Brand Style Guides: What They Are, With Top Brand Examples

Much like people have their own personalities, every company has its own brand personality. A brand’s personality is reflected in everything from its values and mission to its brand logo, color scheme, and tone of voice.

From small businesses to global corporations, ensuring everyone is on the same page about how a company should be presented is vital to maintaining brand consistency. That’s where a brand style guide comes in.

A brand style guide includes a breakdown of a brand’s identity and guidelines for how it should be presented through various design elements. Throughout this article, we’ll walk you through how to create a brand style guide and the type of information it should contain.

We’ll even take a look at visual examples from the style guides of top companies.

In this article:

What is a brand style guide?

The importance of brand style guides

Brand style guide vs. brand guidelines

How to make a brand style guide

The anatomy of a brand style guide

15 brand style guide examples

Set out on your own branding adventure

What is a brand style guide?

A brand style guide is a document that details a brand’s identity with guidelines for how it should be reflected to the public through approved brand elements. A style guide breaks down everything from key design elements like the company’s logo and fonts to the type of language that should be used in its messaging.

Compiling all of the brand’s assets in one place helps ensure that everyone involved in the creation of its marketing materials is telling the same brand story. Some brand style guides are short, straightforward documents of four to five pages, while others are far longer and more detailed.

Make sure your style guide contains all the information needed to communicate your brand strategy effectively. Before we break down the different elements a style guide should cover, let’s take a closer look at why creating one is so important.

The importance of brand style guides

Imagine you discovered one day that a family member or friend had completely changed their personality overnight. You’d likely be concerned about them, and unsure what to expect from them or how to behave around them. As we get to know someone, their personality becomes a reliable baseline for what to expect during future interactions with them.

The same is true for companies. Consumers can feel strong bonds with their favorite brands. They become familiar with the brand’s values and unique traits. At the same time, consumers tend to buy from brands that reflect their personal values. That’s why consistent branding is an important part of developing customer trust and brand recognition—it helps develop the relationship that will earn repeat business.

A brand style guide ensures that a company’s employees and its external design partners understand how to use brand elements that customers have come to know and recognize.

Imagine, for instance, that you decided to add Coca-Cola’s Coke Zero to your shopping list. You’d likely approach the soda aisle in search of the company’s familiar typeface and color palette, shown below.

Coca-Cola Zero Brand Style Guide

But imagine that the company had hired a new graphic designer who went rogue. As a result of their unofficial packaging rebrand, you’re greeted by a package that looks something like this:

(This is our own design that’s in no way endorsed by Coca-Cola.)

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Your reaction might include some confusion or skepticism. You might imagine that you’d come across a knock-off product—or even completely overlook the newly designed package in your search for the old familiar branding.

You might even feel a little betrayed by the brand’s sudden shift in direction. If they’ve changed their look so drastically, you might ask yourself, what else have they changed? Marketers have long understood that, as customers, we become emotionally invested in our favorite brands.

This is why sudden or drastic rebrands have the power to spark outrage among long-time customers. Look no further for an example than Elon Musk’s recent rebrand of the social media platform Twitter to X.

While the move’s long-term effects remain to be seen, some business leaders are already calling it a “cautionary lesson for marketers.” Additionally, analysts estimate that Musk’s unexpected announcement wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in brand value overnight.

Brand style guide vs. brand guidelines

Sometimes brands release their style guides under different names, such as “brand guidelines.” The difference between these terms isn’t always clear, and many brands use them interchangeably.

In instances where they are referred to separately, here’s what each most likely refers to:

• Style guide. A simplified document that focuses on key creative brand elements. It may be intended for use by internal and external designers and creatives.
• Brand guidelines. A more all-encompassing document that includes both a style guide and brand book—a detailed description of the company’s values, mission statement, and image. Guidelines may also focus on brand strategy or technical requirements in more detail.

When creating your own brand style guide or guidelines, what you call your document is less important than what it contains. If you plan to use a template, you’ll find very similar outlines by searching for both terms.

How to make a brand style guide

Crafting a brand identity design for a new company can feel like attempting to pick out a wardrobe for someone you’ve never met. Here are a few tips and tricks that can make laying the foundation of a new brand style guide far less overwhelming.

1. Humanize your company
2. Learn from your competition
3. Consider your brand attributes
4. Solidify the brand’s visual identity

If you don’t want to create this branding alone, consider contacting a professional brand style consultant for help with any steps along the way.

