This is heading directly into geek territory. But we are self-confessed geeks, particularly when it comes to all things print and design. When you need complete uniformity in style and formatting for all your branded materials, i.e., marketing, letterheads and packaging, your best tool is a branding style guide or identity design guide or a style guide or… well, call it what you want.
The Executionist but it best, explaining “A brand style guide is the primary visual DNA of your company’s branding, though it can also reference grammar, tone, word usage and point of view. Essentially, it’s a document that describes, defines and presents examples of what your brand looks like in various visual media such as print, Internet and broadcast.”
Enough of the geek talk, take a look for yourself at this list of branding style guides from around the world. We’ve highlighted some of our favorites, which are particularly meticulous.
- Adobe corporate brand guidelines (PDF)
- Alberta corporate identity manual
- Android brand guidelines
- Apple identity guidelines (PDF)
- Argento brand identity and style guide (PDF)
- Barbican identity guidelines (old)
- Bath Spa University brand guidelines
- Berkeley brand identity
- Best Buy brand identity
- Boston University brand identity standards
- Boy Scouts of America brand identity guide (PDF)
- British Council brand website (registration required)
- British Rail corporate identity manual
- Canadian National Railway Company visual identity guidelines (PDF)
- Carnegie Mellon brand guidelines
- Channel 4 identity style guides
- Christopher Doyle identity guidelines
- Cisco logo usage and guidelines
- Code for America website style guide
- Columbia University visual identity (PDF)
- Cornell University brand book
- Dropbox logos and branding
- Duke University style guide
- easyGroup brand manual (PDF)
- Edinburgh Council brand guidelines (PDF)
- Esso Imperial Oil quick reference guide (PDF)
- Facebook brand assets
- Good Technology brand identity guide
- Google visual assets guidelines
- GOV.UK elements
- Haas School of Business style guide
- Heineken visual identity
- IEEE brand identity guidelines
- Jamie Oliver FRV brand guidelines
- Kew Royal Botanic Gardens brand guidelines
- Liberty University brand identity policy
- Lloyd’s brand guidelines (PDF)
- Macmillan identity guide
- MailChimp brand assets
- MasterCard brand center
- Microsoft corporate logo guidelines
- Mississauga’s Brand Story
- Mozilla Firefox branding
- NAMI identity guidelines
- NASA graphics standards manual (mid 1970s)
- National University of Singapore identity
- New York University identity and style guide
- New York City Transit Authority identity and style guide
- NHS brand guidelines
- NYU-Poly identity style guide
- Ohio State University brand guidelines
- Ohio University brand standards
- Oregon State University brand identity guidelines
- Pacific University brand standards (PDF)
- Pearson brand guidelines (PDF)
- Penguin logo guidelines
- Princeton University graphic identity
- PRSA guidelines & logos
- Redfern brand identity guidelines (PDF)
- Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College style guide
- Santa brand book
- Sapo (PDF, in Portuguese)
- Skype brand book
- The Beano Comic brand guidelines (PDF)
- The Scout Association brand guidelines (PDF)
- The University of Texas brand guidelines
- Twitter brand assets and guidelines
- Uber brand guide
- Ubuntu brand guidelines
- University of Arkansas style guides and logos
- University of California brand guidelines
- University of Cambridge identity guidelines
- University of East Anglia brand identity guidelines (PDF)
- University of Louisville brand
- University of Northern Colorado identity style guide (PDF)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison brand identity guidelines
- Vanderbilt University graphic standards
- Vimeo brand guidelines
- Virginia Tech identity standards
- Walmart brand center
- WordPress logos and graphics
- Yale University identity
- Yelp styleguide