Brand Guidelines Template
A free brand guidelines template for small businesses. Download the Word file, or fill it in on this page and download a text copy. It has seven sections, and every field comes with an explanation and a filled-in example from a real Magnt brand kit, so you can see what a good answer looks like before you write your own. Part of the Magnt Brand Framework.
The Word file opens in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and Apple Pages. No sign-up.
What to include in brand guidelines
Brand guidelines are the rules that keep your business looking and sounding the same wherever it appears, from your sign to your Instagram posts. For a small business they do not need to be long. They need to answer the questions people ask when they make something with your brand on it: which logo, which color, which font, and how should this sound? This template covers seven sections:
- Brand basics: One short page that tells anyone using the guidelines who the brand is for and what it should feel like.
- Logo: The rules that stop your logo from being stretched, recolored or squeezed into a corner.
- Colors: Your palette with exact codes, plus the rules for which color goes where.
- Typography: Which fonts to use, at what sizes, and what to do when the brand fonts are not available.
- Voice and tone: How the brand sounds in writing.
- Imagery: What your photos and graphics should look like, so that a phone photo posted on a busy morning still looks like your brand.
- Files and ownership: The practical page that makes the rest usable: where the files live and who answers questions.
Two to five pages is enough for most small businesses. Large companies publish 50-page brand books because dozens of teams and agencies use them. A small team needs something short enough that people actually read it. For examples of both, see our brand guidelines examples.
Fill in the template online
Your answers stay in your browser. Nothing is sent to Magnt or saved, so download a copy before you close the page.
Brand basics
Logo
Colors
Typography
Voice and tone
Imagery
Files and ownership
Section-by-section guide with a real example
Porchlight Coffee is a test business we set up to show a real Magnt output. Its logo, five colors and two fonts below are exactly what Magnt generated (see the full kit on our brand kit example page). Everything else in its example answers, such as clear space, voice and photo style, is our suggestion for a neighborhood coffee shop, not part of the kit. See the full Porchlight Coffee kit.
Brand basics
One short page that tells anyone using the guidelines who the brand is for and what it should feel like. Every rule in the later sections should trace back to something written here.
Brand summary (who you are, who you serve, why you)
Two or three sentences: what the business does, who it is for and why customers choose it over the alternatives. If you have a positioning statement, paste a plain-English version of it here.
Porchlight Coffee example: Porchlight Coffee is a walk-in neighborhood coffee shop serving espresso, batch brew and local pastries from 6:30 a.m. It is for commuters, people working from home and parents after school drop-off, and it wins on being close, quick and comfortable.
Personality (3 to 5 words, with what each one is not)
Pick three to five adjectives and pair each one with its overdone version. The pairs are what make the words useful, because they tell people where the line is when they write a sign or choose a photo.
Porchlight Coffee example: Warm, not cutesy. Quick, not rushed. Neighborly, not folksy. Confident about coffee, not snobby about it.
Logo
The rules that stop your logo from being stretched, recolored or squeezed into a corner. This is the section printers, sign makers and anyone building a website will look at first.
Logo usage (versions, clear space, minimum size, backgrounds)
List each version of the logo you have and when to use it. Then set a clear space rule (empty space around the logo, usually measured as a part of the logo itself), a minimum size for print and screen, and the backgrounds it may sit on.
Porchlight Coffee example: Main logo: the cup icon beside the name, as delivered in the kit's 2048 px PNG on a white background. Use it on white or Snow (#FAF9FB) only. Clear space: the height of the cup icon on every side. Minimum width: 1 inch in print, 120 px on screen. On small square spaces such as a social profile photo, use the cup icon on its own.
Logo don'ts
Four to six specific misuses. Write them as instructions a stranger could follow without asking you, and add a picture of each one if you are building a longer document.
Porchlight Coffee example: Don't stretch or squash it. Don't recolor the cup or the name. Don't place it on photos or on the green accent color. Don't add shadows, outlines or effects. Don't crop the leaf off the cup.
Colors
Your palette with exact codes, plus the rules for which color goes where. Without the rules, people use every color everywhere and the brand stops looking like one brand.
Primary
#A07BEA
3.2:1 on white. Large headings only on white.
Secondary
#E8AD8F
1.9:1 on white. Not for text on white.
Accent
#2CED6C
1.6:1 on white. Not for text on white.
Neutral
#4E485B
8.7:1 on white. OK for body text on white.
