Brand guidelines: a worked example, and what every section has to contain

A brand guideline is only useful when every section contains a rule somebody can follow without asking you a question. That is the test, and most documents fail it: they describe how the brand feels instead of saying what to do. Below is a worked example, filled in, for an illustrative brand invented purely for this page, so you can see the difference between a rule and a sentiment. Northfield Press is not a real company and nothing here is a client example; it exists so that each section has real content in it rather than a placeholder. Read the sample, then use the skeleton at the end.

The test every section has to pass

• Is it a rule or a feeling? "Approachable but authoritative" is a feeling. "Sentences under 20 words. Never use an exclamation mark." is a rule.
• Can somebody check it? A rule that cannot be verified from the finished artwork will be broken quietly and forever.
• Does it say what to do when the rule does not fit? Every real design problem is an edge case, so name the fallback and the person who decides.

Apply those three to each section below and you will see why the filled in version is longer than the usual document, and more useful.

A worked example: Northfield Press

Illustrative only. Northfield Press is a made up independent book publisher, used here to give each section something to say.

1. Brand basics

What we are: an independent publisher of regional history and nature writing. Who we are for: readers who buy two or three books a year and care which publisher made them. One sentence we use everywhere: Northfield Press publishes regional history and nature writing from the north of England. Three words we hold ourselves to: precise, unhurried, local. Three we avoid: premium, curated, bespoke.

2. Logo and lockups

• Primary mark: wordmark only. The monogram is used alone only where the full wordmark would fall below 18mm wide.
• Clear space: the height of the capital N on all four sides. Nothing enters it, including page edges.
• Minimum sizes: 24mm wide in print, 120 pixels wide on screen.
• Permitted versions: black, white, and the ink colour below. Nothing else.
• Never: stretch, rotate, outline, add a shadow, place on a photograph without the solid panel, or rebuild the wordmark by typing it.
• On a photograph: use the white wordmark on a solid ink panel at 80 per cent opacity, never directly on the image.

3. Colour, given as values

Name	Use	Hex	RGB	Print
Ink	Body text, wordmark, rules	#1B2A33	27, 42, 51	Pantone to be matched by printer
Paper	Backgrounds	#F6F2E9	246, 242, 233	Uncoated stock, no tint
Moss	One accent per layout	#4A6B4F	74, 107, 79	Spot or process
Signal	Links, buttons, alerts only	#B6552B	182, 85, 43	Process

Rules that make the palette usable: Ink on Paper is the default pairing for all body text. Moss is used once per layout, not twice. Signal is never used for decoration. No colour is tinted below 100 per cent except Ink at 10 per cent for table rules. These values are illustrative; replace them with your own.

4. Typography

Role	Face and weight	Size and leading	Rule
Display	Serif, regular	40 on 44	Sentence case. Two lines maximum
Heading	Serif, regular	24 on 30	Sentence case. Never all capitals
Body	Serif, regular	17 on 27	Left aligned. Never justified on screen
Caption	Sans, medium	13 on 18	Ink at 70 per cent

Fallbacks are named explicitly: where the licensed faces are unavailable, use Georgia for serif and Arial for sans, and nothing else.

5. Photography and illustration

• Subject: landscape, working buildings, hands, objects on tables. People at work rather than people posing.
• Treatment: natural light, no filters, no vignettes. Overcast is preferred to bright sun.
• Crop: generous space above the horizon. Never crop a horizon line through the centre.
• Never: stock images of meetings, drone shots, or anything with visible brand logos.
• Illustration: single colour line work in Ink, used only for maps and diagrams.

6. Voice and tone

Instead of	Write	Why
We are delighted to announce our latest release	Our new book on the Pennine mills is out on 4 March	Lead with the fact and the date
A curated collection of premium titles	Eleven books, all about the north of England	Numbers instead of adjectives
Unlock the story of the moors	What the moors were used for, and by whom	No marketing verbs

Mechanical rules: sentences under 25 words. One exclamation mark per year. Dates written as 4 March 2026. We write to the reader as you, and about ourselves as we.

7. Layout and applications

• Grid: 12 columns on screen, 24 pixel gutter, 72 pixel maximum page margin.
• Spacing: one scale, in multiples of 8. Nothing sits at 10 or 14.
• Book covers: title in Display, author in Heading, series mark bottom left, no other element.
• Email: single column, 600 pixels, Paper background, one image maximum.
• Social: wordmark bottom right, Moss panel for quotes, never text over a busy photograph.

8. Governance

Owner: the marketing lead. Review: every six months, and whenever a new application appears. Requests for an exception go to the owner in writing and are recorded in a decisions log at the back of the document, with the date and the reason. Version number and date appear on the first page. Files live in one named folder that everybody can reach, and the document links to it rather than embedding assets.

What separates a document people use from one they ignore

• Values, not descriptions. Hex, RGB, point sizes, millimetres, pixel grids. A designer should never need to guess.
• Named fallbacks for fonts, colours and layouts, so the first awkward case does not become an invention.
• Before and after examples of your own writing, which teach voice faster than any adjective.
• A decisions log, so last year's exception is not re-argued every quarter.
• One owner by name, and a review date that has already been put in a calendar.

A skeleton you can paste in

1. Brand basics
   What we are / Who we are for / One sentence / Words we use / Words we avoid
2. Logo and lockups
   Primary mark / Clear space / Minimum sizes / Permitted versions / Never / On photography
3. Colour
   Table: name, use, hex, RGB, print reference
   Pairing rules / Accent rules / Tint rules
4. Typography
   Table: role, face and weight, size and leading, rule
   Named fallbacks
5. Imagery
   Subject / Treatment / Crop / Never / Illustration
6. Voice and tone
   Table: instead of, write, why
   Mechanical rules: sentence length, punctuation, dates, person
7. Layout and applications
   Grid / Spacing scale / One block per real application
8. Governance
   Owner / Review date / Exception process / Decisions log / Version and date / Asset location

This page is the worked example and the test each section has to pass. For the section by section explanation of why each one exists and what belongs in it, see the brand guidelines template and its nine sections.

What gets asked about brand guidelines

How long should brand guidelines be?

Long enough that the eight sections above contain values and rules, short enough that somebody reads it before their first job. Twenty pages of rules beats eighty pages of mood.

Do I need a brand book and a style guide?

One document with the eight sections covers both for most organisations. Split them only when the written style guide grows large enough to need its own owner.

Should the document include logo files?

Link to one named folder rather than embedding assets, and say in the governance section who can add to it. Embedded files go stale the first time a mark is updated.

Who should write the voice section?

Whoever writes most of your published words, using real before and after pairs from your own material. Borrowed examples teach a borrowed voice.

How often should it be reviewed?

Every six months, plus any time a new application appears, such as a new channel or a new product line. Put the date in a calendar when you publish version one.

A section for what other writers copy

Brand guidelines cover voice, colour and logo use. They rarely cover the description that other writers, and now assistants, repeat. Add a short section: the approved one sentence description, the category name and three facts that must be stated the same way everywhere.

Then test whether it travelled. AI Knows Us asks the assistants about your brand and records what they say and which pages they used, so you can see where your own wording shows up.