Brand guidelines template.

Brand guidelines are the rules for how your brand looks and sounds, written down so anyone can follow them. The new hire making slides, the sales team building a one-pager and the studio making your next ad should all end up with work that looks and sounds like you.

A short guide is enough for that, as long as it answers the questions people ask most: which logo, which blue, which font. This template does it in seven fields, with a filled-in example on page three and a checklist on page four. Use it as a brand style guide, or as the first draft of a full brand book.

What is in it

Field	What goes in it	The usual mistake
1. The brand in one line	What you do, for whom, what you stand for	A mission statement nobody can repeat
2. Voice	Traits, their opposites, an example line each	Adjectives with no example
3. Logo	Versions, clear space, minimum size, misuse	One logo file for every use
4. Colors	Name, HEX, RGB, CMYK and where each one goes	Screen colors with no print values
5. Typography	Fonts, weights, sizes and fallbacks	No fallback for slides and email
6. Imagery	Photo and illustration rules, and what to avoid	“High-quality images”
7. Contacts and files	Who owns it and where the files live	Five versions in five folders

How to fill it in

• The brand in one line. Write what you do and for whom, in words a new hire could repeat on day one. Then add what you will never do.
• Voice. Pair each trait with the line it must not cross: direct but not blunt, warm but not chummy. Add one sentence that sounds like you.
• Logo. List each version and when to use it. Set clear space as a share of the logo itself so it scales, and give a minimum size for screen and print.
• Colors. Fill in every column. Screens use HEX and RGB, print uses CMYK, and the “Use” column stops your accent color from turning into a background.
• Typography. Name the font, the weights you use and a fallback. Slides and email often can’t load brand fonts, so say what to use instead.
• Imagery. Describe what your photos show and what they never show. Do the same for illustration and icons.
• Contacts and files. One owner and one link to the current files. Old logos spread when there are three folders.

Writing them is the easy part

Getting people to follow them is harder. In research by Lucidpress (now Marq), the 2019 State of Brand Consistency report, only 25 percent of organizations said they had formal guidelines that were consistently enforced. And 26 percent said theirs were hard to find.

That’s why this template is short and asks for an owner and a single link. A two-page guide people open every week does more than a long one nobody can find.

Next steps

For ideas, look through these brand guidelines examples from real companies, or read our longer guide on how to create brand guidelines. If you need the identity itself designed before you write the rules, that’s part of our brand identity work at Moonb.