1. Humanize your company

Let’s start with a fun exercise that will help you visualize the type of brand personality and image you want to portray. Begin by asking yourself what your company would be like if it were a person or character.

If you’re feeling stuck, famous brand mascots can be a great source of inspiration. For instance, Mickey Mouse’s fun, friendly personality is synonymous with Disney’s mission to spread joy and a childlike sense of magic.

Mr. Clean, on the other hand, symbolizes the reliably tough power of Proctor & Gamble’s cleaning products. From the Energizer Bunny to the Quaker Oats Man, famous mascots are personifications of their companies’ core values and brand identities.

Which characteristics are the most likely to appeal to your target audience, the people most likely to be interested in your brand? Whether or not you choose to actually include a mascot as part of your brand kit, simply visualizing one can be a very helpful way to begin shaping your brand identity.

2. Learn from your competition

Along the journey to creating your own branding, don’t be afraid to look to other companies for inspiration. You might even choose to collect visual ideas on platforms like Pinterest or Behance, a social media site where designers from all over the world share their work.

Both free platforms allow users to create mood boards, making it much easier to stay organized. At this stage, checking out the branding used by other businesses in your industry can be particularly helpful.

See if you can spot any patterns, such as fonts or logo elements, that are popular in your niche. Try to imagine why certain companies may have made the branding choices they did.

3. Consider your company attributes

As you form a more comprehensive vision of your brand’s personality, select adjectives that describe its characteristics. These will be useful in several different contexts going forward.

Internally, these adjectives can help ensure that all your employees present a unified approach when interacting with customers. But they’ll also prove invaluable if you use external professionals to develop anything from graphic design elements to content copy.

If you need help coming up with ideas, we’ve got a solid list of adjectives for professionals that you can also apply to brands. Online dictionaries are another great source of adjectives and synonyms to help get your creative gears churning.

4. Solidify the brand’s visual identity

Once you’ve developed a solid vision of your company’s branding, it’s time to start bringing it to life. Rather than creating a full brand kit right out of the gate, you might start by focusing on a single element, such as your company logo.

A great graphic designer can use the branding clues you’ve assembled in the previous stages to create a logo that portrays your company the way you want it to be portrayed. While you should give the designer as much information as possible upfront, it may be worth investing in extra revisions if needed.

A logo can set the stage for other stages of the design process by using your brand’s primary colors, fonts, and any other iconography you may choose to include. Once you finalize your logo, request copies in various sizes to match the formatting requirements of various social media platforms and other channels.

The anatomy of a brand style guide

Building an online presence often relies on bringing together the skills of multiple professionals. From website and graphic designers to digital and social media marketing experts, creating brand consistency relies on keeping everyone on the same page.

Rather than attempting to explain your vision to each individual, you can simply send out copies of your brand style guide. But your guide should contain all the information newcomers need to know about your brand identity to be effective.

Let’s take a closer look at several elements you’ll want to make sure are covered:

• Buyer personas
• Tone and voice
• Typography
• Logos and imagery
• Color codes

Buyer personas

Many companies choose to kick off their style guide with one or more buyer personas. A buyer persona is a fictional character that represents key traits shared by your target audience, such as their demographics, job title, or shared pain points.

For instance, an online education site might create a buyer persona called Student Sally. Student Sally is in her mid-20s and yearns for a career change, if only she could find the time and money to finish her degree.

By making design choices with Sally in mind, creatives are more likely to produce content that will appeal to the larger audience she represents. Many buyer personas are far more detailed and include things like a character’s interests, income level, marital status, and more.

Tone and voice

A company’s brand voice refers to the type of language and tone it uses consistently. Some brands prefer to use a playful approach or incorporate humor, while others stick to a more formal or professional voice.

Google Developer Documentation Style Guide

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The important thing is to match your brand’s voice to its personality. For example, a jewelry brand might adopt a more elegant tone and use adjectives like “sophisticated” or “exclusive” in their slogan.

But the odds are high that a fast food restaurant would likely choose a very different approach. A burger chain might prefer a casual, relatable tone and use taglines that include words like “fast” or “convenient.”

Many brands even create a list of adjectives that should be used throughout their copy and a list of those that should not. Choosing the right voice and using it consistently is a vital part of establishing a strong brand identity, so don’t be afraid to take your time and get it right.

