What to include in brand guidelines
A practical breakdown of what belongs in brand guidelines, from logo and colour rules to tone of voice, Arabic usage and ready-made templates.
Brand guidelines should cover your brand's purpose and positioning, logo versions and usage rules, colour palette with exact codes, typography for English and Arabic, imagery and iconography style, tone of voice, and templates for common materials. Good guidelines are short enough to use daily and specific enough that a new designer gets it right first time.
Key takeaways
- Guidelines exist to stop inconsistency, so every rule should answer a real question a designer or marketer will ask.
- Give exact colour codes for print and screen, plus clear logo clear-space and minimum-size rules.
- In the UAE, define Arabic typography and layout rules, not just an English style.
- Include tone of voice with real before-and-after examples, not just adjectives.
- Treat the guidelines as a living document with an owner and a review date.
Most UAE businesses discover they need brand guidelines at an awkward moment. A new agency asks for the logo files, a printer asks for the Pantone reference, or a freelancer delivers Instagram posts in a shade of blue that is almost, but not quite, yours. Multiply that across a website, WhatsApp catalogue, trade show stand and Arabic brochures, and the brand starts to look like several different companies.
Brand guidelines fix that by writing down the decisions once. Below is what a useful set should contain, what you can leave out, and how to keep the document alive after launch.
What are brand guidelines, and who actually uses them?
Brand guidelines are a reference document that explains how your brand looks, sounds and behaves across every touchpoint. They are sometimes called a brand book or style guide, and they sit on top of your visual identity rather than replacing it.
The real users are rarely the founders. They are the in-house marketer building a campaign at short notice, the developer styling a new landing page, the printer in Sharjah preparing signage, and the content creator filming a reel. Write for them. If a rule would not change a decision one of those people makes, it probably does not belong in the document.
What should brand guidelines include?
A complete set covers strategy, visual identity, verbal identity and application. The table below shows the core sections and the questions each one should answer.
| Section | What it covers | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Brand foundation | Purpose, positioning, audience, values | Why do we exist and who are we for? |
| Logo | Versions, clear space, minimum size, misuse | Which logo do I use here, and how? |
| Colour | Primary and secondary palette with HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone | Exactly which colour is this? |
| Typography | English and Arabic typefaces, hierarchy, web fallbacks | Which font, what size, what weight? |
| Imagery | Photography style, illustration, icons, video | What should our visuals feel like? |
| Tone of voice | Personality, writing rules, examples | How do we sound in English and Arabic? |
| Applications | Templates and real examples | What does a finished item look like? |
Brand foundation
Keep this to one or two pages: a short purpose statement, who your customers are, what makes you different and three to five values written as behaviours. "We reply to every enquiry the same day" is more useful than "customer-centric". This page gives context so that people interpreting the rest of the guidelines make sensible calls when a situation is not covered.
Logo usage
Show every approved version: primary, horizontal, stacked, icon only, single colour, reversed out on dark backgrounds, and the Arabic or bilingual lockup if you have one. Then define:
- Clear space around the logo, usually measured using an element of the logo itself.
- Minimum size for print (in millimetres) and screen (in pixels).
- Approved backgrounds, and what to do on busy photography.
- A short "do not" page: no stretching, recolouring, adding shadows or rearranging elements.
Colour palette
List each colour with HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for print and a Pantone reference where you print spot colours. Add usage guidance, such as proportions between primary and accent colours, and check contrast for text so your website remains readable. These same colour and type rules should flow straight into your site build, so share the guidelines with whoever handles your website development.
Typography
Name the typefaces, the weights you use, and a clear hierarchy for headings, body copy and captions. Include web-safe fallbacks and confirm you hold the right licences for web, app and print use, because font licensing is often overlooked until a developer asks.
How should Arabic be handled in UAE brand guidelines?
Arabic needs its own rules, not a note saying "use an Arabic font". Many UAE brands produce bilingual signage, social posts and ads, and Arabic runs right to left, which changes layout, alignment and even the direction of arrows and icons.
