subject: Creating A Style Guide [print this page] How many times have you commissioned business cards to print and collected yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been fired up to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then spotted that the crucial tag line is not present or your logo has been wrecked.
There is only one way to avoid this from happening and that is to set up a style guide. Not only will a style guide help you steer the reproduction of your logo - it will also help you strengthen your brand recognition, which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.
We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.
Step 1 : Outline the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to use in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?
Step 2 : Outline what your output uses are. This is important because you will want different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.
Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may wantcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.
Content rules cover all punctuation rules and how to specify to the business and team.
Step 4 : Assure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding sits on all the different pieces of collateral that may be reprinted.
Step 5 : Make sure to accommodate any contributing logos or logos of business that are correlated with you. It's also important that you mail a copy of the layout to these companies to ensure they agree with the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.
Step 6 : Make sure that grammar, spelling and contact details are correct.
Step 7 : Assure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they discern that a proof needs to be dispatchedto you to be affirmed as correct.
Make your Style Guide finished and as established as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly suggest a training session, whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to utilize the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.
