The most powerful brand style guide template isn’t a multi-page document that you glance at a single time.

It’s not an overwhelming brand blueprint that you save deep in the recesses of your hard drive and never review again.

After you read and do the steps in this article, you’ll have a brand style guide that’s simple enough that you can capture it in a single glance.

And it’s small enough to stick somewhere you can see it every day.

My goal is to make it easy to apply your branding elements consistently every time. Consistent application is the #1 secret to a memorable brand!

Let’s dive in so you can put this simple brand style guide template to use today.

The best (and tiniest) brand style guide template

First, let’s quickly review how branding works so you know what you’ll need to include on this powerful little sticky note of yours.

Your brand consists of two main parts:

• Your verbal brand
• Your visual brand

Your verbal brand, at a minimum, includes your business name and tagline.

Your visual brand, at a minimum, includes your fonts and colors.

What we’re going to do today is create a powerful (and miniature) brand style guide that will keep all these elements top of mind so you never have to hunt for them again.

Grab a sticky note and let’s start creating your mini brand style guide [examples below]

Here’s a template for your brand style guide. If you haven’t built your brand yet, there are links below you can follow for free guidance on each of these elements.

First, draw a horizontal line at the top, like this example:

Then, draw a vertical line that divides the bottom part of your sticky note in half, like this example:

At the very top, write your official business name as you want to use it every time you talk about your brand. You might remember that I capitalizes BIG when I talked about BIG Brand System, so it’s written that way here so I remembered to do this consistently.

See the example here:

Don’t have a business name or tagline yet? Follow these links:

Directly below your business name, write your tagline as you want it to be written and said:

On the left side, write the HEX codes for your two main brand colors.

At the bottom of this section, write the HEX code for your accent color with a * next to it. This is the color you’ll use sparingly to draw attention to call-to-action elements like buttons.

Not sure how to find your best brand colors? Follow the resources below:

On the right side, you’ll note your two main fonts. Usually you’ll choose either a single font family with lots of weights, or two font families that you’ll use for headlines and body text.

Here’s an example of how to fit two font families on the right side.

Don’t have brand fonts picked out yet? Use the links below to guide you:

Use this template to create an easy-to-follow, powerful reminder

Your brand can only work for you if you apply it consistently. Let’s remove the friction and make it super easy to plug in your most-important brand elements any time you need them.

I’m sure you realize this is not an in-depth brand style guide. It’s more like a minimalist brand style guide that will ensure that you get the basics right every time.

Don’t rely on your memory when it’s time to implement your brand choices! Include the basic elements below so you can apply them the same way every time.

Basic brand style guide elements:

1. Your business name
2. Your tagline
3. Your brand colors
4. Your brand fonts

Get the How to Brand Anything ebook

For more details on how to brand everything, get my free ebook, “How to Brand Anything: Your Business, Your Idea, Yourself” when you sign up for my regular emails.

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