Kwaku Amprako is a logo and brand identity designer, educator, and founder of Akrivi — pioneering BIDA (Brand Identity Design Automation) to empower designers to create with more speed, precision, and less stress.
Try Akrivi Studio — streamline your entire logo & brand identity workflow
What is a brand book?
And how is it different from brand guidelines?
You hear a lot of different names for the same thing in this industry, Brand Book, Style Guide, Brand Bible, Identity Guidelines.
It gets very confusing. Clients may ask for one thing, but designers might call it another.
In this post, I want to clear up exactly what a brand book is and why it is the single most important document for any business.
What is a Brand Book?
A brand book is simply the instruction manual for a brand.
It explains who the brand is, why it exists, and how it should look and speak.
Think of it this way. If you hired a new social media manager tomorrow, you would hand them the brand book. By the time they finished reading it, they should know exactly how to write a post that sounds like the company and which colors and fonts to use.
Is It Different from Brand Guidelines?
People often ask if a brand book is different from brand guidelines.
The answer is simple, they are the same thing.
In the past, people sometimes separated them. A Brand Book focused on the mission, vision, and values and usually designed in A4 or Letter size. The Brand Guidelines focused on the technical rules like logo clearspace and hex codes usually as web size (1920x1080).
But in modern design, we combine them.
It makes no sense to have two separate documents. Today, a professional brand book includes the technical guidelines inside it. It starts with the mission and ends with the rules. So when a client asks for a brand book, they are usually just asking for a complete document that includes your visual guidelines.
Why Do You Need One?
Without a brand book, a business is inconsistent.
It ensures that everyone from the CEO to the intern is on the same page. It builds trust because customers see a consistent, professional face every time they interact with the brand.
How to Create One
Creating a brand book used to take hours of writing and layout design. You had to define the mission, set the rules, and make it look beautiful.
But you don't have to start from scratch. I recently wrote a full guide on how to create a brand book where I break down the 6 essential elements you need to include.
And if you want to skip the manual work entirely, you can use Guideit to generate a professional brand book directly inside Adobe Illustrator.
Generate for Free with Akrivi Studio
Conclusion
Whether you call it a brand book or guidelines, the goal is the same. Clarity. A good brand book ensures that the brand you designed stays the brand they use.
