designers live in Figma.
Whatever you pick, version the document (v1.0, v1.1, v2.0) and date every page. A contractor working from a 2-year-old PDF is a leading cause of off-brand work.
Step by step
- 01
Audit your existing brand assets
Pull every logo file, color value, font, and template into one folder. You'll find conflicts (three slightly different blues, two competing typefaces from different eras). Resolve them before writing the document.
- 02
Choose a single source of truth for each element
One primary logo file. One hex value for primary blue. One typeface for headings. If your guidelines hedge ('use either #1e40af or #1d4ed8'), people will pick wrong half the time.
- 03
Draft each section as 1–2 pages, not 5–10
Constraint forces clarity. If you can't explain your color usage in one page, you don't have a system, you have a collection.
- 04
Build a 'do / don't' grid for the logo and color
Six examples per side. This is the single most-used page in a guidelines document because it answers questions visually instead of in prose.
- 05
Include accessibility notes inline, not in a separate section
Next to each color combination, show its contrast ratio. Next to each font size, note its minimum accessible weight. Accessibility tucked into an appendix gets ignored.
- 06
Host the file and the asset folder in one place
A single link in your team handbook, vendor onboarding email, and contractor brief. If people can't find it in 30 seconds, they'll ship something off-brand and you'll never know.
Tip — Use a vanity URL like brand.yourcompany.com that you can update without re-sending links. - 07
Schedule a quarterly review
Put a 30-minute calendar event every 3 months. Walk through what shipped, where the guidelines failed, and what needs an update. Documents that aren't maintained become a liability.
Key takeaways
- Short and scannable beats comprehensive — aim for 10–20 pages.
- Lead with the five things every designer needs in the first 90 seconds.
- Single source of truth per element — no hedging, no alternatives.
- Host it where people already work; version and date everything.
Frequently asked questions
+Notion, Figma, or PDF for guidelines?
Notion for ongoing internal use (editable, searchable). Figma if your team lives in Figma and you want interactive component examples. PDF for external distribution to vendors who need a fixed snapshot.
+How often should we update brand guidelines?
Minor updates quarterly. Major rewrites every 2–3 years or when you launch a significant new product line, rebrand, or reposition. Avoid silent updates — bump the version number every time.
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