Brand Styleguide: What it is, Why You Need One and the Top 3 Most Important Inclusions
What is a Brand Styleguide?
A brand styleguide is particularly aimed at setting the rules for how your brand looks. It includes the design elements that make up who your brand is and how it is visually showcased to the world.
Why Do I Need One?
A styleguide is an incredibly valuable asset for your business, as it ensures there is consistency across your whole brand. Remember, consistency breeds trust and quality.
It’s important that you set down rules about how your brand imagery is used so that everyone across your business is across it. Poorly designed communications look cheap, even when it comes to internal communications. Your brand mark should be sacred and never compromised. That’s where a styleguide comes in.
Top 3 Most Important Inclusions
1. Logo
This is the most obvious. Your logo is your identifying mark. It’s how people will know it’s you. It might be a graphic, text, or a combination. Here’s one we created for the MTA Mortgage Brokers brand styleguide.
2. Logo Application
A demonstration of how the logo appears. This includes clear space, which is the area around the logo that should remain undisturbed by any other text or imagery. It also includes the minimum size for the logo, as being shrunk down too much will affect legibility and impact. 
This can also include how NOT to apply the logo, like how Twitter has gone above and beyond to demonstrate what misuse of their logo looks like.
3. Colour Palette
These are the colours used in your logo, and often the primary colours to be used across all communication channels. It should include the details of the colours when used across multiple programs and file formats.
