How to Create a Style Guide

How many times have you mailed business cards to print and obtained yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been enthusiastic to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then noticed that the crucial tag line is missing or your logo has been ruined.

There is only one way to prevent this from happening and that is to set up a style guide. Not only will a style guide aid you control the reproduction of your logo - it will also help you reinforce your brand recognition – which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.

We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.

Step 1 : Outline the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to work in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?

Step 2 : Mark what your output uses are. This is important because you will need different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.

Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may needcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

Content rules cover all punctuation rules and how to specify to the business and team.

Step 4 : Insure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding lies on all the different pieces of collateral that may be reproduced.

Step 5 : Make certain to take into account any contributing logos or logos of business that are associated with you. It’s also important that you send a copy of the layout to these companies to ensure they accept the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.

Step 6 : Insure that grammar, spelling and contact details are correct.

Step 7 : Ensure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they know that a proof needs to be sentto you to be approved as correct.

Get your Style Guide finished and as tight as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly advocate a training session – whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to use the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

For graphic design Brisbane, logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today. We help your brand build business.