Brand Image
Style guides ensure that any time someone sees your business’s branding, it’s consistent every time. They spell out the rules of how branding should be portrayed. Style guides typically include how to display the logo in terms of size and spatial distance between it and anything else. Accordingy, how not to use the logo is communicated as well. Photography can take on its own aesthetic and it’s important to include that as well. Colors used are specified also, listing attributes such as its HEX number. Typefaces of headings and body text are listed, including size and proportion to one another.
Brand Voice
A brand’s “voice” is the tone of its messaging. Identifying the target market helps create custom messaging that appeals to them as people and consumers. Lots of companies create personas of their target customer and conduct research about that demographic, like how old they are, marital status, hobbies, etc. Using that knowledge to establish tone will create a following of people who resonate with the brand. Keeping the mission statement in mind will also drive results from messaging. The who, what, where, and why of your business can drive the business forward as it communicates to customers.
Guide the Wave
Style guides exist to keep a brand’s visual identity in sync between its many components. No matter if viewed from a business card, a brochure, or from Facebook, the brand’s visual identity should be cohesive. Establishing the visual identity will make it much easier to carry out if a style guide is in place. Logo sizes will be uniform, typefaces will carry over, colors will have been established; it makes creating branding materials that much easier when there’s a strategy involved. They keep the team aligned with the goal and vision. When everyone is on the same page, results are always better than when there is disconnect.
Putting it Together
Having a style guide is critical for maintaining a cohesive brand image. Imagine if you got two different looking business cards from the same place. Or vehicle graphics that are dissimilar. A fractured brand image creates confusion. Keeping all sorts of elements in line between various channels is hard, but a style guide keeps everything streamlined. All the guesswork is taken away when visual qualities like logo orientation, colors and typefaces used, and style of imagery are established. Once a style guide is made, it only has to be followed to keep the visual identity cohesive and impactful. A well-manicured brand identity elevates position in customer’s minds.
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