Consistency & Value
People recognise and rely on brands that are predictable and professional, allowing companies to often charge more for their services.
What is it
What are branding guidelines?
Think of branding guidelines (often called a Brand Style Guide or Brand Bible) as the "rulebook" for your company’s personality. It ensures that no matter where a customer sees your brand - on a billboard, a LinkedIn ad, or a business card - it feels like the same "person".
For SMEs without these guidelines, a brand can quickly become a messy "Frankenstein" of different fonts, colours, and tones that confuse the audience. Marketing is one of the most important aspects of a small business and brand guidelines ensure your marketing is on brand and consistent every time.
Businesses often have multiple employees, or outsource work. Brand guidelines ensure that all the parties involved in your business have a clear and consistent framework to work within. They ensure every action taken is done on brand. Brand style guidelines keep everything tied together. Is your brand delivering a consistent tone, style and message?
Why brand guidelines matter
Efficiency
Saves time for designers and writers. They don't have to "guess" what font, colour palette or tone of voice to use.
Scalability
As a company grows, new employees can read the guide and immediately understand how to represent the brand.
Our Approach - print vs digital
What is a brand guidelines agency?
A brand guidelines agency is the creator of a company’s identity rulebook. While a standard creative agency might just design a pretty logo, a brand guidelines agency ensures that logo - and everything else about the brand - looks and feels the same. They create a Brand Bible (or Style Guide) that dictates exactly how a brand should live in the wild.
Print brand
Print Brand Guidelines
Our print guidelines focus heavily on fonts, colours and logo design so that your brand is optimised for print. Whether it is for internal branding, a publication or on a fleet of vehicles, our print guidelines are the traditional choice.
Digital brand
Digital Brand Guidelines
Do you need guidelines for a digital brand? Our digital brand guidelines go beyond logos, colour palettes and fonts and incorporate favicons for social channels and submarks for digital use.
Every Brand Style is Different
Here is how we work
Not every business needs the same thing, and we’d rather be straight with you than sell you more than you need. Here’s how our work typically breaks down:
Brand Essentials
The core of what most clients need to get moving and look the part.
- Primary & secondary logos
- Supplied in all formats needed
- Bespoke colour palette
- Typography & fonts
- Mini brand guide (2-3 pages)
Full Branding Guidelines
For SMEs ready to go all in, it covers every aspect of how your business looks, sounds, and feels.
Everything in Brand Essentials, plus:
- Tone of voice guidelines
- Logo application
- Comprehensive brand guidelines
Guide price, ex VAT
View package£2,500-£5,000+
Whichever route you take, we include dedicated revision phases and work with you until it feels exactly right.
Time to talk about branding guidelines?
We’ll walk you through the possibilities.
What our customers say
“Fantastic service! Our website updates were completed much faster than expected, with great attention to detail and excellent communication throughout. The whole process was smooth and professional, and we're extremely pleased with the results. Would highly recommend to anyone looking for website services.”
“Nothing is to much trouble, and always available to help.”
The work behind the results
Recent projects
We design great websites and carve out digital strategies to help your business grow online.
Branding & Website Design
Smiths Electrical: Bespoke Website Design & Development
Results:
A complete rebrand and website that showcases the client's project portfolio and expertise.
Branding & Website Design
SVR: Brand Refresh & Bespoke Website
Results:
A brand that reflects 20 years of expertise and a website that showcases the client's services and expertise.
Ready to choose a package?
Compare Logo Essentials, Brand Essentials and full brand identity side by side.
Fancy giving your brand a proper roar?
If you're not sure whether you need a refresh or a full rebuild, that's exactly the kind of thing a quick chat sorts out - no commitment required.
QUESTIONS
Brand Guidelines FAQs
A selection of things our customers ask us and other branding companies.
What are brand guidelines and why are they necessary?
Brand guidelines (often called a "brand book" or "brand bible") are a comprehensive set of rules that explain how your brand should be presented to the world. They ensure that every piece of content - from a social media post to a billboard - looks and feels like it came from the same company. Without clear branding guidelines, your visual identity can quickly become fragmented, which dilutes your professionalism and confuses customers.
What is the difference between brand guidelines and brand style guidelines?
The terms are often used interchangeably, but brand style guidelines usually focus more heavily on the visual execution. This includes specific rules for logo spacing, exact colour codes (CMYK, RGB, and HEX), and typography hierarchies. Broad brand guidelines may also include "soft" brand elements like your brand's mission statement, core values, and tone of voice.
Why should I hire a brand guidelines agency?
A brand guidelines agency specialises in "future-proofing" your brand. Instead of just giving you a logo, they anticipate how your brand will need to behave in different environments. An agency will conduct "stress tests" on your design elements to ensure they work in every possible format, providing a robust framework that your internal team or future partners can follow without error.
What are digital brand guidelines?
In 2026, a static PDF is often not enough. Digital brand guidelines are frequently hosted as interactive web pages. They provide live code snippets for developers, downloadable assets for designers, and specific rules for digital-first elements like UI components, button hover states, and motion graphics. Digital brand guidelines ensure your brand remains accessible and high-performing across all screens and devices.
What happens if I don't have branding guidelines?
Without formal branding guidelines, "brand creep" occurs. Over time, different departments might use slightly different shades of your brand colours, inconsistent fonts, or off-brand messaging. This lack of cohesion makes a business appear disorganised. Professional brand style guidelines act as the ultimate reference point to settle design disputes and maintain a premium brand image.
How often should we update our brand style guidelines?
Your brand guidelines should be a living document. While your core values may stay the same, your digital brand guidelines may need updates as new social media platforms emerge or as web accessibility standards evolve. Most businesses review their guidelines every 18 to 24 months to ensure they still align with current marketing trends and technical requirements.
Are guidelines included in a branding package?
Most reputable agencies include at least a basic version of branding guidelines in their identity packages. However, for larger corporations, a brand guidelines agency may be brought in specifically to create a more exhaustive, multi-volume document that covers everything from physical signage and vehicle wraps to employee uniforms and email signatures.
How much do professional brand guidelines cost?
It depends on scope - Brand Essentials covering your core logo, colours and typography costs less than a Full Branding Guidelines package with tone of voice and comprehensive documentation. Get in touch and we'll recommend the right tier for your business.
Time to talk to a brand guidelines agency?
We’ll walk you through the possibilities.