Typography

While your brand voice covers overall tone and language choices, this section is more about how to format your written content. Here are some examples of points you might cover:

• Typography. What fonts and type sizes should your design team use consistently throughout your content?
• Format. Should your copy be formatted according to a certain style guide, such as APA or MLA? Are there any special formatting requirements for punctuation, headings, or subheadings?
• Point of view (POV). Should your content be written in the first or third person?
• Sentence length. Should your messaging include long, poetic sentences or short and snappy copy?
• Paragraph length. When it comes to longer content, should the writer cap each paragraph at a certain number of sentences?

National Institute for Health and Care Excellent Style Guide

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Don’t be shy about getting as specific as possible here. Not having to deal with reformatting can save time in the editing phase. Including examples throughout your guide can also go a long way toward avoiding misunderstandings.

Logos and imagery

A company’s logo is one of the most important tools it has for establishing a visual identity. That’s why your style guide should always include your brand logos and (if applicable) a breakdown of any variations that are and are now allowed.

Skyscanner Media Assets

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This section is also a great place to specify any particular types or style of photography you’d like your brand to use. You might choose to specify whether you want to use candid or posed shots, and state whether you’re using stock or original photos.

In addition to covering your brand’s visual elements, be sure to address rules that govern the type of content that can be posted through official brand channels. Imagine, for example, that you decided to hire a social media manager to interact with your customers online.

Your style guide should both help them master your brand voice while also alerting them to any types of content or humor that should be avoided. A single offensive or inappropriate post on a brand’s social media account is enough to spark a company-wide scandal, so be sure to include as much info as needed to ensure each post is on-brand.

Color codes

When it comes to brand colors, descriptions like “green and white” won’t get you very far with most designers. A single color can come in dozens of different shades and hues, as you can see in this example from the Starbucks brand style guide.

In the graphic design world, each color has its unique set of identifying numbers and letters. Digital content tends to use RGB or HEX codes, while CMYK codes are used for print projects.

Knowing a color’s code allows any designer to locate it. For example, by typing in the HEX code for “Starbucks Green” (#006241), we can easily create a perfect match.

Make sure to include your brand colors and their corresponding codes in your brand style guide. If you’re not sure exactly what they are, you can use the handy color extractor at Designs.ai to instantly pinpoint the exact colors used in any image.

Designs.ai also features other design tools, such as brand color palettes and a color meanings dictionary. The latter can be a great way to ensure that the brand colors you select reflect the image you want your company to portray.

15 brand style guide examples

Now that we’ve covered the elements that go into creating a brand style guide, let’s look at real-life examples from a collection of top companies. Along the way, you'll see how each brand’s consistent use of brand elements has helped them create a unique and memorable image in the minds of customers.

1. Mailchimp
2. Spotify
3. Skype
4. Netflix
5. Apple
6. Google
7. Coca-Cola
8. Nike
9. Adobe
10. NASA
11. Mozilla Firefox
12. Starbucks
13. Asana
14. Walmart
15. Audi

Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s brand style guide includes writing guidelines for several different types of content. Whether a writer needs information about crafting an email newsletter or social media post for the brand, they’ll find everything they need under its own dedicated section.

Additionally, Mailchimp offers a “TL:DR” section that serves as a cheat sheet of all the brand’s most essential guidelines.

Spotify

Spotify’s style guide includes a great example of how to lay out your brand colors for designers. Next to each color, you’ll find its Hex, RGB, and CMYK codes for easy reference.

Skype

Skype’s brand guidelines are incredibly thorough, especially when outlining how the company’s logo, icon, and other marketing materials can and can’t be used. As you can see, the brand even provides examples of correct and incorrect usage to help avoid any confusion.

Netflix

Netflix’s brand style guide uses the same bold colors and organized layout as its industry-leading streaming platform. Despite the brand’s relatively simple trademark, its thorough logo instructions speak to the precision required to retain consistency across markets.

The guide breaks down everything from logo sizing and placement to which color contrast ratios offer maximum readability.

Apple

Apple is known for its clean, minimalist designs, which are reflected perfectly in the company’s style guide. In true Apple fashion, the guide includes plenty of white space, a table of contents, and multiple accessibility options, from a clickable table of context to a downloadable PDF.

The table of contents says a great deal about Apple’s brand values, as an entire section is dedicated to ensuring inclusive writing.

Google

Given Google's size and scope, it may come as no surprise that the company’s brand style guide takes the form of an online resource center. Yet the use of the company’s playful color palette and well-organized topics quickly make users feel right at home.

