Brandbook: what is it and how does it differ from a graphic standards manual?

A brandbook and a graphic brand guidelines book are often mentioned as if they are the exact same thing. They are not. A brandbook describes who the brand is, who it speaks to, and how it sounds, while a brand guidelines book prescribes how the brand looks and how its visual elements are technically used. Whoever mixes them up can easily end up paying for a document they do not need, or find themselves without the one they actually do need.

In this text, I explain what a brandbook contains, how it differs from a brand guidelines book, how to evaluate what you need, and how to create a brandbook in five steps.

What is a brandbook?

A brandbook (or brand book) is a document that defines the identity of a brand: why it exists, who it addresses, how it differs from others, and what tone it communicates with. Visual rules are a part of it, but they are not its essence. The essence is the strategic layer, that is, the answers to questions that design alone cannot solve.

That is why a brandbook is not read only by designers. It is also used by people who write texts, manage social networks, respond to customers, or do sales. It gives all of them the same answer to the question "how would our brand say or do this".

What does a brandbook contain?

The scope depends on the size of the company, but a good brandbook always covers the following five sections.

Mission, vision, and values

The mission says why the brand exists, the vision where it wants to get, and the values what it believes in. This part is valuable only if it is specific. "Quality and commitment to the client" can be written by any company, so such a sentence does not help anyone. A useful value is one that shows a clear decision, for example: "We would rather reject a job than promise a deadline we cannot meet."

Target audience

A clear description of the people you are addressing: who they are, what they need, what they fear when buying, and in what words they themselves describe their problem. Two to three briefly described customer groups are more useful than a single general formulation such as "everyone from 25 to 55 years old."

Positioning

Positioning answers the question of why someone would choose you over a competitor. It is best when it fits into one sentence: who you are for, what you offer, and how you are different. From that sentence, website headlines, profile descriptions, and sales messages are later created.

Tone and style of communication

A brand should sound the same on Instagram, on the website, and in a response to a complaint. Describe the tone with three to four adjectives (for example: direct, warm, expert without jargon) and with each give an example of a sentence you would write and one you would not. Also decide on practical things: do you address customers with "you" (informal) or "You" (formal), do you use foreign terms, how do you write prices and dates.

Visual identity in basic terms

A brandbook also contains an overview of the visual identity: the logo and its variants, color palette, typography, photography style, and a few examples of application. The goal here is to show how the visual part stems from the strategy. Detailed technical rules belong to the brand guidelines book.

What is a graphic brand guidelines book?

A graphic brand guidelines book is a technical manual for visual identity: it prescribes variants and the exclusion zone of the logo, exact color values, fonts, photography style, and examples of correct and incorrect use. What it should contain and how it is made, I have described in a separate text about what a graphic brand guidelines book is.

Brandbook or brand guidelines book: what do you actually need?

Briefly: a brandbook answers the questions "who we are and how we speak", while a brand guidelines book answers the question "how we look and how that is exactly applied". The differences are easiest to see side by side.

In practice, these two documents are often merged into one, where the brand guidelines book is a single chapter of the brandbook. Which of these you need depends on the situation you are in.

• You are just starting a business and manage communication yourself: a strategic part of two to three pages and a short brand guidelines book with the logo, colors, and fonts are enough.

• You have a logo and colors, but every piece of material looks different: you need a brand guidelines book.

• You are visually consistent, but posts, website, and offers sound like they are written by three different companies: you need the strategic part of the brandbook, above all positioning and tone.

• You work with several collaborators or agencies, or you are planning a rebranding: the entire brandbook with the brand guidelines book as a chapter is worth it.

Why the strategic part is not skipped

The most common situation I see is a company that has a neat logo and color palette, but does not have a single written sentence about who it is addressing. Design then solves the wrong problem: materials are uniform, but the message on them changes from post to post.

The strategic part brings three practical benefits. Decisions are made faster, because there is a benchmark by which a proposal is accepted or rejected. A new collaborator or agency enters the business without weeks of explanation. And the brief for every subsequent project, from the website to a campaign, is written in advance in its most important part.

How to make a brandbook in five steps

If you are starting from scratch, the safest bet is to hire a branding expert. However, even when you hand the job over to someone else, it is useful to understand the steps, because you will participate the most in the first two.

1. Define brand values and messages

Start with questions to which only you have the answer:

• Why did you start this business and what do you want it to become in five years?

• Who are your best customers and what problem do you solve for them?

• Why did they choose you instead of the competition?

• What would you never do to get a job?

Write down the answers in your own words, without empty phrases. If you can, ask a few existing customers why they chose you. Their answers often differ from what you assume.

2. Determine the tone of communication

Take a few texts you have already published (a website page, three posts, one email to a customer) and mark what sounds like you, and what does not. From that, derive the tone rules and examples of "we write like this, we don't write like this". This step is most often skipped, and it is precisely what distinguishes a brandbook from a brand guidelines book.

3. Develop visual identity

Only now do the logo, colors, typography, and photography style come into play. A designer who has answers from the first two steps does not have to guess, so the proposals hit the target faster and there are fewer rounds of revisions. If you need help with this part, take a look at how I do brandbook creation and brand guidelines books.

4. Write down the guidelines clearly and with examples

A brandbook should be usable, not an essay. Write briefly and give an example with every rule: what a good post looks like, what a good headline sounds like, what an email signature looks like. Test the document by giving it to someone who does not know your brand and asking them to make a single post. If they have to call you with questions, the guidelines should be supplemented in those places.

5. Adapt the format to the people who use it

A document that is hard to find is opened by no one. Therefore, I recommend:

• A PDF version that is easily sent to external collaborators,

• An internal online version (Google Docs, Notion, or Figma) that is easy to edit,

• If needed, short extracts for specific tasks, for example, a "social media guide" on a single page.

For daily posts made by your team, Canva for digital marketing can help a lot, provided that the Brand Kit with colors, fonts, and the logo from the brandbook is correctly set up in it.

How often should you review your brandbook?

A brand changes: new products come, new audiences, new channels. People stop opening a brandbook that does not keep up. In my practice, the following rhythm works well:

• Appoint one person who is responsible for the document and to whom questions and remarks are sent.

• Review it every 6 to 12 months, and always when introducing a new service, entering a new market, or launching a new channel.

• Record situations where the document did not provide an answer, and add them to the next version.

• Mark the version and date on the first page, so everyone knows which one is current.

During the review, the strategic part usually requires small edits, while the examples of application change the most. If it turns out that neither the audience nor the positioning is valid anymore, that is a sign that it is time for rebranding, not for a new version of the document.

Where to start

One example from my work is the logo and visual identity for 3D Štampa Beograd.

Branding without written rules is like a city without streets: everyone goes their own way. A brandbook gives direction to the messages, and a brand guidelines book to the look, and together they save time for everyone working on behalf of your brand. If you are not sure which of those two documents you need or how detailed it should be, get in touch and describe where you are now, and I will tell you where I would start.