Style Guide

Today you are going to create a Style Guide, a document that will become your guiding light when it comes to creating branded content.

First, check your emails. I’ve sent you a link to a Style Guide Template,. I created the template in Canva, because it’s free and accessible to everyone - no need for you to purchase or download any software.

I’ll take you through this step by step in our workshop but if you can’t make it, follow the instructions below:

1. Save a copy to your own files

The first thing you should do is save a copy of the template to your own Canva projects - otherwise, any changes you make will be lost. To do this, open the link, then click File > Make a Copy. Then save it.

2. Copy and paste written content from your workbook

Go through and replace the written content in the Canva template by copying and pasting from your Workbook. Follow the instructions below to populate the verbal content to your Style Guide.

How to populate the written content

  • Style Guide page 1

    Replace “Your Name” with your own name, or the name of your business

  • Style Guide page 3

    Insert your Brand Manifesto here. You may want to finesse the language if you’d like to. You can remove/reduce the picture if you need more space, but try to stick to this one page

  • Style Guide page 4

    Create a full profile of your Audience Persona here, by copying and pasting from pages 14-20 of your workbook. It’s acceptable to create new pages here if you need the extra space

  • Style Guide page 5

    Add your mood words and their descriptions to this page

  • Style Guide page 6

    List your Visual Categories and Tones on this page (don’t worry about images - they will come next)

  • Style Guide page 7

    Note down your Typography choices and Verbal Style decisions here

How to update the visuals

  • Image & colour notes

    The point of including images on all the pages (rather than just the Visual Style page) is to help your Style Guide feel the way you want your brand to feel

    The images you choose for the Visual Style page will be a continuation of these, but choose a combination that best encapsulates your style

    The colours you choose for the backgrounds will be your brand colours, but, to make them work, you may want to adjust the tone or opacity so the words in front of them remain readable

  • Replace the images

    In Canva, drop and drag the images you saved to Uploads in the previous activity over each of my placeholder images, until all of mine have been replaced by yours. You might want to play around a bit, to get a nice balance that works well for your Style Guide.

    Keep checking back in at the categories and tone of your Visual Style, and choose pictures that fit that style. Choose the photos that most fit with your Visual Style to replace the images on page 6.

  • Replace the colours

    For the colour palette on page 7, choose a photo (one of your own or one saved from Pinterest) that heroes your three colours, and use it to replace mine. Then update the three squares of colour to match the hex colours you chose on page 31 of the Workbook.

    Finally, replace my blue backgrounds and the shading behind my headings with one of your brand colours (or a tone of them)

Congratulations, your style guide is done. Read over it one more time to be sure it’s all consistent and to check for typos, and save it. Now you can click “share” to download the Style Guide to your own files and use it whenever you need to.