Style guide or brand guidelines: what is the difference?
The two terms are often used interchangeably. Here is how to tell them apart, and which one to choose for your situation.
In one sentence
A style guide (or graphic charter) describes a brand’s visual look: logo, colors, typography. Brand guidelines contain it and add what you can’t see: the mission, the principles, the tone of voice and examples of use. In practice the two words are sometimes treated as synonyms; what matters is knowing what the document contains.
Side by side
Style guide
- Logo and its variants
- Colors and typography
- Visual usage rules
Brand guidelines
- Everything in the style guide
- Mission and principles
- Tone of voice, with examples
- Templates and downloadable resources
Which one to choose?
For a small team getting started, a style guide is enough. Move to brand guidelines as soon as several people write or communicate for the brand: tone of voice then becomes as important as the logo. The FluidOps brand manual, which is public, shows what it can look like.
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