Brand style guide example
A brand style guide example, explained page by page
This brand style guide example is the complete guide of Onda, a fictional family of guesthouses on the Mediterranean coast. We walk through its twelve chapters: what’s on each page, why it’s there and what you can borrow. Every step links to the live page, so you can follow along.
About this example
Onda has five houses in Portugal, Spain and Italy, its own photography style, greetings in three languages and a design studio that handles print. That makes it a useful example: the guide has to work for the hosts in the houses, for agencies and photographers, and for partners who put their logo next to Onda’s.
The guide lives online, as a website. At the top there’s a search bar, a button to print it as a PDF and a button to download all assets. Every page ends with a contact person and the date of the last update: version 3.0, 24 September 2026. Want the big picture first? Browse the gallery of brand guidelines examples.
Onda’s brand style guide, chapter by chapter
The order is deliberate: first why the brand exists and who it’s for, then how it looks and sounds, and finally where the files are.
- 1
Brand foundation
The brand story (two founders, a tired fisherman’s house in Comporta, a long kitchen table), then purpose, vision and mission, and four values. Each value has a test: ‘Local first’ means at least 80% of purchases come from within 50 km of the house. The page ends with ‘Five things to get right’, the five rules for anyone who only reads one page.
Make values testable with a concrete example or number. See Brand foundation
- 2
Audience & positioning
Three personas, each with a quote, needs, frustrations and how Onda helps. Then a positioning statement in the classic form (for whom, what, why us) and a positioning map: between the anonymous resort and the do-it-yourself holiday rental. The promise ‘You’ll leave knowing someone’ doubles as the test for every message.
Say what you’re not. ‘No buffets, no animation team, no wristbands’ sharpens a position more than another adjective. See Audience & positioning
- 3
Brand personality
Four traits (sunny, curious, unhurried, welcoming), each with an example sentence and a ‘but not’. Six sliding scales show where the brand stands, such as between quiet and loud, with what each position means for design and copy. Finally: how the personality shows in design, in words and in the houses themselves.
Give every trait a ‘but not’, or every brand ends up sounding warm and trustworthy. See Brand personality
- 4
Logo
Every version (primary, reversed, on Sunset, black, symbol, lockup), each with a switch for RGB, CMYK or Pantone and its file details. Then: which version when, clear space (the height of the letter o), minimum sizes (20 mm or 80 px for the wordmark), the lockups for each house and ten do’s and don’ts. Co-branding and app icons are covered too.
Set the minimum size in millimetres and pixels. See Logo
- 5
Colour
Four primary and four supporting colours, each with HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone to copy. A proportion bar shows how much of each colour a layout gets: mostly Shell and Night, 16% Sunset as the accent. Below that, colour pairs with live-calculated WCAG contrast, including pairs that fail on purpose, such as white on Sunset (3.3:1).
Show what isn’t allowed. One wrong example prevents more mistakes than a rule. See Colour
- 6
Typography
Two free typefaces, Outfit for headlines and DM Sans for everything else, with weights, sizes, line height and letter spacing for each role. Arial is the fallback for email and Office, with the CSS font stack alongside. You can try the seven-step type scale live with your own text. The typesetting rules go down to details like € 18 and 08:00–10:30.
Don’t forget the fallback font: in Word, PowerPoint and email almost nobody has your brand font. See Typography
- 7
Graphic language
Three shapes taken from the symbol: the sun, the wave and the arch, each with a rule (one sun per layout). Then the illustration style, a repeating pattern with a minimum scale in millimetres, and an icon library of Material Symbols in Rounded that you can search and download as SVG or PNG.
Limit the number of elements per layout, or a recognisable shape turns into wallpaper. See Graphic language
- 8
Photography & image style
Three principles (natural light, people mid-moment, room to breathe), sliding scales for light, colour, mood, people and framing, and keywords. A moodboard sorts photos into ‘fits’ and ‘doesn’t fit’, with the reason. The specifications are practical: crops, export settings, file names, what you may and may not retouch, and no stock photos of people.
A moodboard with ‘doesn’t fit’ is the most useful thing you can hand a photographer. See Photography & image style
- 9
Tone of voice
Four writing principles in the form ‘warm, not syrupy’, a ‘we are / we are not’ list, the brand line and campaign lines, and before-and-after examples. For each channel (website, booking emails, Instagram, in-room cards, signage, review replies) there’s an example you’re free to borrow. A word list names the words Onda uses and avoids.
A word list is the fastest way to hand over a tone. See Tone of voice
- 10
Layout & composition
Grids for each format (website desktop and mobile, A4 portrait, Instagram 4:5) with columns, gutters and margins, and an overlay that lays the grid over the real home page. Rules for white space: at least 40% empty, one focal point per layout, an 8 px rhythm. Then the three compositions the brand uses most.