Additionally, the site’s easy-to-navigate menu goes a long way toward preventing the guide from appearing cluttered or overwhelming.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola, which has been using the same trademark script font since 1886, is an epic case study in the power of brand consistency. Over 125 years later, studies have shown that “Coca-Cola” is now among the most widely understood terms in the world, second only to “okay.”

For many customers, Coca-Cola’s iconic red color palette and familiar messaging can evoke instant feelings of nostalgia and dependability. The brand’s style guide speaks to its commitment to upholding values like sustainability, curiosity, and empowerment.

Nike

From its trademark swoosh to slogan of “Just do it,” Nike has a knack for creating branding elements that become pop culture icons. The company’s marketing tactics largely emphasize its motivational brand voice more than its actual products.

Paired with dynamic imagery and powerful storytelling, Nike has truly mastered the art of using inspiration as its most valuable brand asset.

Adobe

Given the widespread use of Adobe’s creative suite for all manner of projects, it's no surprise that the brand’s guidelines largely focus on avoiding confusion. Adobe’s brand guide includes sections for marketing partners and UI and social media users to clarify their relationship to each.

Below, the brand provides visual examples to help independent groups and partners distinguish their pages from those officially owned by Adobe.

NASA

Even though NASA is a government agency, its brand style guide begins by clarifying that the organization’s insignia and other visual imagery are not considered public domain. The guide then provides a detailed overview of when and how its imagery is allowed for use.

NASA strives to maintain consistency in its media by providing specific details about its color palette and typography guidelines.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla’s Firefox web browser playfully describes its vibrant color palette as “basically the whole box of crayons.” Yet the brand’s style guide makes matching each shade as easy as clicking its color box, which will automatically copy its Hex code to your clipboard.

The Firefox brand style guide exudes the brand’s bold, innovative personality, all while maintaining its fun and approachable voice. In the “About” section, you’ll find great examples of buyer personas (or in this case user personas), such as “Adventurous Amplifiers” and “Caring Confidentials.”

Starbucks

The Starbucks siren has become an instantly recognizable logo for countless coffee drinkers around the world. But from a marketing perspective, what differentiates Starbucks is that the brand’s real product is equal parts coffee and ambiance.

Starbucks isn’t just a place where you can get a fancy latte. It’s also a reliably cozy and creative place to connect with friends or hang out with your laptop. All of these qualities are reflected brilliantly in Starbucks’ brand style guide.

The guide utilizes the company’s trademark style and colors to introduce its key branding elements with plenty of visual examples. The typography page even includes interactive elements that allow users to type their own messages in Starbucks’ trademark fonts.

Asana

In Sanskrit, Asana’s company name refers to “the place and pose in which a yogi sits.” The company’s founders chose the name to symbolize the ease and flow that the platform was designed to bring to the traditionally hectic project management process.

With those traits in mind, it’s no surprise that Asana’s brand guidelines are about as straightforward as possible. Along with the logo usage guidelines, you’ll find a downloadable kit of the brand’s logos and icons in various sizes.

Walmart

Walmart, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, was created with the business model of providing consumers with a variety of products at low prices. Over the years, the company has developed a family-friendly, Americana-type image that is reflected in its photography standards.

Walmart’s style guide includes a detailed photography section that breaks down its standards for different types of photos. From lifestyle shots to “in environment” product photography, the brand emphasizes keeping images casual, authentic, and relatable.

Audi

Audi’s imagery guidelines take an even more detailed approach. They specify everything from the type of cast members that should be featured in the car company’s ads (confident, diverse, cultured) to the clothing they should wear.

Additionally, the guide outlines the type of locations that should be featured and even the lighting styles needed to achieve its trademark visual tone.

Audi’s branding guide goes beyond simple dos and don’ts and provides the instructions needed to create its own stylized world.

Set out on your own branding adventure

Creating a brand style guide can take a great deal of thought and planning. But it’s an investment that can pay off for years to come by helping your company create a strong, recognizable brand.

Look no further than Upwork for access to top independent brand consulting specialists who can lend their expertise at any step along the way. Whether you need help selecting the perfect brand colors or mapping out your overall brand strategy, you’ll find a wide selection of professionals with the skills you need.

If you are an independent brand consultant in search of your next client, then be sure to browse Upwork’s available brand consultant jobs. You’ll find opportunities to advance your career as you forge relationships with top clients in search of your skillset.