You have a logo you love. Then a printer stretches it to fit a banner, a new employee uses the wrong blue in a presentation and your Instagram designer picks a completely different font. Within a year, your brand looks like five different companies.
Brand guidelines stop that from happening. They are the rulebook for how your brand looks, sounds and behaves, so anyone who works on it gets it right.
What are brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines, sometimes called a brand book or style guide, are a document that explains how to use your brand identity. They can be a short PDF of ten pages or a detailed manual for a large organisation. What matters is that they are clear and practical.
What should brand guidelines include?
Logo rules
- The main logo and its variations (horizontal, stacked, icon only)
- Arabic and English versions and how they sit together
- Clear space around the logo and minimum sizes
- Which versions to use on light and dark backgrounds
- Examples of what not to do: stretching, recolouring, adding effects
Colours
Exact colour codes for every use: CMYK and Pantone for print, RGB and HEX for screens. Include primary colours, supporting colours and how much of each to use.
Typography
The fonts for headings and body text in English and Arabic, with sizes and examples. If a font needs a licence, the guidelines should say so.
Imagery
The style of photography or illustration that suits your brand, with examples of what works and what does not.
Tone of voice
How your brand writes: formal or friendly, short or detailed, with example phrases. This is often forgotten, but it keeps your website, social media and emails consistent.
Applications
Real examples of the brand in use: business cards, letterheads, social media posts, signage, vehicles and uniforms. These examples are often the most useful pages for suppliers.
Why do you need brand guidelines?
Consistency builds recognition
People recognise brands that look the same every time. Guidelines make that consistency possible, even when different people create your materials.
They save time and money
When your printer, web developer and social media designer all have the same guidelines, there are fewer mistakes, fewer revisions and fewer reprints.
They make growth easier
New employees, new branches and new agencies can start working with your brand immediately. This matters a lot for businesses expanding across the UAE.
They protect your investment
You paid for a professional identity. Guidelines make sure it is used properly for years instead of slowly drifting away from the original design.
Do small businesses need brand guidelines?
Yes, but they can be short. A small business might only need a few pages covering the logo, colours, fonts and a couple of examples. It takes little time to create and saves a lot of confusion later.
How we create brand guidelines
Every brand identity we design comes with guidelines matched to the size of the business, from a compact guide for start-ups to detailed manuals for larger companies. We can also create guidelines for an existing logo, which is often the first step in a brand refresh.
Need guidelines for your brand? Tell us what you have and we will suggest the right level of detail.
