The best guidelines are practical rather than precious. Their job is to help people make good decisions quickly, not to show off. A concise guide of ten to twenty well-organised pages, or a simple web page, is often more useful than a hundred-page manual nobody opens.

Start with the brand foundation

Open with a short summary of who you are, who you serve and what you stand for. Include your purpose, values, personality and positioning so anyone using the guide understands the reasoning behind the rules. If you have a positioning statement, include it. Our guide to writing a brand positioning statement shows how to create one.

Cover the visual essentials

This is the core of most guidelines. Make sure it explains:

• Logo versions, clear space, minimum sizes and file formats

• Colour palette with exact values for screen and print

• Typefaces, weights, sizes and where each is used

• Image style, including what to choose and what to avoid

• Icons, patterns, graphic devices and layout principles

Include accessible colour combinations. Listing which text and background pairs pass the contrast levels in WCAG 2.2 saves designers from guessing, and supports the wider approach in our guide to website accessibility basics.

Define your tone of voice

Many guidelines neglect words, yet language is often what customers notice most. Describe how the brand sounds using a few clear traits, and show them in action with short before-and-after examples. Add practical rules on spelling, punctuation, formatting and terms you always or never use, such as your product names. Note any legal wording that must appear in particular materials, and check claims against the ASA advertising rules where relevant.

Show real examples, including what not to do

Rules make more sense when people can see them applied. Include real examples such as a presentation slide, a social post, an email signature, a proposal and a web page. Then show common mistakes: a stretched logo, a low-contrast colour pair, a busy background. A page of "please avoid" examples prevents more errors than a page of rules.

Add digital and web guidance

If your website is a major touchpoint, specify how the brand behaves online: buttons, forms, spacing, headings, hover states and image ratios. If your site is built in a design tool such as Framer, shared styles and components can turn these rules into reusable building blocks, so the guidance is enforced in the build rather than left to memory.

Make them easy to find and keep current

Store the guidelines somewhere your team and suppliers can reach them, and provide a download area for logos and templates. Name one person responsible for keeping them up to date and review them at least once a year. If you are changing your look, our guide to planning a rebrand launch explains how to roll out the new guidelines to staff and partners.