Estimated completion time: 2+ hours
Section 6 up in here! We're so fancy with a style guide today! Make an entire pot–we'll be here a while.
Section 6: Style Guide.
Unfortunately, many brands stop at their branding board. I mean, you know what your logo is, what your fonts are, and what your colors are–what more do you need?
What size is your H1 (main heading) font? How about your caption–which font is it and what size? Do you italicize?
These things may seem insignificant, but 2 important reasons they should be your cup of tea:
- Consistent representation to your clientele (aka Brand Recognition).
- For crying out loud–make it easier on yourself!
Consistent representation of your brand.
We've already brought this up, but being consistent in everything that you do makes you more recognizable. For example, go look up a pair of shoes on Zappos. Watch for the next week and make a tally every time you see their logo pop up online–website ads, social media, email ads–THEY FOLLOW YOU. And you remember it because you know the cute little powder blue shoe exclamation point.
#amiright?
Brand recognition. If you shoot from the hip in everything that you do, how will anyone remember who you are?
Make things as easy as possible for yourself.
Any good business coach will tell you that you need systems in place to not only be “legit” but to also make your own process easier. Wouldn't it be sweet to create graphics in which all the fonts are the same, your logo is always there, etc.? What kinds of images are you using? Even if they are stock photographs, make sure that your cover photos (or Pinterest graphics, etc.) have a similar look and feel.
This is where a style guide comes in handy.
Style Guide 101.
Your business must have its own style guide of sorts. You don't necessarily need to do what Foursquare did with a 15 page brand book (another fancy phrase for style guide), but you get the picture. Here are just a few things you could include:
- Logo and variations
- Your brand's colors
- Your brand’s font(s)
- Any other standard graphics you use (perhaps it’s a colored square that overlays on your image at a certain transparency, etc.)
We have more suggestions on our Style Guide worksheet!
Here are a few places that can help you get started.
Meet Canva.
Full disclosure: I am not an affiliate. I do pay for the annual subscription of Canva for Work ($120ish/year). I totally love it…it's like graphic design for not-so-graphic-designers. Or normal, everyday people who want to make life easier. 🙂
The reason I like Canva for Work is because I can create my own style guide inside of it. I can upload fonts I own that are part of my branding and use them in my designs. I can input all of my color values for my branding so I have branded colors EVERY. TIME. Now, you can do most of this in the free version…you just have to input your color values every time and can't upload your fonts. If you can splurge on the extra $120/year, it's totally worth it if you don't subscribe to Photoshop or any other Adobe Creative Cloud product.
(Don't judge: I do have both my businesses in one account. These business decisions are a topic we'll be covering in the subscription platform of A Cup of Content!)
Meet Frontify.
I stumbled upon Frontify just recently–you can actually create an online style guide that you can also print out. They have several plans, obviously starting for free and all the way up to $45/month, depending on the number of people you have that will be using the online version. It's a little meaty to work with, but you can customize it and make it work for you. (Note: I'm not an affiliate. I use the free version!)
Ok–just dig in.
I'm including A Cup of Content's style guide for you to use as a template. Feel free to copy word-for-word if necessary. Ultimately, though, you need to make it work for your business and in your voice. So edit away!
Up next: Section 7.
#sadface. The next section is our last! We'll be talking all about that swag. Get ready to dig deep and create some awesome swag!