What is a style guide?

A style guide is a description of defined design principles.

Style guides, often referred to as a design system, brand manual or style manual, is a comprehensive set of rules that provides detailed guidelines for the design and consistency of a brand or product.

It is a document or collection of documents that specifically define how elements such as logos, fonts, colors, imagery, tone of voice and even code should be implemented. The purpose of a style guide is to create a coherent and consistent brand or user experience, regardless of who is working on the product or project.

Style guides can be defined for different design objectives. In any case, the style guide contains special specifications in the following style categories, for example:

  • Typography – specifications for fonts, font styles and sizes

  • Colors – color palettes used

  • Design grid, for example, a defined grid system

  • Visual language

  • Icons

The importance of style guides in the design world

Style guides play a crucial role in the design and development landscape. Here are some reasons why they are so important:

  1. Consistency: The most obvious advantage of a style guide is the consistency it brings. By giving clear instructions on how the brand and products should be presented, it helps to ensure a consistent identity and user experience. This is crucial for brand perception and user satisfaction.
  2. Efficiency: Style guides rationalize the design and development process. Teams can work faster because they don’t have to start from scratch with every project. They provide a clear template, which saves time and reduces misunderstandings.
  3. Scalability: With a style guide, organizations can scale more easily. New team members or external agencies can use the documentation to quickly understand how to work in line with the brand. This facilitates the expansion of teams and projects.
  4. Coherence across different media: A well-developed style guide takes into account all media and platforms on which the brand appears. From print materials to websites and mobile apps, it ensures that the brand appears coherent everywhere.
  5. Maintaining the brand: A style guide helps to preserve the integrity of the brand over time. While people come and go, the style guide ensures that the brand continues to be presented as it was originally intended.
  6. Decision support: When designing new components or revising existing elements, the style guide serves as a valuable resource for designers and developers to make informed decisions that are in line with the overall brand strategy.

So style guides are far more than just a collection of rules; they are an essential tool for creating a strong, consistent brand and user experience. In today’s fast-paced, design-driven world, developing and maintaining an effective style guide is essential to the success of any organization that values design, user experience and brand identity.

Why should you use a style guide?

A style guide guarantees uniformity and a common thread in the design. Technically, style guides are based on libraries that make defined design specifications centrally controllable. Thus, the use of a style guide is also accompanied by a technical architectural specification, namely to use such design libraries with corresponding inheritance rules.

History of the style guides

Styleguides have been around longer than the web; they were and are used to define the look of printed materials such as brochures, catalogs, stationery, logos and packaging.

Style guides & corporate design and corporate image

The style guide is therefore closely linked to the corporate design (CD) or an even broader corporate image (CI) . The corporate image not only specifies visual aspects, but also includes ethical aspects and defines the big picture, i.e. how an organization should present itself to the outside world and what image the organization wants to convey to the public.

Style guides define the image of an organization

In general terms, this guideline defines what the image of the company or product looks like. This achieves a consistent design and ensures recognition. This is at the heart of marketing efforts and also benefits users, as this consistency makes it easier for them to find their way around.

Best practice for style guides

For a successful design implementation, it is advisable to also implement a design guide as a website with a Git repository behind it.

Central access for all developers

This ensures centralized access for all developers and even newcomers and third parties can easily access the design definitions.

Visual display for optimum control

At the same time, such an implementation also realizes the visual presentation and offers everyone involved a constant comparison between the design definition and the implementation. A voting function for new design features enables democratic procedures to continuously improve the design.

The style guide defines common UI conventions

It is always important to adhere to the standard UI conventions for buttons, checkboxes, etc.

Position information for defined design elements

This also includes position information for defined elements. For example, the logo on websites in the desktop version should always appear at the top left next to the navigation menu.

Specifications for the button design

Button design should also be defined so that buttons are clearly recognizable as such and have a uniform design. A design specification also applies to links, for example a link display is always in the web color #5F9EA0 with the CSS3 color name CadetBlue.

Components of an effective style guide

The components of an effective style guide work together to create a consistent and engaging brand and user experience.

By working out these elements in detail and communicating them clearly, you and your team can work consistently across different projects and platforms.

This not only strengthens the brand identity, but also improves the efficiency and quality of design and development work.

A well-thought-out style guide is therefore an indispensable tool for any company that takes its visual and communicative consistency seriously.

Essential elements: What belongs in a style guide?

