Five Essentials for Brand Style Guides - NEW Resource Promo!

This one time (at band camp?), a logo I designed was butchered. But that experience led to an epiphany: I didn't set my client up for success. I didn't give him the information he needed to make visual decisions for his brand in the future. I just sent him the logo files in a zip folder and said, "Thanks!" And that was it.

What I learned is that whenever we hand work over to our clients, we need to give them an instruction manual. This is especially important for branding projects. But the same thing applies to anything we make for other people.

So think back onto your last projects. Did you set your clients up for success? If you work in-house, is your team all speaking the same visual language? If you own a brand, are you being clear with your vendors?

It's something worth thinking about, especially if you've ever been in a situation like mine. Seeing your work out in the wild is a nightmare if the work is twisted and ruined.

Information is everywhere now, and sometimes we just need to know what to look for. There's one thing that can solve a ton of these awkward situations... and in branding, it's called a Style Guide. Style Guides serve as the instruction manual for the brand. It outlines the rules that designers have to follow when they're working with the brand. And while the concept sounds restrictive, sometimes it's nice to have clear boundaries. To have a neat sandbox to play in.

Some other terms that mean the same thing are Style Guidelines, Brand Guidelines, Brand Bible, Brand Manual, or simply Style Manual.

At a minimum, I would expect a Brand Style Guide to include:

1. An outline of all the logo and visual assets available
2. Guidance on when to use each version
3. Color and typography usage
4. Spacing and layout guidelines
5. Strong "DO NOTs" - things like squishing, stretching, and butchering the logo

This stuff feels self-explanatory... but what if your "self" wasn't a designer? If I gave you a box of amazing ingredients like white truffles, wagyu steaks, and fresh uni... would you know what to do with them? Without a recipe, most of us would make Gordon Ramsay cry.

So set your work for success. Send off your designs with a style guide that follows that basic format. Clients will be clients, yes. Things will happen. But you'll be able to prevent 90% of the mishaps we encounter in branding execution.

But style guides can go a lot deeper than that. For those of you who work in branding, you know this. They can be quite extensive. When I used to work with DreamWorks, we'd get style guides delivered to us in VOLUMES - literally several huge printed books for one movie.

Now, that's probably overkill. But it's going to benefit you and the brands that you work on in the long run to have a detailed Style Guide.

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—
Host: Ben Burns
Content Director: Matthew Encina
Producer: Mark Contreras
Cinematographers/Editors: Stewart Schuster, Ricky Lucas, Jona Garcia
Social Team: Elle Money, Alex Burlui
Typefaces: Futura, DIN, Helvetica Now, Calibre, Knockout, Champion Gothic

[springmontes]

"No one taught him to see." That is super powerful not just for a designer but for any creative.

[azfaru]

We need another "Building a Brand" series. That shit was sooo dope. If not educational it was legit entertaining.

[.Koreans.American]

"Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." - Muhammad Ali

[jeshaiahbretz]

Hey Ben, just wanted to say thanks to you and The Futur team for providing such incredible content so consistently. I love how real and genuine you guys are with your audience. The material you teach from your own personal experiences are priceless, but having said that, I'll gladly pay for it. Definitely purchasing this one, cheers!

[GrowWithWill]

I love the breakdown of logo spacing and layout guidelines; my company has a style guide our designer made and I can tell you as a non-designer that it makes the world of a difference in making it easier to create assets without his direct help, while remaining on brand.

[blenderingD]

This is when I thank the YouTube algorithm for this awesome recommendation. I just started working on a style guide for a client and didn't know where to start, now I know

[ZacchaeusNifong]

Honestly Ben, I know this seems kinda weird, but there's something so familiar and likable about you. I grinned the whole time I watched this video. Thanks my brother - you're a good man. (Funny story too haha)

[enaz]

Ben, your style guide kit was hands down the best design asset purchase I’ve made. Literally saved me around a months worth of work recently. Thank you and looking forward to trying your other products too 🙌👌🍻

[octaviomarques]

So true! Clients are clients no matter what they think they know

[justeelvain]

I hate it when a client stretches, add or remove anything from a design u 'v delivered to them, " A client will be a client"! Thanks Ben

[karstengoke]

So much value! Thank you for teaching us.

[ItsJustMeStevie]

I'm new to this industry. Having worked in healthcare for 10 years where everything was black and white, I must say this video helped me out a lot. I have to create a style guide for the agency I work for and must say I was hella nervous. I'll keep watching videos and learning from the best! Thanks for this video!!!!

[flowersafeheart]

This video's brewery footage is from a YouTube documentary/reality show The Futur made called Building a Brand, showing start-to-finish the agency rebranding a brewery. It was SO good! Hope there's a season 2! Loving your content, The Futur, and looking forward to taking some of your classes. 😊

[sushimamba]

Sometimes even when you DO set a client up for success with a comprehensive (and expensive) style guide they STILL go and butcher a beautiful logo and ID system. This actually happened to me about a month ago where the client decided to ignore the style guide and design their own building signage (I drive past it 3 times a week and I can't bear to look at it). I like the idea of your style guide kit offering. I'll look into it. Thanks.

[thomascouery]

I've been watching so many videos and obviously been learning so much from you guys. I know compliments can mean a lot and therefore we should not hold back saying them. So ben, congrats for being this lovable person that inspires us, you are truly my inspiration. I think we can all see how selfless you are by putting yourself out there and take all the feedback you can to grow as a person and as businessman. Props for the story telling, it is a great advice you've been telling you and Chris and I'm sure as hell using it everytime I can to convey my ideas. So big thanks to you and keep rocking mate !

[eckz]

Funny. Something similar happened to me with a trucking company... But in a good way.

I had the foresight to design an actual truck and trailer and put the logo, images and other information on there in a way that, when he was ready, he could show it to the printer and/or trailer manufacturer how it should look. It's super satisfying seeing nice trucks and trailers around here with my design on them. It literally re-ignited my passion for this business.

[patrickmccrary]

You guys consistently drop gold on YouTube!

[robynleesamuels]

It's always great seeing a video from you, Ben. I do social media management and create style guides for social media. So this is super useful.

[MinoliSenanayake]

Ben, this is so insightful. Love how you present!

[rysta]

already bought it a week or so ago. BEN BURNS AND THE FUTUR TEAM Y'ALL DA BEST!