A brand style guide is not a design document. It is a decision-recording document — its job is to stop you re-deciding the same things every time you make something, and to let someone else make things that look like you made them.
Most small businesses skip it, then spend three years producing subtly inconsistent material because every social post, invoice and slide deck was designed from scratch by whoever was free.
The templates below are deliberately short. A 60-page brand bible from an agency is not what you need; a two-page document everyone actually opens is.
The One-Page Version
If you do nothing else, fill this in. It covers roughly 80% of the decisions people actually have to make.
[BUSINESS NAME] — Brand Basics
Last updated: [DATE] · Owner: [NAME]Logo
Primary file: [LINK]. Use this unless there is a reason not to.
Reversed / white version: [LINK]. Use on dark or busy backgrounds.
Clear space: leave at least [X] around the logo — a good default is the height of the logo’s own letterform.
Minimum size: [X] px on screen, [X] mm in print.
Never: stretch it, recolour it, add effects, or place it on a background with poor contrast.Colours
Primary: [NAME] — HEX [#000000] · RGB [0,0,0] · CMYK [0,0,0,100]
Secondary: [NAME] — HEX / RGB / CMYK
Accent (use sparingly, for calls to action): [NAME] — HEX / RGB / CMYK
Text: [#] on light backgrounds, [#] on dark
Neutrals: [#], [#]Type
Headings: [FONT], [WEIGHT]
Body: [FONT], [WEIGHT], [SIZE]/[LINE HEIGHT]
Fallback when the brand font is unavailable (email, some documents): [SYSTEM FONT]Voice
We sound: [THREE ADJECTIVES]
We do not sound: [THREE ADJECTIVES]
We say: [PREFERRED TERMS]
We never say: [BANNED TERMS]Where the files live
[LINK TO SHARED FOLDER]
The “we do not sound” line does more work than the “we sound” line. “Professional” means nothing on its own; “professional, never stiff” is a usable instruction.
Template 2: Colour, Properly
Two things small businesses get wrong with colour, and both are avoidable.
Colour usage
Ratio. Roughly [60]% neutral, [30]% primary, [10]% accent. The accent colour is for one thing per screen — usually the button you want clicked.
Accessible pairings. These combinations have been checked for contrast:
- [TEXT COLOUR] on [BACKGROUND] — ratio [X.X] — passes AA for body text
- [TEXT COLOUR] on [BACKGROUND] — ratio [X.X] — large text only
- Never pair: [COLOUR] with [COLOUR]
Print. CMYK values above are for print. Do not convert HEX to CMYK automatically and expect a match — get a proof from your printer once and record the corrected values here.
On contrast: the WCAG guidelines set 4.5:1 as the minimum for normal body text and 3:1 for large text. This is an accessibility requirement in many jurisdictions for public-facing sites, and separately it is the reason your light-grey-on-white footer is unreadable on a phone outdoors. Check your pairings once with any free contrast checker and record the results.
Template 3: Voice and Tone
Abstract adjectives produce inconsistent writing. Examples produce consistent writing.
How we write
Our voice in one sentence: [E.G. “Plain-spoken and specific — we explain rather than sell.”]
Instead of this → write this
- “We are excited to announce” → “[YOUR VERSION]”
- “Leverage our solutions” → “[YOUR VERSION]”
- “Reach out” → “[YOUR VERSION]”
- “[COMMON PHRASE YOU DISLIKE]” → “[YOUR VERSION]”
Tone shifts by context
- Marketing: [DESCRIBE]
- Support replies: [DESCRIBE — usually warmer, plainer]
- Error messages and bad news: [DESCRIBE — direct, no jargon, say what happens next]
- Legal and policy pages: [DESCRIBE]
Conventions
Oxford comma: [yes / no]
Dates: [FORMAT]
Numbers: [spell out under ten / always numerals]
Our company name is written: [EXACT CASING]
Product names: [EXACT CASING]
The “instead of this → write this” table is the single most useful section for anyone writing on your behalf, including freelancers and AI tools.
Template 4: Imagery
Photography and graphics
We use: [E.G. real photos of actual work, natural light, people in context]
We avoid: [E.G. generic stock handshakes, staged office scenes, isolated objects on white]Treatment: [Any consistent filter, crop ratio, or border]
Standard crops: Social [RATIO], website hero [RATIO], thumbnails [RATIO]Alt text: Every image gets alt text describing what it shows. Decorative images get empty alt text.
Licensing: Record where each image came from and what licence it carries in [LOCATION]. Never use an image you cannot evidence the right to use.
That last point is not pedantry. Stock image licensing claims are a genuine and recurring cost for small businesses that used something found in a search.
Template 5: File Naming and Storage
The least glamorous section and the one that saves the most time.
Naming convention
[yyyy-mm]-[project]-[asset]-[version].[ext]
Example: 2026-08-spring-campaign-hero-v2.jpgLowercase. Hyphens, not spaces or underscores. No client names in public-facing filenames.
Folder structure
- /brand/logos/ — all logo variants, in all formats
- /brand/fonts/ — licence documents alongside the files
- /brand/templates/ — social, slides, documents
- /projects/[year]/[project]/ — working files
- /exports/ — finished assets ready to use
Master files live in: [LINK]. Nobody keeps the only copy on their laptop.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Making it too long. A two-page guide that gets used beats a forty-page one that does not. Start with the one-page version.
- Listing adjectives without examples. “Friendly but professional” produces four different interpretations from four writers.
- Never checking colour contrast. Your brand palette may be unreadable in the combinations you actually use.
- Not recording font licences. Many fonts are licensed per use — desktop, web and app licences differ. Store the licence with the file.
- Skipping the reversed logo. You will need it within a week, and someone will improvise badly.
- Leaving it unowned. Name one person responsible for it, or it goes stale in six months.
- Not dating it. Without a date, nobody knows whether they are looking at the current version.
- Keeping it private. Freelancers, printers and agencies need it. A guide nobody can find does nothing.
FAQs
How long should a brand style guide be?
For a small business, one to four pages. The goal is that people read it before making something. Long guides get skimmed once and ignored.
Do I need a designer to create one?
No. If you already have a logo and colours, you are recording decisions, not making new ones. A designer helps if you are defining a brand from scratch.
What is the difference between a style guide and brand guidelines?
Used interchangeably by most people. Formally, brand guidelines cover strategy and positioning as well as visuals; a style guide covers the practical rules. For a small business, one document covering the practical rules is enough.
How often should I update it?
Review annually, and whenever you change a logo, colour, font or product name. Put the review date in the document and in someone’s calendar.
Should I include the logo files in the guide?
Link to them rather than embedding. Embedded images get extracted at the wrong resolution. One shared folder, linked from the guide, keeps everyone on the current files.
Does a style guide help with AI-generated content?
Considerably. The “instead of this → write this” table and your voice description are exactly the context an AI assistant needs to produce copy that sounds like you. Paste that section into the prompt.
Key Takeaways
- Start with the one-page template; it covers most real decisions.
- “We do not sound like” is more useful than “we sound like.”
- Check colour contrast against WCAG once and record the safe pairings.
- Store font licences alongside font files — licensing is per use type.
- Name an owner and a review date, or it goes stale within months.
Using These
Fill in the one-page template this week, put it in your shared drive, and send the link to everyone who makes anything. Add the other sections only when you hit a decision the one-pager does not answer.
For the tools side, our Canva vs Figma comparison covers which design tool suits a small team, and our job description templates apply the same “record the decision once” approach to hiring.