An effective style guide covers a variety of components that together provide a comprehensive picture of how a brand or product should be presented. Here are the essential elements that should be included in any well-developed style guide:

  1. Brand identity: A clear definition of the brand, its values, personality and mission statement. This can include the history of the brand, its core message and its target group.
  2. Logo application: guidelines for logo use, including size, placement, what to do and what to avoid, and variations for different contexts and backgrounds.
  3. Color palette: A specified palette containing the brand’s primary and secondary colors, with exact color codes for different media (e.g. CMYK for print, RGB and hex codes for digital media).
  4. Typography: Guidelines for fonts, including font families, weight, size and application. This should include instructions on the hierarchy and layout of texts.
  5. Visual language: Instructions on the use of images and graphics, including style, tone and suggested sources. This can include photo styles, illustration guidelines and the use of icons.
  6. Tone and voice: A description of the writing style and tone that should be used in all communications. This often includes guidelines on language, humor, formality and address.
  7. Layout and grid systems: Instructions for laying out pages and content, including grids, spacing, alignments, and other structural elements.
  8. User interface elements: Specifications for design elements such as buttons, forms, tabs and other interactive elements. This should include states such as idle, hover, click and disabled.
  9. Application examples: Specific examples of how the elements of the style guide should be applied in different media and projects, including examples of do’s and don’ts.

Colors, fonts and more: the building blocks of a visual guide

  1. Colors:
    • Primary colors: The main colors that represent the brand and are used in all key elements.
    • Secondary colors: Complementary colors to support the primary colors and expand the palette for various purposes.
    • Color system: Instructions for using the colors in different contexts and combinations.
  2. Fonts:
    • Primary fonts: The main typography used for headlines and important text.
    • Secondary fonts: Additional fonts for body text and other information.
    • Application: Rules for size, weighting, spacing, hierarchy and coloring.
  3. Visual language:
    • Style guidelines: Whether the pictures should be realistic, illustrated or abstract.
    • Composition: Guide to image composition and alignment.
    • Quality: Standards for image resolution, quality and style.
  4. User interface elements:
    • Buttons: style, color, shape and typography for different button states.
    • Form elements: Appearance for text fields, selection menus, buttons and other form elements.
    • Icons: Style and usage guidelines for icons within the application or website.

Develop style guides for print - web and all digital formats

Develop style guides for print – web and all digital formats

How to create your style guide – step-by-step instructions

So that you can put our recommendations for your style guide directly into practice, we provide you with the perfect step-by-step guide to developing your style guide:

Step by step: developing your own style guide

  1. Understand the brand identity: Before you start, you need to develop a deep understanding of the brand – what it represents, its values, goals and target audience. This will be the basis for all the decisions you make.
  2. Defining goals and scope: Determine what you want to achieve with the style guide and which media or products it should cover. Should he concentrate on digital, print media or both?
  3. Gather inspiration and best practices: Look at other style guides, especially those that are generally considered successful and effective. Make a note of what you like and what could be relevant for your brand.
  4. Development of the basic elements:
    • Logo: Define how and where the logo should be used, including spacing, size and what should be avoided.
    • Color palette: Select primary and secondary colors and make sure you specify the exact color codes.
    • Typography: Choose fonts and define how they should be used (e.g. font sizes, hierarchy).
  5. Extension to additional elements:
    • Visual language: Establish guidelines for the use of photos, illustrations and icons.
    • User interface elements: Define the appearance of buttons, forms, menus, etc.
    • Editorial Style: Create guidelines for the tone, style and voice of the brand in written communications.
  6. Create sample templates: Develop templates for common design tasks, such as website layouts, business cards, presentations, which can serve as a starting point.
  7. Documentation and organization: Collect all guidelines in a central, easily accessible document. Make sure the guide is well organized and easy to navigate.
  8. Review and feedback: Before finalizing the style guide, you should gather feedback from various stakeholders to ensure that it is feasible, understandable and effective.
  9. Launch and training: When the style guide is ready, present it to the team and provide training to make sure everyone understands how to use it.
  10. Monitoring and updating: A style guide should be a living document. Monitor its use and be ready to update it if brand strategy, goals or other factors change.

Best practices for creating a coherent and actionable style guide

  1. Be specific: vagueness can lead to inconsistencies. Provide clear, detailed guidelines.
  2. Stay flexible: While a style guide sets out rules, it should also leave room for creativity and adaptation to different contexts.
  3. Promote accessibility: Make sure your designs and guidelines are accessible, especially in terms of color contrasts, typography and navigation.
  4. Use examples: Show examples of correctly and incorrectly applied guidelines. This helps understanding and correct application.
  5. Involve the team: The style guide is used by different people. Their insights can be valuable in ensuring the guide is practical and relevant.
  6. Keep it up to date: the world and the brand will continue to evolve. Review and update the style guide regularly to ensure it remains relevant and effective.
  7. Make it easily accessible: A style guide is useless if nobody knows where it is or how to use it. Make sure it is easy to find and navigate.

By following these steps and best practices, you can create a comprehensive, cohesive and actionable style guide that serves as an indispensable tool for branding consistency and quality.