When I first began as a Freelance graphic designer I had no idea what a style guide was, how to create one or why it was even necessary.
My brand and content were ALL OVER the place. It was extremely confusing me and caused my branding to be very inconsistent amongst all of my platforms, INCLUDING MY WEBSITE! (which was a NO-GO). A few months later I came to the conclusion that I needed to create, not only a cohesive brand identity that was easily recognizable but something to make that entire process easier for me.
I started working on a style guide that would change the look and feel of my brand overall, as well as making my content creation workflow even simpler.
What is a brand style guide?
A brand guide will break down the most important components of your branding in order to make it consistent and memorable for you and your audience. It contains all of the key component and features of your brand in order to make it easily referable.
Components of a style guide?
Color Palette
Fonts
Logo
Branding Elements
Brand Colors?
Your brand colors are the colors you use to emulate your “BRAND”. When you chose your colors you want to choose between 3-4 colors, not too many, but not too little. The colors will also assist with brand consistency. When you decide on these colors you also want to focus on the hex codes as well, it is important to have the hex codes saved somewhere on your computer. The hex code (the number that starts with a #) is the corresponding number for your selected colors. Websites need HEX codes to correctly display your color.
Some resources for color picking:
Fonts
Choosing fonts can be a bit tricky because there are so many amazing font combinations to choose from. When choosing fonts, you want to make sure you are choosing fonts that match your brand’s qualities. You will need a font for headings (post titles, logo, etc), subheadings, and body text. A nice display font wouldn't hurt either.
Some resources for color picking:
Logo
When you finally have your colors and fonts picked out it’s time to get a logo design now. If it’s easier for you to start out you can create a type-based logo that you can always add to later. Canva is a great tool to play around with if you are just starting out.
It is very crucial to save different versions of your logo for easy access, etc. – your logo with tagline, a black and white logo, transparent logo or png, etc.
Now you’re all set to create your own brand style guide!
