Free tool · Brand Guidelines Template · about 60 minutes Seven sections. One page.
Fill in the seven sections of a short, working set of brand guidelines. The page assembles as you type, ready to copy into any document.
1 · Position and promise
2 · Logo
3 · Colour
4 · Typography
5 · Layout and imagery
6 · Voice and vocabulary
7 · Templates and owner
This is a structure for a short, working set of guidelines, not a design deliverable. You will still need a designer for the logo and the templates. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Your brand guidelines
Then test it
Test the page. Give it to a competent person who has never seen your brand and ask them to make a slide, a social graphic and a short email in an hour. If the results look and sound like you, the guidelines work. Then check that your templates follow the page: if they don't, the templates are your real guidelines.
Guidelines belong after the position is settled. If section 1 won't fill, start with the Brand Messaging Framework Template. The reasoning and a fuller checklist are in The Brand Code: Brand Guidelines Nobody Opens Are Not Guidelines, What Should Brand Guidelines Include? and Brand Guidelines Template, published on 24 October 2026.
Questions
What should brand guidelines include?
Seven things: position and promise, logo rules, colour, typography, layout and imagery, voice and vocabulary, and ready-to-use templates.
How long should brand guidelines be?
As short as possible while covering the seven sections. For most growing companies, ten pages or fewer, with templates and technical specifications held separately.
Do small businesses need brand guidelines?
A short version, yes. A one- or two-page sheet with logo rules, colours, fonts, voice and templates keeps the brand consistent as you hire.
Do I need a designer?
For the logo and the templates, yes. For the decisions in this template, you can work them out yourself, then brief a designer.
Is my page saved?
Only in your browser, on this device. Nothing is sent to us.
The Brand Code
One idea a day, free.
Mike Bruce writes on positioning, pricing and brand visibility three times a day. The Brief lands in your inbox at 07:30 Abuja time. No sales emails.
Next step
Guidelines protect a position. They don't create one.
If the position underneath is unclear, guidelines make a vague brand look consistent. Find out which phase is weakest, or book thirty minutes with us.