One of the best things to come across my desk as a graphic designer working with existing businesses is their style guide. I love them because it makes my job so much easier. I’m not always going to be one working on their logo or their last marketing campaign. I was looking at one the other day when I realized that very few people truly realize what a style guide is and why they’re so important.
A style guide can also be called a brand guide, style manual, or design guidelines. They’re the same thing. I was introduced to them as style guides so that’s what I call them. What is a style guide you wonder? It’s a document that details out how a brand is to be represented visually and in writing. It has information in it like the colors the brand uses and how you refer to the business in writing.
A style guide can be for a business’ general use or it can be for a specific campaign like a summer sale. Depending on the exact information that is in them, they can be several pages long or just one single page. The length of the document and the type of campaign don’t really matter that much as the main purpose of them remains the same.
The purpose of a style guide is to help with the consistency of use for a brand. This keeps everything the same no matter who is creating the work. It’s great if your business has multiple people doing design work for the same business. Consistency is key in the visual parts of branding. It helps to build and maintain a company’s image and reputation fostering trust in their clients and brings in more leads. That’s why they’re so important to have, especially if you use multiple freelancers to help with your brand or you have a franchise situation.
Whether you’re taking over an existing business or you’ve been running yours for a while, a style guide is one of those details that will help make your business a lot more successful.
By the way, If you’re ready to invest in your business’s branding and give it a new look, I can help you! What I do is help small businesses create marketing materials and logos that help them get leads and grow their business either through my done for you design service or my design consulting service. Either way, your designs not only look better, but they will help you stand out to your potential customer better and you’ll be on your way to selling more and stressing less. Curious how I can help you? I’d love to invite you to a FREE 30 minute 1:1 Getting to Know You Strategy Session. Email me today and let’s chat about how design can get your business where you want it to be and see if working together makes sense!