A Guide to Guidelines
What is a brand guide?
They are a guide for your brand :). Just kidding! But this is not far from the truth. Brand guidelines are created at the end of a brand design project, or at least they should be. They often include guidelines for your visual identity. But they also include verbal identity guidelines: tones, values, etc., brand strategy: differentiation, target markets, mission/vision/values, etc.
The end goal of brand guidelines is to give the company's leadership team everything (information-wise) they need to discuss strategy, set goals, create graphics, and write copy. In other words, it’s a functional leadership document. It helps everyone stay on brand without the presence and expense of the brand design and brand strategist.
What is a style guide?
Style guides! We all have them, right? I hope so. Style guides set the visual guidelines for a brand. What colors, fonts, and other assets do they use, and how should they be used? As someone who creates style guides, I will say this: we build them at the end of a project to ensure our clients use the visual assets properly.
Brand guidelines cover everything from strategy to visual guidelines to business models and products. Style guides, on the other hand, specifically address the brand's visual identity.
What is a design system?
They are a system of design guides used specifically for web design, though I have used them when working on larger print documents exceeding four pages. These systems are created by graphic designers, using style guides to establish a set of visual parameters for web designers, UI/UX designers, and developers to follow when creating website visuals.
I mentioned print; these also come into play, as I mentioned before, when we go to print. All headlines and paragraphs should look the same. There should be continuity in the way each page looks and in the layout repetition.
Here are four key elements of a design system:
Typographic guidelines include font size, typeface, and spacing for each type category, such as headlines, paragraphs, etc.
Colors: What colors are used, and when they should be used?
Visual elements: what iconography should be used, and when should it be used?
Layouts and grids: What layouts are acceptable, and the grids we use to achieve that goal
The key points make for websites and documents that look more professional. These are often used by layer companies whose websites and corporate documents are so large that they have whole teams dedicated to the project. Having design systems makes it easier for them to stay consistent.
Tying loose ends
All of these guidelines feed into one another; in fact, part of what you find. A traditional style guide is usually within a brand guidelines document. As mentioned, design systems are often based on a style guide.
Now, why are all these things separate if they are connected? Well, think of yourself as a graphic designer. You need the visual guidelines, a style guide, and maybe some copy, probably provided to you by the marketing team. So you probably don’t need an extensive guide explaining the company’s purpose, goals, values, etc., to create a billboard design.
These documents share a purpose but differ in function. Their purpose is to keep you on brand. Consistently show and say the same thing, staying aligned with your strategy. However, they are different in function because they are used differently. If you need to pitch a partner company, use your brand guidelines to say the right things. Building a website with a large developer? Create a design system based on the style guide. Hiring a freelancer to create an animated illustration for your YouTube intro? Send them your style guide.