Background
#FAF9FB
Page and paper background, not a text color.
The Porchlight Coffee kit palette, with each color's WCAG contrast ratio against white worked out. This is why its rules keep Medium Purple for large headings and never put Spring Green on text.
Primary color (name and HEX)
The color people should associate with you. It goes on the logo, signage and main buttons.
Porchlight Coffee example: Medium Purple, #A07BEA.
Secondary color (name and HEX)
A supporting color for large areas such as backgrounds, menu boards and packaging.
Porchlight Coffee example: Burlywood, #E8AD8F.
Accent and neutral colors (names and HEX)
An accent for small highlights, a dark neutral for text, and a light background color. Most small-business palettes need five colors in total.
Porchlight Coffee example: Accent: Spring Green, #2CED6C. Neutral: Dim Gray, #4E485B. Background: Snow, #FAF9FB.
Color usage and contrast rules
Say which color is for what, and which combinations are allowed for text. Check each text color against its background with a contrast checker: body text needs at least 4.5:1 and large headings at least 3:1 under WCAG 2.2. Add RGB and CMYK values if you print a lot, and ask your printer to proof the primary color before a big run.
Porchlight Coffee example: Body text and prices: Dim Gray on Snow or white. Medium Purple for headings, the logo and signage, at large sizes only. Burlywood for backgrounds. Spring Green for small highlights such as a "new" tag, never for text.
Typography
Which fonts to use, at what sizes, and what to do when the brand fonts are not available. Two fonts are enough for almost every small business.
The Porchlight Coffee kit pairs Abril Fatface for headings with Mulish for body text. Both are free Google Fonts, which matters for a small business: they work in Canva, Google Docs, most website builders and at most print shops without a license fee. Our brand typography guide covers choosing a pair.
Heading font
The display font for headlines, signage and the business name in text. Note where to download it and its license.
Porchlight Coffee example: Abril Fatface, a free Google Font. Headlines, menu section titles and signage only.
Body font
The font for everything people read at length: menus, website text, emails and receipts.
Porchlight Coffee example: Mulish, a free Google Font. Menu items, prices, website body text and social captions.
Sizes, spacing and fallbacks
Give a few sizes rather than a full type scale: a headline, a subheading and body text, for print and for screen. Name a fallback font for tools where yours is not available, such as email.
Porchlight Coffee example: Website: headings 36 to 48 px, body 17 px with 1.6 line height. Menu board: item names in Mulish Bold, prices in Mulish Regular. Fallbacks: Georgia for headings and Arial for body text in email.
Voice and tone
How the brand sounds in writing. Voice stays the same everywhere; tone shifts with the situation, like the difference between a menu board and an apology for a late order.
Voice description
Describe the voice in a few sentences and give one short line that sounds right. Base it on the personality words from the first section.
Porchlight Coffee example: Short, friendly sentences, the way a regular barista talks. Plain words over coffee jargon. Example: "Batch brew's on. Grab one and go, or stay a while."
Tone by situation
List the three or four situations you write for most often and how the tone changes in each one. A single example sentence per situation does more than a paragraph of description.
Porchlight Coffee example: Social posts: playful, one emoji at most. Menu: clear and short, no puns in item names. Reviews and complaints: calm and personal, signed by a name. Hiring posts: direct about pay and hours.
Voice don'ts
The words and habits to avoid. These are often easier for others to follow than the positive description.
Porchlight Coffee example: No "artisanal", "curated" or "elevated". No more than one exclamation mark per post. Never blame the customer, even when they are wrong.
Imagery
What your photos and graphics should look like, so that a phone photo posted on a busy morning still looks like your brand.
Photo and graphic style
Describe the light, subjects and mood of the images you want. Collect five or six real examples you like and keep them with the guidelines.
Porchlight Coffee example: Natural morning light, real customers and staff (with permission), close-ups of drinks on the counter. Warm, slightly bright edits.
Image rules
A few firm rules: what to avoid, which filters to use, and where the logo goes when it appears on an image.
Porchlight Coffee example: No stock photos of coffee beans. One consistent warm filter on every post. When the logo appears on a photo, use it on a Snow-colored band rather than directly on the image.
Files and ownership
The practical page that makes the rest usable: where the files live and who answers questions. Skipping it is the most common reason guidelines get ignored.
Where the brand files live
One shared folder with the logo files, the palette, the fonts or font links, and this document. Link to it from the first page.
