Decide these first
- Who you are for, stated narrowly enough to exclude someone.
- The one sentence you want repeated when you are not in the room.
- How formal you sound — and where that flexes.
- What you will never say, which is often more useful than what you will.
Then the visual system
A primary and secondary colour with defined usage, two typefaces with a clear hierarchy, a logo that survives being shrunk to a favicon, and a photography direction. Four decisions, written down, applied everywhere.
A brand guideline nobody reads is decoration. Two pages that answer real questions get used every week.
Write it down and hand it over
The point of the system is that someone else can apply it correctly without asking you. If your designer, your printer and your social media manager all produce something recognisable from the same document, the brand is working.
