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Style guides are essential to the success of a brand’s design strategy. Here is an insight into the work for Sonova | Audiological Care.
Excerpts from the micro style guide for our client LIBAKO. The impact of a brand not only lies within the individual elements, but their interaction with each other.
A style guide is like a navigation system. The goal is set. Designers can use clearly formulated values to design measurably “correct” applications. At the same time, the designer’s freedom is ensured. Like a good navigation device, you can choose your own routes and be guided to your destination from any point.
Your advantage:
Efficient communication in design briefs and consistent brand representation.
What are the advantages of a style guide?
One of the biggest advantages is its clarity. Definitive structures and specifications must exist, because they ensure consistency and uniformity. In addition, proportions are defined. You can see the effect of an overall work. If a style guide itself feels strange, i.e. inconsistent, you can already tell that there is a need for improvement in the brand design. It is structured by chapters, contains descriptions and background information.
A style guide is the basic law of brand communication. And it has a commercial advantage too: designers don’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel – which saves money.
For brands, consistency allows memorability. A style guide is the way to ensure that. Perhaps a designer didn’t follow the style guide? Font wrong? Color value different? Layout grid not adhered to? The result is clear: the customer does not remember the brand image or does not associate the medium with the brand image that he would actually expect. When we think about the fact that we sometimes find it difficult to recognize faces because the hairstyle has changed or a new pair of glasses has been added, we better understand this phenomenon. Brands must always remain identifiable.
Elements of a style guide
Some elements must be fixed in any guide. These include the definition and numerical specification of the following elements:
- Logo and its applications
- Fonts and font styles, application, text and image
- Web alternatives to the fonts
- Font sizes and line spacing
- Symbols (icons) and their application
- Format specifications (DIN, US, Web, etc.)
- Colors, stated in the various technical formats (RGB/Hexadecimal, etc.) and definition of color gradients, if used
- Layout details, baseline grid, paragraph formats, etc.
- Stylistics of images, infographics and illustrations
- Specification of sources of supply (BAM or DAM, stock suppliers, etc.)
- Definition of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”
- Variable elements (e.g. mockups)
A very exciting feature for style guides is the presentation of mockups. After pages on definitions and specifications, a small portfolio of imaginative examples can break up the sometimes austere reading and inspire designers to come up with their own solutions.
Mockups can be very diverse:
Posters, store design, website, ads in magazines | newspapers, business cards, brochures, flyers, loyalty cards, mailings, books, apps, TV commercials, web banners, and many more.
What is a micro style guide?
A micro style guide contains only the most essential information and explanations. Company logo, color values, BAM and DAM access, fonts, etc. can be defined here to ensure fast communication for rush jobs.