Specify a paired Arabic typeface that matches the weight and personality of your English font, how the two scripts sit together on one layout, whether the brand name is transliterated or translated, and who approves Arabic copy. Machine translation without a native review is one of the most common sources of brand damage in the region. We cover this in more depth in our article on bilingual branding in the UAE.
How do you define tone of voice in a brand guide?
Define tone of voice with three or four personality traits, each explained with "we are this, not that" and a real rewritten example. Adjectives alone are too vague to act on.
For example: "Direct, not blunt. We say what we can do and by when." Then show a weak sentence and a stronger on-brand version. Add practical rules too: British or American spelling, how you write prices in AED, whether you use emojis on Instagram and WhatsApp, and how formal Arabic copy should be compared with English. A brand that sounds warm on social media but stiff in email feels inconsistent to customers. The same applies to motion: if you produce corporate or social video, note how the logo, captions and music should be handled.
Which templates and examples should you include?
Include templates for the items your team produces most often, so the rules are applied by default rather than remembered. For most UAE businesses that means:
- Social media post, story and reel cover templates in English and Arabic.
- Presentation deck and proposal templates.
- Email signature and letterhead.
- Business cards and basic stationery.
- Website components: buttons, forms and heading styles.
- Signage, vehicle branding or uniforms if relevant to your operations.
Show finished examples in context. A photo of the logo on a shopfront or a mocked-up ad teaches faster than a page of rules.
How long should brand guidelines be?
A small business can often cover everything essential in 15 to 30 pages; larger organisations with sub-brands may need more. Length matters less than usability. Put the most-used information first, use visuals over paragraphs, and provide a one-page summary for suppliers who only need logos and colours.
Format matters too. A PDF is fine for sharing, but a shared online folder or simple web page, with downloadable logo files and templates, is easier to keep current and harder to use the wrong version of.
Brand guidelines checklist
Use this checklist before you sign off your guidelines:
- Every logo version is supplied in vector and PNG formats, with a clear file naming system.
- Colour codes are given for HEX, RGB, CMYK and, where needed, Pantone.
- English and Arabic typefaces are named, licensed and paired.
- Text contrast has been checked on your main background colours.
- Tone of voice includes examples, not just adjectives.
- Photography guidance explains subjects, lighting and diversity of people shown.
- Templates exist for your most frequent outputs.
- There is a named owner and a date for the next review.
How often should you update brand guidelines?
Review them at least once a year, and whenever you launch a new channel, product line or market. New formats appear constantly, such as vertical video or new ad placements, and the guidelines should grow to cover them. Keep a short change log so everyone knows what changed and when. If the updates start to feel like patches on an identity that no longer fits, that is a sign to read our guide on when and how to rebrand.
How Upscaleads can help
We build brand guidelines that designers, developers and marketers actually use, including bilingual English and Arabic rules and ready-to-use templates. See our branding services for what is included, or get in touch to talk about your brand.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a brand guide and a style guide?
The terms are often used interchangeably. Strictly, a brand guide covers the whole brand, including positioning, values and tone of voice, while a style guide may focus only on visual rules or on writing style such as spelling and formatting. For most small and medium businesses, one document that covers both is the most practical option.
Do small businesses really need brand guidelines?
Yes, as soon as more than one person or supplier creates materials for you. Even a short document with logo files, colour codes, fonts and a few tone of voice rules prevents costly inconsistencies. It also makes briefing freelancers, printers and agencies faster, because you are not answering the same questions each time.
Who should own the brand guidelines inside a company?
One named person should own them, usually the marketing lead or, in a small business, the founder. Their job is to answer questions, approve exceptions, keep files current and schedule reviews. Without a clear owner, outdated versions circulate and the guidelines slowly stop being followed.
Should brand guidelines include social media rules?
They should. Include templates for posts, stories and reel covers, guidance on captions and hashtags, how to respond to comments and messages, and how formal Arabic and English posts should be. Social media is where most customers see your brand most often, so it is where inconsistency shows first.
