What goes in brand guidelines?

At the end of an identity project you get logo files. You also get the document that usually gets the least attention and lasts the longest: the brand guidelines.

Guidelines are the identity’s user manual. They tell you how the logo sits on each background, what the colour codes are, which typeface to use and at what weight, and what never to do. They’re what protects the identity when the team that designed it isn’t in the room.

The easiest way to show what goes in them is to walk through a real set. These are the guidelines we made for Taze Sepet, an online grocery that sources natural, regional food directly from local producers.

Brand essence

The guidelines open with what the brand is, before a single visual. Taze Sepet’s first page describes it in four words: fresh, natural, sincere, trustworthy. Every decision after that has to agree with them.

The logo and how it’s built

A page explaining why the logo looks the way it does stops people redrawing it wrongly. In Taze Sepet’s mark, a green “t” and a red “s” form a shopping basket. Two leaves on top stand for freshness, and the wheels for delivery. The guidelines say plainly that this construction must never be changed. There’s a colour rule too: the green “t” pairs with the word “taze” (fresh) in the wordmark, and the red “s” with “sepet” (basket).

Versions and backgrounds

No single logo fits every space, so there are four versions: horizontal for websites and signs, vertical for packaging fronts and posters, the emblem alone for profile pictures and app icons, and a version with the slogan for campaigns.

Each background gets a rule. The full-colour logo goes on white and cream. On the dark green, on the main brand colours and on photographs, it’s white. On the honey yellow, it’s dark green.

Clear space and minimum size

Clear space is measured from the logo itself, using the diameter of the wheel in the emblem. Twice that diameter stays empty on every side. Because the measure comes from the logo, it scales with it.

Minimum sizes are given as numbers. The horizontal logo never goes below 35 mm in print or 140 px on screen. The emblem on its own stops at 10 mm and 24 px.

Misuse

Good guidelines show what not to do as well. Taze Sepet’s include examples of stretching, rotating, recolouring, swapping colours, adding shadows or outlines, resetting the wordmark in another typeface and placing the logo on busy backgrounds.

Colour

Five colours: Fresh Green and Basket Red as the primaries, Forest for text and dark backgrounds, Cream for backgrounds and Honey as the accent. All five have screen and print codes, and all except Cream have a Pantone reference. There’s also a usage ratio. White and cream cover just under half of a surface, followed by Forest, green and red.

Typography

The corporate typeface is Alegreya Sans, used from headlines to the interface. The wordmark is drawn on a different face, Expletus Sans Bold, and the guidelines explain why it stays in the logo only: it doesn’t have the Turkish letters Ğ, İ and Ş.

Graphic language and photography

This section describes the mood: natural daylight, hands reaching across a table, linen and wood, earthy tones. It also sets out a leaf-and-wheel pattern and a “Taze | Sepet” stripe.

Applications

The last pages put the system to work. Business card, letterhead and envelope, with sizes. A wrap-around jar label, a shipping box and a tote bag. Social media post and story templates. A draft of the website. Each one is where the earlier rules come together.

When do you need guidelines?

If one person uses the identity for a short time, maybe you don’t. But the moment your brand works with a printer, an agency, a developer or a new hire, someone will make up the rules if they aren’t written down.

That’s why brand guidelines are part of our corporate identity service. Little Y, Miabella and Rare Creative have guidelines in their scope too. You can see Taze Sepet’s identity on its case page.