Porchlight Coffee example: A shared folder called "Porchlight brand" with the logo PNGs, the 1-page brand summary PDF from the kit, the font links and this guide.
Who approves new brand material
Name the person who approves new signs, menus, ads and website changes, and how long a review usually takes. In a small business this is often the owner.
Porchlight Coffee example: The owner approves anything printed or posted outside social media, usually within two days. Shift leads can post social content that follows this guide.
Which template format should you use?
Search for a brand guidelines template and you will find versions for Word, Canva, Notion and Figma. The sections are the same in all of them; the format only changes how easy the guide is to write, update and share.
| Format | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Word or Google Docs | Small teams that want something quick to write, easy to update and easy to send as a PDF. | Plain layout unless you spend time styling it. |
| Canva presentation | Owners who want a designed, visual guide to send to printers and freelancers. | Easy to spend hours on layout before the rules themselves are decided. |
| Notion page | Teams that already work in Notion and want guidelines next to their other docs. | Harder to share with outside suppliers who do not use Notion. |
| Figma file | Businesses with a designer who will maintain the guidelines alongside the design files. | Overkill if nobody on the team uses Figma. |
A practical route for most small businesses: write the content in this Word template first, then move it into a designed format only if you need one. Deciding the rules is the hard part; laying them out is quick once they are settled.
If you don't have a logo, colors and fonts yet
You can write the brand basics, voice and imagery sections today, but the logo, color and typography sections need a visual identity to describe. Magnt generates one for a one-time $19: five logo concepts to choose from, high-resolution PNG logo files, a five-color palette with HEX codes, a font pairing and a one-page brand summary PDF. That is exactly the material the Porchlight Coffee example above is built from. The rules around it, such as clear space, color usage and voice, are yours to write with this template.
Already have a logo but no palette? Our free color palette generator and font pairing tool can fill those gaps, and the logo file formats guide explains which files to give a printer or web designer.
How to roll out your brand guidelines
- 1Fill in the brand basics and voice sections first. They need no design files, and they decide everything else.
- 2Add your logo, colors and fonts, then check every text color against its background.
- 3Export a PDF and put it, with the logo files, in one shared folder.
- 4Send the PDF to everyone who makes branded material: staff, your web designer, your sign maker and your print shop.
- 5Review it once a year, or when you change your logo, colors or main customer.
Going further? Our complete guide to brand guidelines covers each section in depth, the brand guidelines table of contents shows how longer guides are organized, and the brand voice and tone guide helps with the hardest section to write.
Frequently asked questions
What should a brand guidelines template include?
At minimum: a short brand summary, logo rules (versions, clear space, minimum size and misuses), your color palette with codes and usage rules, your fonts and sizes, a voice and tone section, image guidelines, and where the brand files live. This template covers all seven sections.
Is this brand guidelines template free?
Yes. You can fill it in on this page and download a text copy, or download the Word file and edit it in Word, Google Docs or Pages. There is no sign-up and nothing you type online is sent to Magnt.
Can I use it in Google Docs or Canva?
The Word file opens in Google Docs (File, then Open, then Upload) and in Apple Pages. If you would rather have a designed layout in Canva, fill in this template first, then paste the finished text into a Canva presentation, so the thinking is done before you start on the design.
How long should brand guidelines be for a small business?
Most small businesses need two to five pages: one for the brand basics, one for the logo, one for colors and fonts, and one for voice, imagery and files. Large companies publish 50-page guides because many teams and agencies use them; a small team needs something short enough that people actually read it.
What is the difference between brand guidelines and a style guide?
The terms are often used interchangeably. When they are separated, brand guidelines cover the whole brand (who it is for, personality, voice and visual identity), while a style guide focuses on visual and writing rules such as colors, fonts and grammar. This template covers both.
Do I need a logo before I fill in the template?
You need a logo, a palette and fonts for the logo, colors and typography sections, but you can fill in the brand basics, voice and imagery sections first. If you do not have a visual identity yet, Magnt generates a logo, a five-color palette, a font pairing and a one-page brand summary for a one-time $19, and you write the rest of the guidelines yourself with this template.
Who should get a copy of the brand guidelines?
Anyone who makes something that carries your brand: staff who post on social media, your web designer, your sign maker and print shop, and any freelancer you hire. Send a PDF and keep the editable version in one shared folder so there is only ever one current copy.