Give people two or three standard compositions, so nobody has to start from scratch. See Layout & composition
- 11
Applications
Where it all comes together: the website, 85 × 55 mm business cards, an A4 letterhead with margins and type sizes, posters, social and key cards. At the bottom sits an order block: request business cards, letterhead or a poster through a form, and the design studio delivers a print-ready file and a proof within three working days.
Applications prove the rules work. Show them with real dimensions. See Applications
- 12
Files & governance
The version number with what’s new, the owner (the brand manager), who approves what and a ‘which file for what’ list. The version history goes back to the first guide in 2014. Below that, the download centre with the logo pack, colour swatch sheet, templates, imagery and reference sheets for printers, plus three contacts and what to ask each of them.
Note next to every contact what people should ask them about. See Files & governance
A lighter example: Common Ground’s brand style guide
Not every brand needs a guide the size of Onda’s. Common Ground, a fictional network of neighbourhood food co-ops, uses the Brand essentials blueprint: the same twelve parts, more compact. Here’s how they compare.
| Part | Full (Onda) | Compact (Common Ground) |
|---|---|---|
| Brand foundation | Brand story, purpose, vision and mission, four values with a test, five rules of thumb | Short story, mission and vision, four values and five starter rules |
| Audience | Three personas, positioning map, what we’re not, promise | Three personas, positioning map and a promise with proof |
| Logo | Six versions, lockups per house, detailed rules | Six versions, clear space, do’s and don’ts, co-branding |
| Colour | Eight colours, proportions, contrast, production and charts | Primary, supporting and neutral, proportions and contrast |
| Typography | Four roles, type scale, typesetting rules per language | Two typefaces, a scale and three legibility rules |
| Tone of voice | Principles, lines, examples per channel, word list | Plain-language writing rules (B1 level), before and after, our words |
| Applications | Website, print, social, the houses and ordering | Website, members’ app, posters, letters and ordering |
Both examples are fictional and made in Brandbooks. Their parts and level of detail match the Full brandbook and Brand essentials blueprints.
What to borrow from this example
Even if you build your guide in Word, InDesign or another tool, these principles carry over.
Every rule has a number or an example
‘Give the logo room’ says little. ‘Clear space is the height of the o, on every side’ is something you can measure.
Do and don’t side by side
For logo, colour, imagery, copy and composition, the guide shows what works and what doesn’t, with the reason.
Write for the people who use it
Hosts, printers and agencies look for different things. Printer specifications sit in ‘Details’; the main rule comes first.
Show that it’s current
Version number, date, what’s new and an owner. That way everyone knows this is the version that counts.
Set up your own brand style guide
Want to use the same structure? Grab the free brand guidelines template with all twelve parts and what to fill in for each. The step-by-step process is in how to create brand guidelines, and what belongs in each part is covered in what to include in brand guidelines.
In Brandbooks you start from the blueprint this example was built on: the same pages and blocks, filled with your colours, fonts and logo. Brandbooks is free during early access; you join through the waitlist.
Questions about brand style guide examples
What should a brand style guide include at minimum?
At minimum: the logo with its versions and usage rules, colours with codes for screen and print, typefaces with a fallback, a few examples of applications and where the files live. A complete guide also describes the brand itself: values, audience, personality, image style and tone of voice.
How long is a brand style guide?
There’s no fixed length. The compact Common Ground example covers all twelve parts in shorter pages; the Onda example goes much deeper in each part. Start compact and expand where people keep asking questions.
Should a brand style guide be a PDF or a website?
Either works. A PDF can’t be updated once it’s sent; an online guide, like this example, is always the latest version and has search and downloads built in. This example can also be printed as a PDF for people who prefer paper.
Can I use this brand style guide example for my own brand?
Borrow the structure by all means, that’s what it’s for. The content belongs to the fictional brand Onda and won’t fit yours. Use the template as an empty version of the same structure.
What is the difference between a brand style guide and brand guidelines?
A brand style guide often focuses on the visual identity; brand guidelines or a brand book also describe the brand behind it. This example is really both: it starts with the brand foundation and ends with the files. More in what is a brand style guide.
Keep reading
- Brand guidelines examplesBrand guidelines examples you can actually click throughThree complete brand guidelines examples to click through, eleven presentation styles and real public guides — plus how to spot a good example.
- Brand guidelines templateBrand guidelines template: the complete outline, freeA free brand guidelines template with all 12 parts and what to fill in for each. Copy or download the outline, or fill it in online as a live brand book.
- Guide · Step by stepHow to create brand guidelines in 7 stepsHow to create brand guidelines in 7 steps: what to do in which order, how long it takes, which tool to use (Word, Canva, InDesign, online) and traps to avoid.
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